What did the Apostle Paul Mean that Women shall be “saved in childbearing” (1 Tim 2:15)?

What did the Apostle Paul Mean that Women shall be “saved in childbearing” (1 Tim 2:15)?

By Peter Salemi

Many people believe that the Apostle Paul was some sort of misogynist. That he looked on women as lower than men. Many people quote 1 Corinthians 14:34 about women keeping “silence in the churches” (read our article on the subject for its true and clear meaning of this). 1 Timothy 2:15 is no different. Many people believe the Apostle Paul was saying that women should be baby makers and in this they shall obtain salvation. Is this true? What about “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31)? Does this contradict what the Apostle Paul said that “she [women] shall be saved in childbearing, if they [women] continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.”? What is the truth?

A Closer Look

The problem with most people (including so-called Biblical scholars) they do not search the scriptures as we are commanded to dig for the truth. The Bible commands us to:

· “seek, and ye shall find;” (Matthew 7:7)

· “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” (John 5:39).

· “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11).

· “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” (1 Thess 5:21).

· “Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine?... For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little…But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little;” (Isa 28:9, 10, 13).

Every word, every line every sentence must be examined and kept in proper context to understand what the scriptures are telling us.

Instructions for the Church

Notice what the Apostle Paul is telling the church, “I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” (v.8). Here begins the context. The Apostle is instructing the men to have faith, praying and worship God. Here he says this specifically to “men,” In the “Greek, ‘that the men,’ as distinguished from ‘the women,’’’ (JFB Commentary, emphasis theirs).

Then in verse 9 he writes, “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;” The Apostle Paul now says specifically to the women, “In like manner also.” Robertson Word Pictures says, “(hosautōs gunaikas)…must be repeated from 1Tim 2:8, involved in hosautōs (old adverb, as in Rom 8:26). Parry insists that proseuchomenas (when they pray) must be supplied also.” The instructions on faith and worship are also applied to the women of the congregation as well as the men.

Then he adds, “…that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;” This also applies to the men as well. Even though it’s not mentioned specifically to men (v.8) he said “In like manner also.” The man knew already about dress etc.… Of course women have different preferences than men when it comes to appearance and so Paul points out what women focus on when it comes to appearances and then decides to outline the qualities of a true virtuous woman of Proverbs 31-for her price is above rubies! Discussing the importance of inner beauty and the outer apparel of the virtuous Christian woman. But this is also applied to men. Men are to be well groomed and be presentable (see Matthew 6:17) but humble.

Paul also is not saying women should be dowdy, drab, or unfashionable, but rather that they should abstain from excessive ostentation in their appearance. He particularly mentioned braided hair, gold, pearls, expensive clothing - or indeed anything designed to direct attention towards themselves-women are to be humble!

None of the above mentioned things are sinful or ungodly in themselves... however any one of them could have a propensity towards worldliness, self-absorption, fleshly attitudes, unhealthy materialism, or misplaced values.

There is also another underlying message to this. The Apostle Paul also said that women should be dressed in “modest apparel” meaning, that “in the ancient world ostentatious dress was often for the purpose of appearing ‘enticing.’ So to dress in a ‘modest’ way would be to avoid both extravagance and seduction.” (Article: What does “modesty” refer to in1 Timothy 2:9? By Denny Burke, emphasis added). This can apply to men and women which it does!

What is most important is, “But they should make themselves attractive by the good things they do. That is more appropriate for women who say they are devoted to God.” (v.10 ERV). The inner self is more important and attractive than outer appearances. Physical attraction yes is important but alone it does lead to just that just a physical attraction and nothing else. The inner person is ignored and it just leads to lust and fornication-this applies to both sexes!

“Keep Silent”?

“Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.” (1 Tim 2:11). Here many feminists and others say here the Apostle Paul is limiting women when it comes to the ministry. He sees women as second class citizens etc.…Nothing could be further from the truth! Unfortunately many have used this scripture to some of those things. It has led to all sorts of abuse by certain men, or be dismissed by certain women as being “out of touch.” But as always, doctrine should not be built on an isolated verse but should reflect the whole council of God in that area.

Too often men, women, classes of people, religious ideologies, and even entire nations will take one verse, or a small passage from the Bible as their creed, while ignoring its place within the whole council of Scripture OR they will ignore one part of God’s Word if it conflicts with their worldview or distorted ideology.

Scripture is to be interpreted and applied in its literal, historical, grammatical, and correct dispensational context, otherwise the inspired Word of God can be twisted to interpret whatever an individual, particular people group, and religious sect, cultural ideology, or collective philosophy of an entire nation deems it to be.

This scripture doesn’t prohibit women preaching in the church. Here it says that women are “learning” in silence. This has nothing to do with preaching in the church.

