Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Timothy 2:15

Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

15. in childbearing ] R.V. gives the exact force of the Greek through the childbearing, and leaves unsettled which particular interpretation is correct (1) the A.V. ‘in childbearing,’ the preposition rendering merely the circumstances, cf. Rom 4:11 ‘in uncircumcision’;

or (2) the margin of R.V. ‘through her childbearing’: ‘her child-bearing which is her curse may be her highest blessing, as with man’s doom, labour; her domestic life and duties, the sphere of woman’s mission, St Paul lays great stress on good works, the performance of the common duties of life, in opposition to the irregularities of the times; and yet adds the necessary previous condition “if they abide in faith” ’; so Conybeare;

or (3) ‘through the Childbearing the Incarnation of Christ,’ an early interpretation quoted by Theophylact, and also given in the Ancient Catena recently recovered and published by Dr Cramer, and supported by Hammond, Ellicott and Wordsworth, on the grounds ( a) that the parallel passage in 1Co 11:8-12 closes with a reference to the Incarnation, ( b) that in speaking of the transgression and sentence it was in itself natural and appropriate to speak of the sustaining prophecy, ( c) that ‘saved’ and ‘through’ both gain in fulness of force.

On the whole (2) seems most probable, this ‘childbearing’ being singled out from among the ‘good works’ of 1Ti 2:10. Compare ch. 1Ti 5:13-14, where the younger widows are urged not to be ‘idle’ (lit. ‘workless’) or ‘busybodies’ (lit. ‘prying into the work of others’) but to ‘marry, bear children, rule the household’; and note that the verb there and the noun here for childbearing occur nowhere else in N.T. This thought of ‘work’ woman’s proper work lasts on then to the end of the chapter, and gives the natural transition to other work, the ‘good work’ of a bishop in chap. 3.

if they continue ] i.e. women, from ‘the woman’ of 1Ti 2:14; the aorist tense implies ‘continue stedfastly.’

faith and charity and holiness ] Rather as R.V. love and sanctification, the form of the latter word implying a process of repeated acts: so ‘doubting’ above, the harbouring of doubt upon doubt. The fundamental idea of the Greek noun is ‘separation and, so to speak, consecration and devotion to the service of the Deity’; Trench, N. T. Syn., p. 316. Cf. 2Ti 1:9, ‘called us with a holy calling.’ ‘But the thought lies very near that what is set apart from the world and to God should separate itself from the world s defilements and should share in God’s purity.’ Hence the appropriateness of its being linked here with ‘sobriety’ so as to recal the feminine modesty and purity of 1Ti 2:9. Cf. Westcott, Heb 10:10 ‘the initial consecration and the progressive hallowing.’

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Notwithstanding she shall be saved – The promise in this verse is designed to alleviate the apparent severity of the remarks just made about the condition of woman, and of the allusion to the painful facts of her early history. What the apostle had just said would carry the mind back to the period in which woman introduced sin into the world, and by an obvious and easy association, to the sentence which had been passed on her in consequence of her transgression, and to the burden of sorrows which she was doomed to bear. By the remark in this verse, however, Paul shows that it was not his intention to overwhelm her with anguish. He did not design to harrow up her feelings by an unkind allusion to a melancholy fact in her history. It was necessary for him to state, and for her to know, that her place was secondary and subordinate, and he wished this truth ever to be kept in memory among Christians. It was not unkind or improper also to state the reasons for this opinion, and to show that her own history had demonstrated that she was not designed for headship.

But she was not to be regarded as degraded and abandoned. She was not to be overwhelmed by the recollection of what the mother of all living had done. There were consolations in her case. There was a special divine interposition which she might look for, evincing tender care on the part of God in those deep sorrows which had come upon her in consequence of her transgression; and instead of being crushed and broken-hearted on account of her condition, she should remember that the everlasting arms of God would sustain her in her condition of sorrow and pain. Paul, then, would speak to her the language of consolation, and while he would have her occupy her proper place, he would have her feel that God was her Friend. In regard to the nature of the consolation referred to here, there has been a considerable variety of opinion. Some have held, that by the expression she shall be saved in child-bearing, the apostle designs to include all the duties of the maternal relation, meaning that she should be saved through the faithful performance of her duties as a mother.

Robinson, Lexicon. Rosenmuller regards the words rendered child-bearing ( teknogonia), as synonymous with education, and supposes that the meaning is, that a woman, by the proper training of her children, can obtain salvation as well as her husband, and that her appropriate duty is not public teaching, but the training of her family. Wetstein supposes that it means she shall be saved from the arts of impostors, and from the luxury and vice of the age, if, instead of wandering about, she remains at home, cultivates modesty, is subject to her husband, and engages carefully in the training of her children. This sense agrees well with the connection. Calvin supposes that the apostle designs to console the woman by the assurance that, if she bears the trials of her condition of sorrow with a proper spirit, abiding in faith and holiness, she will be saved. She is not to regard herself as cut off from the hope of heaven. Doddridge, Macknight, Clarke, and others suppose that it refers to the promise in Gen 3:15, and means that the woman shall be saved through, or by means of bearing a child, to wit, the Messiah; and that the apostle means to sustain the woman in her sorrows, and in her state of subordination and inferiority, by referring to the honor which has been put upon her by the fact that a woman gave birth to the Messiah. It is supposed also that he means to say that special honor is thus conferred on her over the man, inasmuch as the Messiah had no human father. Doddridge. The objections to this interpretation, however, though it is sustained by most respectable names, seem to me to be insuperable. They are such as these:

(1) The interpretation is too refined and abstruse. It is not that which is obvious. It depends for its point on the fact that the Messiah had no human father, and in the apostle had intended to refer to that, and to build an argument on it it may be doubted whether he would have done it in so obscure a manner. But it may reasonably be questioned whether he would have made that fact a point on which his argument would turn. There would be a species of refinement about such an argument, such as we should not look for in the writings of Paul.

