READING TIME: 2-3 MINUTES
Sept 25, 2019
David, what does Paul mean in 1 Timothy 2:15 when he wrote that women will be saved through the bearing of children?
The meaning of the Greek word translated “saved” (sōzō) in this passage is once again something like “spiritual health,” a full and meaningful life and finding fulfillment in a unique role. This thought fits the context quite well. Paul has just excluded women from positions of teaching authority in the church (1 Timothy 2:9-14). What then is their primary destiny? They will find life through fulfilling their role as a mother if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with propriety. It was appropriate for Paul to mention childbearing because it signifies the fulfillment of the woman’s domestic role as a mother in contrast to the man. Paul may have stressed childrearing by synecdoche (a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole) as representing a suitable role for women. This particular interpretation is an appropriate summary of the previous verses about the roles of men and women in the church because a woman should not violate her role by teaching or exercising authority over a man; instead, she should assume her appropriate role as a mother of children. Paul likely saw in the woman’s function of giving birth a divinely intended and continuing differentiation of roles between men and women. The fact that Paul selected childrearing means that the argument is transcultural because childrearing is not limited to a certain culture, but it is a permanent and continuing difference between men and women. The fact that God has ordained only women to bear children shows that the differences in roles between the genders are based on the created order.
Paul is certainly not teaching that women must bear children to be saved. He also is not teaching that one earns or merits salvation by doing works (e.g., Romans 3:19- 4:25; Galatians 2:16-3:14; Ephesians 2:8-9; 2 Timothy 1:9-11; Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7). He also is not teaching that one maintains his salvation by works.
A salvation that comes only to mothers who persist in faithful service is not the same as the faith-alone salvation taught elsewhere in Scripture. For this reason, many interpreters agree with Litfin and understand “saved” as being “preserved from insignificance through her role in the family.” A woman will normally find her fulfillment and meaning in life not by pursuing the male role but by being a wife and mother. But she must follow this vocation with faith and love.
Women have an extremely important teaching role in the church. They train the next generation of mayors, deacons, elders, missionaries, pastors, homemakers, and many others (cf. 1 Timothy 5:14; 2 Timothy 1:5).
Single women and married women unable to have children can find fulfillment by teaching other people’s children and if they are married, they can find fulfillment in being good helpmates for their husbands. If single, they can find fulfillment in serving Christ in church, at work, etc.
Sources Used
Dillow, Joseph. Final Destiny: The Future Reign of The Servant Kings: Fourth Revised Edition. Grace Theology Press, chapter 12.
Kostenberger, Andreas J.; Schreiner, Thomas R. Women in the Church (Third Edition): An Interpretation and Application of 1 Timothy 2:9-15. Crossway, 197-199.
Litfin, A. Duane. “1 Timothy,” in the Bible Knowledge Commentary New Testament, ed. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck (Colorado Springs: Cook, 1985), 736.
Wilkin, Robert N. “The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Timothy.” The Grace New Testament Commentary. Ed. Robert N. Wilkin. Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2010. 970.