What does it mean that women will be "saved" through childbearing (1 Timothy 2:15)?

Dean Alford's remarks are as unhappy yet a characteristic specimen of his exegesis habitually as could be desired: "saved through (brought safely through, but in the higher, which is with St. Paul the only, sense of σώζω see below) her child-bearing (in order to understand the fulness of the meaning of σωθήσται, we must bear in mind the history itself, to which is the constant allusion. …What then is here promised her? Not only exemption from that curse in its worst and heaviest effects; not merely that she shall safely bear children, but the apostle uses the word a. purposely for its higher meaning, and the construction of the sentence is precisely as reference, 1 Cor. 3:15."

Now we may well agree with him that Chrysostom's interpreting τεκνογονὶα of Christian training of children, as others of the children themselves, is beside the mark and indeed unfounded; but so is his own confusion of the government of God with the "higher meaning" of eternal salvation, which is not here in question. This very Epistle (1 Tim. 4:10) furnishes decisive proof that the preservative goodness of God in providence is fully maintained in Christianity, though His grace in the gospel goes deeper, higher, and for ever. Dean Alford enfeebles the "higher meaning" by misapplying such an assurance of providential care as the text before us supplies. There is no doubt of saving grace in Christ for the believer; but to turn this word aside from its obvious relation deprives us of the very object in view, viz., the comfort of knowing that while God does not set aside the solemn mark of divine judgment from the first in the pangs of child-bearing, it becomes in mercy an occasion of His providential intervention. Redemption clears away the clouds, so that the light may shine on all the path of the saint; and woman meanwhile shares the suited blessing in the hour of nature's sorrow. The forced elevation of scripture not only fails in power of truth, but darkens or takes away its precious consolation for the pilgrim now on earth.

The promised succour however is conditioned by abiding "in faith and love and holiness with sobriety." One feels how important such a proviso is at a moment when human and even worldly feelings often encroach even on children of God. Where is family pride here? where the gratification of the wish for an heir of filthy lucre, or the hope of wide-spreading influence in that world which crucified the Lord of glory? Nor need one doubt the wisdom of the peculiarity in grammar which gives individuality to the deliverance vouchsafed in mercy, while it urges (not on the "children" as some have thought, nor yet on the husband and wife as others, but) on Christian women generally the qualifying call to abide in all that fits and strengthens the sex for the due and happy and godly discharge of their momentous duties. It is continuance in faith and love and holiness "with sobriety," which is pressed on saintly women; who doubtless could already say with Christians generally that God had saved them according to His own purpose and grace which was given them in Christ Jesus before time began.

Verse 15 refers to Genesis 3:16. She shall be preserved in child-bearing, delivered in the hour of trial and labor, if they continue in faith and love. and holiness with sobriety.

(V. 15). Eve suffered for her transgression, but the Christian woman will find the mercy of God abounding over governmental judgment, if the married man and woman continue in faith and love and holiness with discretion. As before we saw the continuance in sound teaching is so largely dependent upon a right moral condition (1 Timothy 1:5-6); so now we see temporal mercy is connected with a right spiritual state.

Having stated for whom we may pray, and the reason for it, since God is not acting in favour towards one nation, but towards men, the apostle proceeds to give directions for the saints when met together for prayer. All one in Christ, the distinction of sexes is, nevertheless, to be maintained in the assembly, and each receives an appropriate word. The men were to pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath, and doubting or reasoning. A spirit of that kind would be unseemly for those who were to lead the devotions of others. As to the women, the character of their attire and ways were not subjects beneath the notice of the Holy Ghost. Creation order was to be remembered, and the instruction to be drawn from it was to be put in practice. The woman was to learn in quietness* with all subjection. She was not to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in quietness hesuchia. "For Adam was first formed, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in transgression." What a simple way of solving the question! God's word in Genesis casts a light on it. His order of acting before the fall, and the history of the fall, both help us in this matter. So not only do these two chapters of Genesis (2:3) acquaint us with facts of which otherwise we might not have been informed, they also furnish guidance on a point of order in the Christian assembly. But more. If God would maintain creation order on such a matter, and would have His people remember it, He would also maintain His character as a Saviour God, and here declares it. He will preserve the woman through child-bearing, her special sorrow, a consequence of the fall, if they - i.e. the man and the woman - continue in faith, and love, and holiness with sobriety.