(2) It is not the obvious meaning of the word child-bearing. There is nothing in the word which requires that it should have any reference to the birth of the Messiah. The word is of a general character, and properly refers to child-hearing in general.

(3) It is not true that woman would be saved merely by having given birth to the Messiah. She will be saved, as man will be, as a consequence of his having been born; but there is no evidence that the mere fact that woman gave birth to him, and that he had no human father, did anything to save Mary herself, or any one else of her sex. If, therefore, the word refers to the bearing of the Messiah, or to the fact that he was born, it would be no more proper to say that this was connected with the salvation of woman than that of man. The true meaning, it seems to me, has been suggested by Calvin, and may be seen by the following remarks:

(1) The apostle designed to comfort woman, or to alleviate the sadness of the picture which he had drawn respecting her condition.

(2) He had referred, incidentally, as a proof of the subordinate character of her station, to the first apostasy. This naturally suggested the sentence which was passed on her, and the condition of sorrow to which she was doomed, particularly in child-birth. That was the standing demonstration of her guilt; that the condition in which she suffered most; that the situation in which she was in greatest peril.

(3) Paul assures her, therefore, that though she must thus suffer, yet that she ought not to regard herself in her deep sorrows and dangers, though on account of sin, as necessarily under the divine displeasure, or as excluded from the hope of heaven. The way of salvation was open to her as well as to men, and was to be entered in the same manner. If she had faith and holiness, even in her condition of sorrow brought on by guilt, she might as well hope for eternal life as man. The object of the apostle seems to be to guard against a possible construction which might be put on his words, that he did not regard the woman as in circumstances as favorable for salvation as those of man, or as if he thought that salvation for her was more difficult, or perhaps that she could not be saved at all. The general sentiments of the Jews in regard to the salvation of the female sex, and their exclusion from the religious privileges which men enjoy; the views of the Muslims in reference to the inferiority of the sex; and the prevalent feelings in the pagan world, degrading the sex and making their condition, in regard to salvation, far inferior to that of man, show the propriety of what the apostle here says, and the fitness that he should so guard himself that his language could not possibly be construed so as to give countenance to such a sentiment.

According to the interpretation of the passage here proposed, the apostle does not mean to teach that a Christian female would be certainly saved from death in child-birth – for this would not be true, and the proper construction of the passage does not require us to understand him as affirming this. Religion is not designed to make any immediate and direct change in the laws of our physical being. It does not of itself guard us from the pestilence; it does not arrest the progress of disease; it does not save us from death; and, as a matter of fact, woman, by the highest degree of piety, is not necessarily saved from the perils of that condition to which she has been subjected in consequence of the apostasy. The apostle means to show this – that in all her pain and sorrow; amidst all the evidence of apostasy, and all that reminds her that she was first in the transgression, she may look up to God as her Friend and strength, and may hope for acceptance and salvation.

If they continue – If woman continues – it being not uncommon to change the singular form to the plural, especially if the subject spoken of have the character of a noun of multitude. Many have understood this of children, as teaching that if the mother were faithful, so that her children continued in faith, she would be saved. But this is not a necessary or probable interpretation. The apostle says nothing of children, and it is not reasonable to suppose that he would make the prospect of her salvation depend on their being pious. This would be to add a hard condition of salvation, and one nowhere else suggested in the New Testament. The object of the apostle evidently is, to show that woman must continue in the faithful service of God if she would be saved – a doctrine everywhere insisted on in the New Testament in reference to all persons. She must not imitate the example of the mother of mankind, but she must faithfully yield obedience to the laws of God until death.

Faith – Faith in the Redeemer and in divine truth, or a life of fidelity in the service of God.

Charity – Love to all; compare notes on 1 Cor. 13.

Holiness – She must be truly righteous.

With sobriety – All these things must he united with a becoming soberness or seriousness of deportment; notes, 1Ti 2:9. In such a life, woman may look to a world where she will be forever free from all the sadnesses and sorrows of her condition here; where, by unequalled pain, she will be no more reminded of the time when.

– Her rash hand in evil hour.

Forth reaching to the fruit, she pluckd, she.

Ate;

And when before the throne she shall be admitted to full equality with all the redeemed of the Lord. Religion meets all the sadnesses of her condition here; pours consolation into the cup of her many woes; speaks kindly to her in her distresses; utters the language of forgiveness to her heart when crushed with the remembrance of sin – for she loves much Luk 7:37-48; and conducts her to immortal glory in that world where all sorrow shall be unknown.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 15. She shalt be saved in child-bearing] She shall be saved through child-bearing – she shall be saved by means, or through the instrumentality, of child-bearing or of bringing forth a child. Amidst the different opinions given of the meaning of this very singular text, that of Dr. Macknight appears to me the most probable, which I shall give in his paraphrase and note.

“However, though Eve was first in the transgression, and brought death on herself, her husband, and all her posterity, the female sex shall be saved (equally with the male) through child-bearing – through bringing forth the Saviour, if they live in faith, and love, and chastity, with that sobriety which I have been recommending.

“The word , saved, in this verse refers to , the woman, in the foregoing verse, which is certainly EVE. But the apostle did not mean to say that she alone was to be saved through child-bearing, but that all her posterity, whether male or female, are to be saved through the child-bearing of a woman; as is evident from his adding, If they live in faith and love and holiness, with sobriety. For safety in child-bearing does not depend on that condition at all; since many pious women die in child-bearing, while others of a contrary character are preserved. The salvation of the human race, through child-bearing, was intimated in the sentence passed on the serpent, Ge 3:15: I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head. Accordingly, the Saviour being conceived in the womb of his mother by the power of the Holy Ghost, he is truly the seed of the woman who was to bruise the head of the serpent; and a woman, by bringing him forth, has been the occasion of our salvation.” This is the most consistent sense, for in the way in which it is commonly understood it does not apply. There are innumerable instances of women dying in child-bed who have lived in faith and charity and holiness, with sobriety; and equally numerous instances of worthless women, slaves to different kinds of vices, who have not only been saved in child-bearing, but have passed through their travail with comparatively little pain; hence that is not the sense in which we should understand the apostle. Yet it must be a matter of great consolation and support, to all pious women labouring of child, to consider that, by the holy virgin’s child-bearing, salvation is provided for them and the whole human race; and that, whether they die or live, though their own child-bearing can contribute nothing to their salvation, yet he who was born of a woman has purchased them and the whole human race by his blood.