The word “silence” is “hēsuchia” (Strong’s # 2271) and is better rendered here as “quietness” as in “rest, quiet, tranquillity;” (Thayer’s). Other translations render it, “Let a woman receive training in a quiet demeanor with complete respect for order.” (Tree of Life Version). Or, “A woman should learn while listening quietly and being completely willing to obey [the word of God].” (ERV). Paul is saying a woman in the church should receive training in the word of God with a quiet demeanor, as students do in school today. And again, this applies to men as well, as noted above, the Apostle Paul said, “In like manner also” Men also should learn the word of God in this way. There are no double standards here. Both men and woman should subject themselves and have “respect for order.” There must be order in the church not chaos. This is what was happening in the church in Corinth (1 Corinth 14:40). It was hard for a person to learn-chaos was happening in the church and Paul said there must be order in the church. We have order and structure in nations, schools, and work-there can’t be order in the church? Seriously!

The next verse then says, “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” (v.12). On the surface it may seem to suggest that women should not teach in the church, but again examine the words and the context. So what does he mean? Look at the context; He is saying that women should not to teach men! He speaks of usurping authority over men, and they were not to teach NOR usurp authority over men.

One translation puts it in proper context, “I don’t allow a woman to teach a man…” (ERV). Today in our modern world many say that women should teach women about women’s issues and vice versa, and rightly so! Paul here is saying the same thing! On specific issues for woman, its best that women teach women because women know the problems of women better than a man, and vice versa. But in sermons that involve all of us, a general sermon, Paul did not teach that women can’t give them. In fact we see the Apostle Paul saying that women prophesied in the church and are “teachers of good things” (see Titus 2:3-5; 1 Cor 11:5).

Paul also said that women should not “usurp authority over the man” Here the context is marriage, because he afterwards mentioned Adam and Eve in the Garden. This is a relationship between man and his wife.

This word “usurp” is “authenteo” (Strong’s #831). “The word authenteō is now cleared up by Kretschmer (Glotta, 1912, pp. 289ff.) and by Moulton and Milligan’s Vocabulary… was the literary word for playing the master while authenteō was the vernacular term. It comes from auṫhentes, a self-doer, a master, autocrat. It occurs in the papyri (substantive authentēs, master, verb authenteō, to domineer, adjective authentikos, authoritative, ‘authentic’). Modern Greek has aphentes = Effendi = ‘Mark.’’’ (Robertson’s Word Pictures).

The JFB Commentary says, “[Alford], literally, ‘to be an autocrat.’’’

Now autocrat means “1.an absolute ruler, especially a monarch who holds and exercises the powers of government as by inherent right, not subject to restrictions.
2. a person invested with or claiming to exercise absolute authority.
3. a person who behaves in an authoritarian manner; a domineering person.” (Dictionary.com, emphasis added). Does anyone want to be in that kind of relationship, man or woman? Of course not! Again this also applies to men, “In like manner also” (v.9)

A marriage relationship between and man and his wife should be the way God designed it.

First “leadership” IS service not dictatorship. Jesus said, “Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.

“But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;

“And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

“Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-28). Leadership is service and sacrifice, not dictatorship, and it’s the same with marriage.

Paul says, “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

“Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;” (Eph 5:23-25). Jesus sacrificed his life for the church; even so the man should sacrifice his life for his wife, and minister to her. Men that show this kind of leadership of being her lover, protector, hero and risking his life for her is a true man and husband. The Apostle Paul was saying to the women not to have that kind of attitude towards their husbands, and neither should husbands do the same thing to the wives.

Now what of Genesis that says, “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” (Gen 3:16)? Is God commanding the man to be a “ruler” or dictator over his family? No! Look at the context.

Notice that this passage is descriptive, not prescriptive. It is in the simple future tense (he shall), not the imperative (he must). God is not describing the way things should be, but the way they will be as the result of sin. And in truth down through all generations women have been dominated. In nearly every society the woman has experienced the rule of man. She has been treated like a slave and even bought and sold. Often robbed of her human rights, she was treated as chattel or property by her husband. But From the beginning it was not so!

This passage is not a description of the way God wants things to be, but the way they will be when men go contrary to His words. It is not God’s will for man to “lord it over” his wife. For a Christian to use this verse to justify the oppression of his wife is an utter travesty! The Christian man and wife should be one flesh as it was from the beginning “help meet for him.” (Gen 2:18, 20). God calls men’s wives the “wife of thy youth” “…she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.” (Malachi 2:14). So the Apostle Paul is telling the congregation that this is not how marriage should be of women or men “lord it over” their spouses it not the way God designed marriage and relationships between the sexes!

Adam and Eve

Now the Apostle Paul goes back to the beginning and the first marriage ordained by God. This provided the context of the previous verse. He says, “For Adam was first formed, then Eve.” (v.13) The Apostle Paul gives reasons why man is the leader of the family. (Let me add, leadership has nothing to do with equality. Leadership is a role, a function, a service. Just because one is ordained a leader of a family, country or company does not mean one is above another in equality. All are equal under the Law and God regardless of position).

The argument here is based on priority of creation and is much assisted by the additional statement of 1Corinthians 11:9, “neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man.” This teaching of St. Paul’s respecting the public position of woman as regards man, upon God’s original order in creation—that divine order which first created man, and after man’s creation, formed woman as “an help meet for him.” (Gen 2:18). The circumstances of the case as detailed in the history of the creation Gen. 1–2. Man was made as the lord of this lower creation and placed in the garden, and then the woman was made of a rib taken from his side, and given to him, not as a lord, but as a companion. All the circumstances combine to show the subordinate nature of her rank, and to prove that she was not designed to exert authority over the man but a companion for man.