Paul has plainly now laid the foundations, and he proceeds therefore to details. Men were to pray everywhere, lifting up pure hands, without wrath, and without vain human reasonings. Women were to walk in modesty, adorned with good works, and to learn in silence. A woman was forbidden to teach or to exercise authority over men; she was to abide in quietness and silence. The reason given for this is remarkable, and shows how, in our relations with God, everything depends on the original starting-point. In innocence Adam had the first place; in sin, Eve. It was Eve who, being deceived, brought in transgression. Adam was not deceived, guilty as he was of disobeying God. United to his wife, he followed her, not deceived by the enemy but weak through his affection. Without the weakness, it was this which the second Adam did in grace; He followed His deceived and guilty bride, but in order to redeem and deliver her by taking her faults upon Himself. Eve suffered on earth the penalty of her fault in a way which is a mark of the judgment of God; but walking in modesty, with faith and love and holiness, she shall be delivered in the hour of her trial; and that which bears the stamp of judgment shall be an occasion of the mercy and succour of God.

Childbearing is consistent with this lowly place, but a blessed honor nevertheless which is not given to the man. If any woman is inclined to question these things, she may well be greatly benefited by considering the many godly mothers of Scripture, whose subject lowly character shines with a beauty that can be seen in no other way. Yet, let us notice too that her being "saved in childbearing" is conditional not only upon her own continuing in faith and love and holiness with discretion, but upon this being true of both husband and wife: "If they continue." This surely impresses upon us the vital value of true spiritual unity in the marriage rela­tionship: a woman who marries an ungodly husband could not claim such a promise as this.

In like manner, also, he points out the moral character which the women necessarily, equally with the men, are to exemplify. They are to be adorned with fitting apparel. The seeking of adornment is natural to them, but let this then, says the apostle, be it, — in fact, the sweetest and most real adornment that can any where be found, — not the adornment of the outside, not costly or even so much external adornment, as the adornment of the spirit which is to be seen in them, and of the works which will speak for them; while at the same time the apparel is, no doubt, to be fitting, not slovenly, not such as would cause remark upon the other side, but suited to the quiet modesty which belongs to them. As to the place of the woman as a teacher, the apostle carries us back to the beginning of all. It is, indeed, the constant way with him to uphold, along with the peculiar place which God has given us as Christians, where it is no question of sex at all, the creation-place, which is not really interfered with by this. It is not for eternity, nor meant to be put as if of equal value with the place in Christ. Nevertheless, there are lessons to be learned here which are wholesome to receive, and which cannot without danger be set aside. We shall find, in fact, as we go on, that one great feature of the apostasy, so soon to set in, will be the disregard of that which God instituted when He created man. The woman then is not to teach — that is, in such a way clearly as to exercise authority over the man. That is not a question of the fall, although the apostle brings in the fall in order to illustrate his point. It inheres, however, in the very character of woman, who is the heart of humanity, as Adam is the head. But in the fall itself Adam was not deceived. It is not that that excuses Adam in the least. It would rather be the opposite of this, but it certainly illustrates the fact that with man intelligence is prominent. The woman ought to have been kept, no doubt, by a heart which realized what God was to them, and the love which He had manifested towards them in the Paradise prepared. She was not ill-guarded against the tempter, but she was guarded in a different way. Alas, the temptation broke through both these guards, and head and heart were alike involved in the ruin that came in. Still, the woman's way of being in the transgression was as one deceived, and the man was not deceived. It is not a difference with regard to the measure of the sin itself, but it is a difference which shows the man and the woman in the characteristic features of each. The apostle closes here with the comforting assurance that where the fall had brought the woman into suffering and sorrow, which was the needed reminder of that which no child of man is ever intended to forget, God nevertheless would assuredly come in to deliver those who continued "in faith and love and holiness, with sobriety." The thought of a reference here to Christ as the child born seems to have no justification in the language nor in the context.