If they continue] is rightly translated, if they live; for so it signifies in other passages, particularly Php 1:25. The change in the number of the verb from the singular to the plural, which is introduced here, was designed by the apostle to show that he does not speak of Eve; nor of any particular woman, but of the whole sex. See Macknight.

Without faith it is impossible to please God, or to be saved; and without love it will be impossible to obey. FAITH and LOVE are essentially necessary to holiness and sobriety; and unless both men and women live in these, they cannot, scripturally, expect to dwell with God for ever. Some foolish women have supposed, from this verse, that the very act of bringing forth children shall entitle them to salvation; and that all who die in childbed infallibly go to glory! Nothing can be more unfounded than this; faith, love, holiness, and sobriety, are as absolutely requisite for the salvation of every daughter of Eve, as they are for the salvation of every son of Adam. Pain and suffering neither purify nor make atonement. On the mercy of God, in Christ, dispensing remission of sins and holiness, both men and women may confidently rely for salvation; but on nothing else. Let her that readeth understand.

On the subject of dress I will conclude in the words of a late writer: “What harm does it do to adorn ourselves with gold, or pearls, or costly array, suppose we can afford it? The first harm it does is, it engenders pride; and, where it is already, increases it. Nothing is more natural than to think ourselves better because we are dressed in better clothes. One of the old heathens was so well apprised of this, that when he had a spite to a poor man, and had a mind to turn his head; he made him a present of a suit of fine clothes.

Eutrapelus cuicunque nocere volebat,

Vestimenta dabat pretiosa.

He could not then but imagine himself to be as much better, as he was finer, than his neighbour; inferring the superior value of his person from the value of his clothes.” – Rev. J. Wesley’s Sermons.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Though the woman was so unhappy as to be deceived by the serpent, and to be the first in taking the forbidden fruit, and an instrument to entice her husband to do the like, which may give all of that sex a cause of humiliation, and show them the reasonableness of Gods order in putting them in subjection to man, and prohibiting them to break Gods order in usurping authority over the man; yet through the gracious interposition of the Mediator, (afterward born of a woman), she hath no reason to despair, either of a temporal salvation, from the peril and danger of child-birth, or, much less, of an eternal salvation, for

she shall be saved; she stands upon equal ground with the man as to eternal salvation, who cannot be saved without faith and holiness, and a discharge of the duties incumbent upon him, and patient enduring the crosses and trials God exerciseth him with; and the woman also shall be saved, by faithful performance of her duty, and patiently enduring her crosses and trials, in the pains and peril of

child-bearing; notwithstanding they are the sensible marks of Gods displeasure for sin, yet the sufferings of Christ has taken away the said bitterness.

If they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety; if she also liveth in the exercise of faith in Christ, and love to God, and her husband, and all saints, and in all exercises of holiness with sobriety. Some refer the pronoun they to the children, because the apostle had been before speaking of the woman in the singular number; but there is nothing more ordinary than that change of the number, especially where collective words are used, that signify a whole species or sex; and it is unreasonable to think the apostle should suspend the salvation of the mother upon the faith and holiness of the child, and to interpret it of the mothers endeavours towards it, seemeth hardly a sufficient interpretation of the term continue.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

15. be saved in childbearingGreek,“in (literally, ‘through‘) (her, literally, ‘the‘)child-bearing.” Through, or by, is often so usedto express not the means of her salvation, but thecircumstances AMIDSTwhich it has place. Thus 1Co3:15, “He . . . shall be saved: yet so as by (literally,’through,‘ that is, amidst) fire”: in spite of the fieryordeal which he has necessarily to pass through, he shall besaved. So here, “In spite of the trial of childbearingwhich she passes through (as her portion of the curse, Ge3:16, ‘in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children‘), sheshall be saved.” Moreover, I think it is impliedindirectly that the very curse will be turned into a conditionfavorable to her salvation, by her faithfully performing her part indoing and suffering what God has assigned to her, namely,child-bearing and home duties, her sphere, asdistinguished from public teaching, which is not hers, but man’s(1Ti 2:11; 1Ti 2:12).In this home sphere, not ordinarily in one of active duty foradvancing the kingdom of God, which contradicts the position assignedto her by God, she will be saved on the same terms as all others,namely, by living faith. Some think that there is a reference to theIncarnation “through THEchild-bearing” (Greek), the bearing of the child Jesus.Doubtless this is the ground of women’s child-bearing ingeneral becoming to them a blessing, instead of a curse; just as inthe original prophecy (Gen 3:15;Gen 3:16) the promise of “theSeed of the woman” (the Saviour) stands in closest connectionwith the woman’s being doomed to “sorrow” in “bringingforth children,” her very child-bearing, though insorrow, being the function assigned to her by God whereby theSaviour was born. This may be an ulterior reference of the HolySpirit in this verse; but the primary reference required by thecontext is the one above given. “She shall be saved ([though]with childbearing),” that is, though suffering her part of theprimeval curse in childbearing; just as a man shall be saved, thoughhaving to bear his part, namely, the sweat of the brow.

if they, &c.”ifthe women (plural, taken out of ‘the woman,’ 1Ti2:14, which is put for the whole sex) continue,” ormore literally, “shall (be found at the judgment to) havecontinued.”

faith and charitytheessential way to salvation (1Ti1:5). Faith is in relation to God. Charity, to ourfellow man. Sobriety, to one’s self.