Now notice, Paul says, “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” (v.14). This is not some sort of put down. Eve was “deceived.” She was tricked into believing a lie thinking she would gain something for her own personal advantage. Remember Adam “hearkened unto the voice of thy wife,” (Gen 3:17) he is also at fault for what happened just as much as Eve was. Let’s not forget that it was Satan the Devil that caused this! Paul however goes into this for a reason-for this leads into his statement in verse 15. Understanding what happened here explains the next verse!

Paul says, “…the woman being deceived was in the transgression” Or as other translations say, “It was the woman who was deceived and became a lawbreaker.” (ISV); “it was the woman who was deceived and broke God’s law.” (GNB). What happens when you break God’s law? “The wages of sin [“for sin is the transgression of the law” 1 John 3:4] is death” (Rom 6:23).

God told Adam, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Gen 2:17). Immortality began to take hold of Adam and eventually he and Eve died.

There are also a “curses” added, “Consequences” for breaking the law of God. “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” (Gal 3:10). Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 lay out the curses for violating the laws of God.

In the Garden of Eden, God pronounced curses to Adam, Eve and the Devil, “And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:” (Gen 3:14). This was the “curse” for the Devil.

Then God turns to the women and pronounces a curse on her, “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children…” (Gen 3:16).

To Adam he said, “cursed is the ground for thy sake…” (Gen 3:17). At Christ’s coming, this curse on the earth will be removed, “And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:” (Rev 22:3).

Understanding this, we can understand what Paul is saying in verse 15!

She shall be saved in childbearing

What does Paul mean, “Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.” (v.15). Again, words need to be examined to understand this statement.

The Context is already understood. The Pulpit commentary rightly states, “The natural and simple explanation of the passage is that the special temporal punishment pronounced against the woman, immediately after her sin, ‘In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children’ (Gen 3:16)—(to which St. Paul here evidently alludes)—and endured by all women ever since, was a set-off, so to speak, to the special guilt of Eve in yielding to the guile of the serpent;” (emphasis added).

Paul says first, “Notwithstanding” This is “a conjunctive particle” and is “in continuation, to what has preceded,” So Paul is saying despite Eve being deceived and broke the law of God, and the curse that was on her, “she shall be saved in childbearing.” Now this part of the sentence has been mistranslated by the King James.

“She” refers to “the woman” in verse 14 and signifies women in general. “She shall be saved; i.e. the woman generically. The transition from the personal Eve to the generic woman is further marked by the transition from the singular to the plural, ‘if they continue,’ etc” (Pulpit Commentary, emphasis theirs; see also Vincent Word Studies). “She will be saved through childbearing — if they continue in faith.” “They” is not a pronoun in the Greek but is denoted in the plural form of the verb and therefore may be either feminine or masculine. The context calls for feminine. “Women will be saved through childbearing . . .”

Now the King James has women being “saved IN childbearing” But most translations have being “saved THROUGH childbearing.” The Jamieson Fausset and Brown commentary states, “Greek, ‘in (literally, ‘through’) (her, literally, ‘the’) child-bearing.”

Now the same source notices as well as Alford’s Greek New Testament, that, being saved “through” something does not have to mean being saved “by” it, but may mean being saved from it as through a danger. “Through, or by, is often so used to express not the means of her salvation, but the circumstances AMIDST which it has place.” (ibid, emphasis theirs). Notice JFB further points out that Paul does combine the two words (“being saved” and “through”) this way in 1 Corinthians 3:15. “If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” “Thus 1Cor 3:15, ‘He ... shall be saved: yet so as by (literally, ‘through,’ that is, amidst) fire:’ in spite of the fiery ordeal which he has necessarily to pass through, he shall be saved.” (ibid, emphasis mine and theirs).

The construction of the sentence is precisely as [in] 1 Corinthians 3:15 — “he will be saved, yet though as through fire.” (Alford, H. [2010]. Alford’s Greek Testament: an exegetical and critical commentary [Vol. 3, 320].

The commentary concludes that, “So here, ‘In spite of the trial of childbearing which she passes through (as her portion of the curse, Gen 3:16, ‘in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children’), she shall be saved.” So women even though women are experiencing the “curse” of childbearing that God pronounced on them, they will be saved in spite of the curse that is on them! The curse will be lifted-they shall be saved in spite of it!

This is a message of hope to women, not a misogynistic statement! To this sense of despair Paul responds with the hope of the gospel. Not to the curse! The pains of childbearing — even if they last a lifetime — are not God’s final word to women. God intends to save women! The Apostle uses the word “will be saved” purposely for its higher meaning [eternal salvation], He intends for her to be a fellow heir with man of the grace of life (1 Peter 3:7), “if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.” When Christ comes every vestige of the curse will be undone and every wound will be healed.

Read our Article Paul and Women in the Church Here

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