But he pursues it a little more. He says, "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man." In truth he really goes somewhat beyond this. A woman might say, "I do not usurp authority; I only exercise it." But this precisely is what is wrong. It is forbidden to be exercised. Nothing therefore can be more exclusive. It does not matter, if the man may be weak and the woman strong; it would have been better they had thought of this before they became husband and wife. But even thus no excuse avails; the woman is not to exercise authority over the man; nor (need I add?) in any other relationship. For this he traces things to their roots. "Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being quite deceived was in transgression." That is, he decides things with that marvellous power which God gave him beyond any of the other apostles of tracking the stream to its source, both in man and to God; and this ruling of the case he deduces from the unquestionable facts of the beginning of divine history as to the man and woman. The man was not deceived, in a certain sense: so much the worse; he was a bold sinner. The woman was weak and misled by the serpent; the man deliberately did what he did — with his eyes open. Adam sinned against God knowingly. Of course it was dreadful and ruinous; nevertheless this shows the difference in their character from the outset. Men as a class are not so liable to be deceived as woman. She is more open to be taken in by appearance. The man may be ruder and worse — bolder in his sin, but still the Lord remembers this even to the last. At the same time the apostle mingles this with that which is the lot of women here below: "But she shall be preserved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety." It is not merely if "she," but if "they" continue. How serious is the word for both man and woman! In the government of God He mingles the most solemn things with that which is the most thoroughly personal, showing how He would have the conscience exercised, and jealous care even on such a matter as this. I do not agree with those who refer the childbearing to the Incarnation.

126 Διά, genitive and accusative. Its sense is through: with a genitive, simply so, physically and morally, or figuratively: with the accusative more remotely so. It is then a motive or reason for a thing of which the thing is not independent, but not the effective instrument by which an effect is wrought; that is, this is not the sense of διά with an accusative. There are some important passages connected with this distinction: as to time, the literal "through," διὰ τριῶν ἡμερῶν, "in the course of" (Matt. 26:61); δι᾽ ὅλης τῆς νυκτός, διὰ πυρός, 1 Corinthians 3:15. So, I doubt not, δι᾽ ὕδατος, 1 Peter 3:20. Hence, for "in a state of," δι᾽ ἀκροβυστίας, and analogously διὰ τῆς τεκνογονίας, 1 Timothy 2:15; the article denotes the childbirth she was to undergo. Romans 4:10, we have ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ, the state as noticed in "ἐν"; that characterized his state. In verse 11, we have ἐν τῃ ἀκροβυστίᾳ and δι᾽ ἀκροβυστίας. Διά I apprehend to be more vague and general. That condition specifically and contrastedly characterized Abraham. He was ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ. For Gentile believers it was merely de facto they were in that state. So of τεκνογονίας, so of νυκτός. It is a time, state, or period, not a characteristic. For the rest the application of "through" to time, place, and circumstance, is very simple. It then comes to mean the instrument or means by which, or through which, a thing happens, "through" being still the radical thought. It is an intermediate instrument; "all things were made by him." (John 1:3). "By whom also he made the worlds." (Heb. 1:2.) It is not that the same Being may not be the author; but that His action in that case, where διά is used, is looked at as the intermediate instrument of His will, or, it may be, an actually intermediate agency if divine — "without him was not anything made." Thus 1 Corinthians 8:6, εἷς Θεὸς ὁ πατὴρ ἐξ οὗ … εἷς Κύριος δι ὀὗ. Christ is the divine Creator, but He is in this case viewed as an agent of a divine will. So Hebrews 1:2. The use of διά does not hinder the source of action and the primary agent to be the same person. We read in the chapter, δι᾽ ἑαυτοῦ καθαρισμὸν ποιησάμενος. So in Colossians 1:16 we see He was the end and object, τὰ πάντα … εἰς αὐτὸν ἔκτισται, which is said, as to us at least, distinctively of God the Father, 1 Corinthians 8:6; δι᾽ αὐτοῦ being applied to Christ. And in Colossians we have ἐν αὐτῳ ἐκτίσθη (compare ἐν) and δι᾽ αὐτοῦ. Creation was characterized by His action, as the world's judgment by ours (ἐν ὑμῖν): but there He was the one by whom all things were created. So, "spoken by the prophets," here they were intermediate to the Holy Ghost (διά), it was not ἀφ᾽ αὑτῶν, but δι᾽ αὐτῶν, Luke 1:70, more fully and absolutely.

There is not the slightest ambiguity about this passage. There is really no doubt as to what it teaches. Nor is there any uncertainty about the reasons given for woman's place of subjection and quietness in God's house. Those reasons have nothing to do with any peculiar prejudices of the Apostle as a Jew or as a bachelor, as some would have us believe. They are founded in God's original order in creation, and in that order confirmed and perhaps accentuated as the result of the fall. Genesis 3:16 is explicit in naming two results which were to follow for the woman consequent upon her sin. The second of those two results is alluded to in the verses we have been considering, while the first result is alluded to in verse 15 of our chapter, and in connection with that a gracious proviso is attached, no mention of which is found in Genesis 3.