sobriety“sober-mindedness”(see on 1Ti 2:9, as contrastedwith the unseemly forwardness reproved in 1Ti2:11). Mental receptivity and activity in family life wererecognized in Christianity as the destiny of woman. One reasonalleged here by Paul, is the greater danger of self-deception in theweaker sex, and the spread of errors arising from it, especially in aclass of addresses in which sober reflectiveness is least in exercise[NEANDER]. The case (Ac21:9) was doubtless in private, not in public.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Notwithstanding she shall be saved,…. Not Eve, though no doubt she is saved; since she had a sense of her sin, and shame for it, a revelation of the Messiah to her, and faith in him; see Ge 3:7. But rather any woman, particularly such as profess godliness, who shall be saved

in childbearing; which is to be understood not of a temporal salvation, or being saved through childbearing, through the perilous time, and be delivered out of it; for though this is generally the case, yet not always, nor always the case of good women. Rachel died in childbed: the Jews say t, for three transgressions women die in childbearing; because they do not take care of their menstrues, and of the cake of the firstfruits, and of lighting the lamp (when the sabbath approaches). But spiritual and eternal salvation is here meant; not that bearing children is the cause, condition, or means of salvation; for as this is not God’s way of salvation, so it confines the salvation of women to childbearing ones; and which must give an uneasy reflection to maidens, and women that never bore any; but rather the meaning is, that good women shall be saved, notwithstanding their bearing and bringing forth children in pain and sorrow, according to the original curse, in Ge 3:16. And so the words administer some comfort to women, in their present situation of subjection and sorrow; though they may be rendered impersonally thus, “notwithstanding there is salvation through the birth of a son”: and the sense is, that notwithstanding the fall of man by the means of the woman, yet there is salvation for both men and women, through the birth of Immanuel, the child born, and Son given; at whose birth, the angels sung peace on earth, good will to men; through the true Messiah, the deed of the woman, through the incarnate Saviour, who was made of a woman, there is salvation for lost sinners: he was born of a woman, and came into the world in order to obtain salvation for them; and he has effected it, and it is in him, for all such who apply to him for it; and with it all true believers, men and women, shall be saved through him,

if they continue in faith and charity, and holiness, with sobriety. The Vulgate Latin version reads in the singular, “if she continues”, c. but the sense is the same for the “she”, or woman, is to be taken in a collective sense, as it is in the context, for many women; even for such as profess faith and godliness. The Syriac and Ethiopic versions render the words, “she shall be saved by her children”, if they continue, c. i.e. she shall be saved by bearing of children, and bringing of them up in a religious way if they, the children, continue as they were brought up; which is a very strange rendering of the words, and is as strange an interpretation of them; and yet is what many have given into, but needs no confutation. The meaning of the words is, that there is salvation through the incarnate Messiah, for all sorts of persons; for all men and women who believe in him, with that faith which works by love, and shows itself in holiness and sobriety; provided that they continue herein. For there are some that profess these things, that have only a temporary faith, and feigned love, and not true holiness; and these fall away, and are not saved; but such who have these graces in truth, as they do, and shall continue in them, so they shall certainly be saved.

t Misn. Sabbat, c. 2. sect. 6.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Through the child-bearing ( ). Late and rare word (in Aristotle). Here alone in N.T. From and this from and root . This translation makes it refer to the birth of the Saviour as glorifying womanhood. That is true, but it is not clear that Paul does not have mostly in mind that child-bearing, not public teaching, is the peculiar function of woman with a glory and dignity all its own. “She will be saved” () in this function, not by means of it.

If they continue ( ). Condition of third class, with first aorist active subjunctive of , to continue. Note change to plural from the singular ().

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

She shall be saved in childbearing [ ] . Better, “through the childbearing.”

(1) Saved is used in the ordinary N. T. sense.

(2) She shall be saved is set over against hath fallen into transgression.

(3) It is difficult to see what is the peculiar saving virtue of childbearing.

(4) The subject of swqhsetai shall be saved is the same as that of ejn parabasei gegonen hath fallen into transgression.

A common explanation is that gunh is to be taken in its generic sense as referring to all Christian mothers, who will be saved in fulfilling their proper destiny and acquiescing in all the conditions of a Christian woman ‘s life, instead of attempting to take an active part as teachers or otherwise in public religious assemblies. On the other hand, the woman, Eve, may be regarded as including all the Christian mothers. Notice the change to the plural,; ‘ if they continue. “She, though she fell into transgression, shall be saved by the childbearing” (Gen 3:15); that is, by the relation in which the woman stood to the Messiah. This seems to be the better explanation. Teknogonia child bearing, N. T. o. o LXX, o Class. Comp. teknogonein to bear children, 1Ti 5:14. The expression is utterly un – Pauline.

If they continue [ ] . They, the woman regarded collectively or as including her descendants. Tho promise does not exempt them from the cultivation of Christian virtues and the discharge of Christian duties. Sanctification [] . A Pauline word; but the triad, faith, love, sanctification, is unique in N. T.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing” (sothesetai de dia tes teknogonias) “Yet she will be saved through the (her) childbearing.” Just as man’s continuing penalty for sin in the flesh is to earn bread by the “sweat of the face,” woman’s continuing penalty of inherent sin is to bear children, to conceive in sorrow. Each finds life’s purpose – the salvation of life -though these channels, even the saved, Php_2:12.

2) “If they continue” (ean meinosin) “If they remain, or abide, the husband and wife remain or abide in their duties to a) God, b) society, and c) each other; Gen 3:15-19.

a) “In faith” (en pistei) In faith toward God, each other, and their call to labor in the world.

b) “And charity” (kai agape) and love” in love toward God each other, and society.

c) “And hoIiness” (kai hagiasmo) “And sanctification,” and sanctification in marital relations. The two are to find their greatest salvation in life in fidelity to each other ’til death, Eph 5:31.

d) “With sobriety” (meta sophrosunes) With sobriety or seriousness like purpose of husband and wife relations are to be pursued until their bond of marriage is broken in death. This is the primary will of God, Gen 2:24.

