SAVED THROUGH CHILDBEARING? (I TIMOTHY 2:15)

Q: Does this verse mean that women who have no children have no hope of salvation?

First of all, let's point out some obvious principles:

1. One's interpretation must not teach the idea of salvation by works, rather than grace.

2. Any important theological truth will be mentioned more than once in the Bible.

3. Whatever the interpretation, it is obvious that faith is still involved.

Next, consider the literal, and somewhat awkward, wording of the Greek: “The woman transgressed but she shall be saved if they abide in faith.” This is a tip-off that Paul is alluding to Eve's sin in the Garden of Eden, but combining it with a message for his immediate audience.

Here are several possibilities that have been proposed to explain this difficult verse.

1. A Christian woman will experience the fullest blessings of salvation through having children, unlike the original curse on Eve of pain through childbirth.

2. She will come safely through childbirth.

3. She (referring to Eve's “daughter” Mary) will be saved by means of The Childbirth (the birth of Christ).

4. The first part of the verse applies mainly to Eve (she) and by extension to all Christian women (they) in the last part of the verse.

5. She will be saved even though she might have to undergo childbirth.

6. The way of salvation for a woman is not in assuming a masculine role but in simply being a woman (typified by childbearing) and responding to God in faith.

7. The background of the passage is that some married women of Paul's audience were following a heresy advocating abstinence from sexual relations and child-rearing. Paul is reminding them of the importance of having and raising children as part of rejecting these heretical teachings.

8. Some Christian women were having abortions. Paul says that only by rejecting such sinful acts can they continue in a state of salvation.

9. By devoting herself to child bearing and raising she will be saved from the error of trying to lord it over her husband.

10. By staying at home raising her children she will be kept from the corrupting influence of the world.

11. She will thereby be preserved from the role of insignificance in her family.

This passage is sometimes used to prove that the only purpose of marriage is to have children. However, the OT commands to multiply were given at the Beginning and after the flood. In both cases, the earth obviously needed filling. And while Psalm 127:3-5 mentions the advantage of having many sons, remember that was very important in the mainly agrarian society of the time. The best scriptures for understanding that marriage is primarily for the filling of a need within men and women are Genesis 2:18-24 and I Corinthians 7:1-9.