The common sense view in scriptural text is that childbearing and rearing, as an acknowledged penalty of sin on all women of Adam’s race, rather than directing and administering public affairs, is woman’s primary function, duty, privilege, and dignity. In bearing children, rearing them, guiding the home, and caring for her husband the woman works out her salvation of life. This life is to be done in modesty and quietness, not in absolute dumbness toward her husband or in the church.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

15 But she shall be saved The weakness of the sex renders women more suspicious and timid, and the preceding statement might greatly terrify and alarm the strongest minds. For these reasons he modifies what he had said by adding a consolation; for the Spirit of God does not accuse or reproach us, in order to triumph over us, when we are covered with shame, but, when we have been cast down, immediately raises us up. It might have the effect (as I have already said) of striking terror into the minds of women, (45) when they were informed that the destruction of the whole human race was attributed to them; for what will be this condemnation? Especially when their subjection, as a testimony of the wrath of God, is constantly placed before their eyes. Accordingly, Paul, in order to comfort them and render their condition tolerable, informs them that they continue to enjoy the hope of salvation, though they suffer a temporal punishment. It is proper to observe that the good effect of this consolation is twofold. First, by the hope of salvation held out to them, they are prevented from falling into despair through alarm at the mention of their guilt. Secondly, they become accustomed to endure calmly and patiently the necessity of servitude, so as to submit willingly to their husbands, when they are informed that this kind of obedience is both profitable to themselves and acceptable to God. If this passage be tortured, as Papists are wont to do, to support the righteousness of works, the answer is easy. The Apostle does not argue here about the cause of salvation, and therefore we cannot and must not infer from these words what works deserve; but they only shew in what way God conducts us to salvation, to which he has appointed us through his grace.

Through child-bearing To censorious men it might appear absurd, for an Apostle of Christ not only to exhort women to give attention to the birth of offspring, but to press this work as religious and holy to such an extent as to represent it in the light of the means of procuring salvation. Nay, we even see with what reproaches the conjugal bed has been slandered by hypocrites, who wished to be thought more holy than all other men. But there is no difficulty in replying to these sneers of the ungodly. First, here the Apostle does not speak merely about having children, but about enduring all the distresses, which are manifold and severe, both in the birth and in the rearing of children. Secondly, whatever hypocrites or wise men of the world may think of it, when a woman, considering to what she has been called, submits to the condition which God has assigned to her, and does not refuse to endure the pains, or rather the fearful anguish, of parturition, or anxiety about her offspring, or anything else that belongs to her duty, God values this obedience more highly than if, in some other manner, she made a great display of heroic virtues, while she refused to obey the calling of God. To this must be added, that no consolation could be more appropriate or more efficacious then to shew that the very means (so to speak) of procuring salvation are found in the punishment itself.

If they continue in faith In consequence of the old translation having used the expression, “the birth of children,” it has been commonly thought that this clause refers to the children. But the term used by Paul to denote “child-bearing” is a single word, τεκνογονία, and therefore it must refer to the women. As to the verb being plural, and the noun singular, this involves no difficulty; for an indefinite noun, at least when it denotes a multitude, has the force of a collective noun, and therefore easily admits a change from the singular to the plural number.

Besides, that he might not represent all the virtue of women as included in the duties of marriage, immediately afterwards he adds greater virtues, in which it is proper that godly women should excel, that they may differ from irreligious women. Even “child-bearing” is obedience acceptable to God, only so far as it proceeds from faith and love To these two he adds sanctification, which includes all the purity of life which becomes Christian women. Lastly follows sobriety, which he formerly mentioned, while he was speaking about dress; but now he extends it more widely to the other parts of life.

(45) “ C’estoit une chose pour descourager les femmes, et les mettre en desespoir.” — “It was fitted to discourage women, and to reduce them to despair.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(15) Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing.The last words are more accurately and forcibly renderedthrough the childbearing. With that tender and winning courtesy to which, no doubt, humanly speaking, the great missionary owes so much of his vast influence over human hearts, St. Paul, now anxious lest he had wounded with his severe words and stern precepts his Ephesian sisters in Christ, closes his charge to women with a few touching words, bright with the glorious promise they contained. Though their life duties must be different from those of menyet for them, too, as for men, there was one glorious goal; but for themthe women of Christthe only road to the goal was the faithful, true carrying out of the quiet home duties he had just sketched out for them. In other words, women will win the great salvation; but if they would win it, they must fulfil their destiny; they must acquiesce in all the conditions of a womans lifein the forefront of which St. Paul places the all-important functions and duties of a mother.

This is apparently the obvious meaning of the Apostles wordsall this lies on the surfacebut beneath all this the reverent reader can hardly fail to see another and deeper reference (the presence of the article, through the childbearing, gives us the clue)she shall be saved by THE childbearing (the Incarnation) by the relation in which woman stood to the Messiah, in consequence of the primal prophecy that her seed (not mans) should bruise the serpents head (Gen. 3:15), the peculiar function of her sex, from its relation to her Saviour, shall be the medium of her salvation. (See Bishop Ellicott, in loco.)

If they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.But let no one think that the true saintly woman, painted with such matchless skill by St. Paul, satisfies the conditions of her life by merely fulfilling the duties of a mother.

She must besides, if she would win her crown, hold fast to the Masters well-known teaching, which enjoins on all His own disciples, men as well as women, faith and love, holiness and modesty. The last word, modesty, or discretion, or sobriety (all poor renderings of the Greek sophrosune, which includes, besides, the idea of a fight with and a victory over self), brings back the thoughts to the beautiful Pauline conception of a true woman, who wins her sweet and weighty power in the world by self-effacement.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

15. Be saved in childbearing Rather, through childbearing. It may signify that she shall be saved through or by childbearing as a means or instrument: or throughout the process of childbearing as an endurance. In the former meaning it is plausibly applied by some able commentators to the bearing by woman of the Messiah. Thus she who brought death brought life. Paul’s allusion would then be to Gen 3:15, the prophecy that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent. Woman shall be saved through that wondrous birth.

If they There is here a sudden change from she, woman, to they, women; from the collective sex to its individual members. And thus most remarkably is it expressed that the whole sex may be saved by Christ if its individuals continue in faith. Yet the immediate application of Paul’s words is to the women of the Churches for whom he is laying down regulations of behaviour. The second meaning is, that through even the sorrow of childbearing, imposed by the fall, the sex may be finally saved by the faith of its members, exemplified by the correspondent virtues.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘But she will be saved through her child-bearing, if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety.’

The question may then arise, ‘in that case what can women do? Are they to be prevented from having a major role in God’s purposes’ We have in fact seen one answer to that already, she can abound in ‘good works’ (see also 1Ti 5:10; Rom 16:2), and she can teach other women, although not so much in theological doctrine as in practical living (Tit 2:4). But Paul’s experience of younger women in this regard was not a very happy one. He thus recognised their weaknesses (1Ti 5:11-15). He might have seen it differently today with some women who genuinely determine to remain single. But his argument is that they would do better to marry and have children (1Ti 5:14). Indeed he takes it one step further. He declares that child-bearing is a major element in women experiencing full salvation.

So what does he mean here? The first thing to recognise is that when Paul uses the word ‘saved’ it never means what it can in the Gospels, the healing of the sick. To Paul the word ‘saved’ does not refer to sickness, but has to do with the work of God in men’s lives. Thus it is unlikely here that it has to do with the physical aspects of child birth. However, that being said, he does use it in a number of ways. He can use it of a person’s once for all acceptance by God (1Ti 2:4; Eph 2:8; 2Ti 1:9; Tit 3:5). He can also use if of the future consummation. But he also uses it of the continual work of God on someone who has ‘been saved’, by speaking of them as ‘being saved’ or the equivalent (1Co 1:18; 2Co 2:15; 2Co 7:10; Php 2:12; 1Ti 4:16; 2Ti 3:15; Heb 2:10). In these latter cases the idea is of a process going on within the lives of those who ‘have been saved’ whereby their salvation is being worked out within them. They are in process of being changed from glory to glory (2Co 3:18). That would therefore seem to be Paul’s use here. The idea then is that as she goes through the pains of child-bearing hand in hand with Him, and as she continues in the bringing up of those children in the Lord, God will continue the process of salvation within her. He will work within her through what she is undergoing, causing her to ‘will and do of His good pleasure’ (Php 2:13), and fashioning and moulding her into His image. She will be ‘saved’ by her child-bearing, being changed from glory into glory, as her children grow up ‘continuing in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety.’ This stated connection with salvation makes this a vital part of the picture being supplied in this section.

‘She will be saved through her child-bearing.’ Compare 1Co 3:15, ‘he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire’. The fire was not the basis of his salvation but a means by which his salvation was applied to him so that he would come through it finally acceptable before God. The same applies here to child-bearing.

Nor should we see child-bearing as just a secular occupation. It is to be seen as intimately connected with salvation. The truth is that the solid core of the church of God is built on children borne by Christian women. In some ways they are the lifeblood of the church, and the mission field has certainly owed a huge debt to the children of missionary parents. Without them the church would, humanly speaking, have been in a far worse state than it is today. Indeed one of the dangers of the present day is that enthusiastic Christian women, eager to be involved in what they see to be of prime importance, are planning to restrict their families, or not have one at all, thus unconsciously robbing the church of its central base. (Meanwhile Roman Catholics and Muslims are ensuring the health of their positions by multiplying children). The ‘debt’ that eternity will reveal as owed to godly mothers is beyond telling, and their final influence will probably be seen, in the consummation, to have exceeded that of the majority of ‘elders’ in the church, to say nothing of the ordinary male members. For they are God’s ‘secret service’.

‘If they continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety.’ Paul is not by this ‘if’ making the continuing process of salvation taking place in the mothers dependent on successful Christian living. Rather he is saying that if God is truly working in them the process of salvation (Philippains 1Ti 2:13) these consequences or ‘fruits’ will follow. He is stressing how important their faithfulness to their task is. It is only if they live like this that their children will grow up in godliness, in the way that Paul will leter emphasise that Timothy has (2Ti 1:5; 2Ti 3:15). The mothers are to put every effort into ensuring that their children continue in faith (being founded solidly on the truth) and in love (genuinely loving God and living out His truth in the world) and in sanctification (being made continually more dedicated and more like Christ), and live serious and valuable lives. And part of the way in which they will do this is by their own example.

So Paul’s point is not that their behaviour will result in their final salvation. It is rather to indicate that anyone who fails to live by these standards is unikely to be in the process of ‘being saved’. For these are the fruits of salvation, the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ (Gal 5:22). Those who profess Christianity but fail to lie like this are like the seed sown on rocky ground, outwardly flourishing short term but destined for destruction. Thus it is not a question of – ‘if you do this you will be saved’. It is rather a question of ‘if you do not do this it shows that it is unlikely that you are in the process of being saved’.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

1Ti 2:15. Notwithstanding, she shall be saved in child-bearing, Many and various are the interpretations of this obscure passage. Mr. Locke understands it of being carried safely through child-bearing; which sense Dr. Whitby endeavours to illustrate at large. See on Rom 7:5. 1Co 3:15. Dr. Benson observes, “Having intimated that the man was superior by creation, and the subjection of the woman increased by the fall, the apostle here declares, that if the Christian women continued in holiness and charity, the curse pronounced upon the fall, Gen 3:16 would be removed or mitigated.” Instead of in child-bearing, some render the Greek, by child-birth; namely, by the birth of the Messiah; an interpretation, which Dr. Doddridge adopts, “as, on attentive deliberation, the most probable.” His paraphrase is as follows: “Yet, let them not be despised or upbraided on this account; considering, on the other side, thatshe was also happily instrumentalin producing the great promised Seed, (Gen 3:15.) who was derived from a woman without any human father; and so they shall be saved, as I may say, by child-birth, if there be a suitable readiness not only to profess, but to obey the gospel:if they continue, &c.” See the Introduction to this chapter.

Inferences. How abundantly richer are the privileges of believers under the gospel dispensation than under the Mosaic! and this glorious dispensation has been offered both to Jews and Gentiles, high and low, greater and lesser sinners, in a far more extensive manner than the other was: and, blessed be God! multitudes have come under this high dispensation to the saving knowledge of Christ, who is the only Mediator between the offended God and offending man; and who freely gave himself up to death, as a price of redemption, to satisfy divine justice for all that will perseveringly believe in him, to save them from sin, and from the wrath to come. What a blessed and encouraging ground of hope, and of prayer, does this chapter afford for kings, and governors, and people; that, by the means of a gospel-ministry, which Christ has appointed to testify his atoning death, they may be brought to know and believe in him, though at present they be strangers and enemies to him! and how pleasing to God is it, that Christians, on all occasions, whenever they are engaged in divine worship, without regard to any distinction of places, be importunate in prayer and hearty in thanksgivings, for their political governors, for they are ordained of God for the good of the community, that, under their protection and favour, we may live in quiet possession of our religious and civil rights, and have full liberty for the discharge of all moral and Christian duties!

Women, as well as men, are to behave with decency in public worship, like persons professing godliness: they ought not to deck themselves with splendid attire; they ought not to set their hearts on fine and sumptuous dress, but on the infinitely richer and brighter ornaments of virtue and grace, and abounding in every good work: and remembering the rank in which God has placed their sex by the laws of creation; and after the fall, in which the woman was first in the transgression, they should take heed of every thing that looks like an affectation of superiority over the man, and be silent learners with due subjection, and not preachers in the church: and as ever they would be comforted under the dismal effects of the fall, and be carried safe through the sorrows and dangers of child-bearing, and get at last to heaven, it behoves them to live in the exercise of faith and love, chastity, holiness, and sobriety: for, blessed be God, here is a promise of rich mercy to such.

REFLECTIONS.1st, The apostle exhorts,

1. That supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made in the church for all ranks and conditions of men; particularly for kings, and for all that are in authority, the inferior magistrates, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, protected from all violence and injuries; and, in all godliness and honesty, evincing our unfeigned piety to God, and our unimpeached integrity towards men.

2. He suggests the strongest reasons to support his exhortations. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who enjoins universal charity, and will have all men to be saved; as many of all nations, ranks, and conditions, Gentiles as well as Jews, high and low, rich and poor, as will accept of his salvation, and yield to be saved by grace; and, in order thereunto, has sent out his gospel to call them, that they may come to the knowledge of the truth, by the faith of which only salvation can be obtained. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who, though very God, hath taken our nature into personal union with himself, and, in his glorified body, stands as the alone Mediator before the throne, to make the persons, prayers, and services of his believing people accepted: Who gave himself a ransom all, paying down the price of our redemption in the drops of his own most precious blood, and thereby making a full satisfaction to divine justice for sinners of every condition and degree, as was foretold by the prophets, and to be testified in due time to all nations. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, by a divine commission, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not, as the heart-searching God doth bear me witness), a teacher of the Gentiles, to whom especially I am sent, in faith and verity, to bring them to the true faith of Christ; and this office I labour to discharge with all simplicity and faithfulness. Note; (1.) It is God’s will that we should pray for others as well as for ourselves. (2.) Our encouragement to draw near to a throne of grace is this, that we have one Mediator there, who ever liveth to make intercession for us. (3.) Since Jesus hath paid, and God hath accepted the ransom, all that perseveringly plead it, have a right to the eternal redemption thereby provided. (4.) It is an inestimable blessing to enjoy the light of the gospel, and to sit under the ministry of those who preach it in faith and verity.

3. He directs them how to pray. I will therefore that men, who bear the Christian name, pray every where; not confined to any particular place, since God is alike present in all; in the closet, in the family, as well as in the great congregation: only when we draw near to him, if we would obtain acceptance, we must be found lifting up holy hands, not polluted with allowed sin, but washed in the atoning Blood, without wrath and doubting; since harboured malice, unbelieving distrust of God, and a contentious spirit, must necessarily destroy the efficacy of prayer.

2nd, The apostle directs how women professing godliness should behave,
1. With modesty. In like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety: not with broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. What a contrast to this description are our manners! Yet the truly gracious woman will still think modesty her brightest ornament; and when fashion imposes ought that is fantastical, extravagant, or immodest, will dare to disobey.

2. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection; not presuming to be speakers in the house of God, but hearers; for I suffer not a woman to teach in public, nor to usurp authority over the man, by that or any other instance of affected superiority; but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve, from his side (Gen 2:21.), to denote her inferiority. And Adam was not deceived by the serpent, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression; and he, seduced by her, or out of fond affection determined to die with her, wilfully followed her example. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in child-bearing, amidst all the anguish which flows from the sentence pronounced on her (Gen 3:16); and through that child which is born of woman, the adored Immanuel, she shall obtain everlasting salvation; if they continue in faith and charity, and holiness with sobriety, and prove themselves, and continue living members of Christ, in whom there is no difference between male or female, but both are alike called to partake of his grace and glory.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Ti 2:15 . ] is in opposition to the previous . Still this sentence is not intended merely to moderate the judgment pronounced in 1Ti 2:14 (Matthies); after the apostle has forbidden to the woman any activity in church assemblies as unbecoming to her, he now points to the destiny assigned her by God, the fulfilment of which brings salvation to her. The subject of is , to be supplied from the preceding words; but, of course, it applies collectively to the whole sex, while referring specially to Eve. [108]

is to be taken here in the sense which it continually has in the N. T. (not then equivalent to “she will win for herself merit and reward,” de Wette). Every reason to the contrary falls to the ground, if only we consider that is regarded as the destiny assigned to the woman by God, and that to the woman is assured by it under the condition given in the words following: . . . It is to be noted also, that though faith is the only source of salvation, the believer must not fail in fulfilling his duties in faith, if he is to partake in the .

is taken by several expositors (also Wiesinger) in the sense of “in;” [109] but this is wrong, for either this signification “in” passes over into the signification “by means of,” or it has much the same force as “notwithstanding, in spite of” (Rom 2:27 ; see Meyer on the passage); , however, cannot be used in this sense, since would in that case have been regarded as a hindrance to the attainment of the . This militates also against Hofmann’s view, “that has the same meaning here as in 1Co 3:15 , to be saved as through something;” this explanation also makes the appear to be something through which the woman’s is endangered. [110]

, a word which occurs only here in the N. T. (as also only in chap. 1Ti 5:14 , and only in chap. 1Ti 5:10 ), can have here nothing but its etymological meaning. Some, quite wrongly, have taken it as a term for the marriage state, and others have made it synonymous with . This latter view is found in the oldest expositors; thus Theophylact remarks, not without wit: , , , , .

The question, how the contributes to the , is answered by most by supplying [111] with the one or the other something of which there is no hint in the words of the apostle, and by which the thought is more or less altered. This much may be granted, that Paul, by laying stress on the (the occasion for which was probably the on the part of the heretics, chap. 1Ti 4:3 ), assigns to the woman, who has to conduct herself as passive in the assemblies, the domestic life as the sphere in which especially in regard to the children she has to exercise her activity (comp. 1Ti 5:14 ).

In order not to be misunderstood, as if he had said that the as a purely external fact affects , he adds the following words: . . . The subject of is the collective idea (see Winer, pp. 481, 586 [E. T. pp. 648, 787]), and not, as many older (Chrysostom and others) and later (Schleiermacher, Mack, Leo, Plitt) expositors think: “the children.” This latter might indeed be supplied from , but it would give a wrong idea.

It is quite arbitrary, with Heydenreich, to supply “man and wife.”

Paul uses the expressions . . . to denote the Christian life in its various aspects. They are not to be limited to the relation of married life, denoting conjugal fidelity; , conjugal love; , conjugal chastity; and , living in regular marriage. is named along with the preceding cardinal virtues of the Christian life, because it peculiarly becomes the thoughts of a woman (comp. 1Ti 2:9 ), not because “a woman is apt to lose control of herself through her excitable temperament” (Hofmann). There is in the context no hint of a reference to female weakness. [112]

[108] Even Theophylact declared against the curious view, that Mary is to be taken here as subject. Clearly also Eve cannot here be meant.

[109] Van Oosterzee translates by “by means of,” and then says: “it simply indicates a condition in which the woman becomes a partaker of blessedness,” leaving it uncertain in what relation the apostle places to .

[110] Hofmann says in explanation: “If it is appointed to the woman to bear children in pain, she might succumb under such a burden of life;” but, in reply, it is to be observed that does not mean “to bear children with pain .”

[111] Most think of the faithful fulfilment of maternal duty in the education of children. Chrysostom: , , , . According to Heinrichs, Paul means here to say: mulier jam hoc in mundo peccatorum poenas luit, . eo, quod cum dolore parturit, adeoque haec . eam quasi putanda est, et ipsa . The passage quoted by Heinrichs, Gen 3:16 , does not denote the as such, but the pains connected with it as a punishment of transgression. According to Plitt, the . serves to farther the woman’s ; on the one hand, because by the fulfilment of her wish gratitude is aroused within her; on the other hand, because of her care for her children she is preserved from many frivolities.

[112] De Wette asserts too much when he says that this passage is in contradiction with 1Co 7:7 ff., 1Co 7:25 ff., 1Co 7:38 ff. The truth is rather that the matter is regarded from various points of view. In 1 Corinthians the apostle is delivering his judgment, while he considers the difficult position of Christians amid the hostility of the world, without for a moment denying that is an ordinance of God. Here, however, he is considering only the latter point, without entering into every detail.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

REFLECTIONS

IN the opening of this Chapter, we derive authority for the use of prayer, not only for the Church, but for the world: while the precept, which enjoins prayers for all men, plainly directs, to what the subject of those prayers should lead. And, while the Church becomes a blessing, as a dew from the Lord, in the midst of many people, to keep the whole community from consuming drought; the Church derives protection, in temporal quietness, from the prosperity of the nation where it dwells.

Blessed Mediator of thy people! Every renewed view of thee, is refreshing to the soul! Lord! let it be testified in due time, to all thy blood-bought children, the infinitely precious ransom, which thou hast given of thyself, to redeem them from all iniquity. And oh! let the sweet assurance of salvation, in the child-bearing, when our great Emmanuel was born of a woman, open an everlasting source of consolation, to all his faithful seed. And if it please our God, let all the faithful daughters of thy chosen generation, while partaking in the Eve-fruit of transgression, in passing through the hour of sorrow, partake also in this sweet promise in thee; and cause them by thy Holy Spirit, to continue in faith, and charity, and holiness, with sobriety.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

Ver. 15. Saved in childbearing ] for , ut Rom 11:28 . Not by it, as by a cause; but notwithstanding the cross laid upon all childbearing women, Gen 3:16 , they shall have free entrance into heaven, if they continue in faith and charity, &c.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

15 .] But (contrast to this her great and original defect) she (general) shall be saved through (brought safely through, but in the higher, which is with St. Paul the only sense of , see below) her child-bearing (in order to understand the fulness of the meaning of here, we must bear in mind the history itself, to which is the constant allusion. The curse on the woman for her was, ( Gen 3:16 ). Her is that in which the curse finds its operation. 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 purposely for its higher meaning, and the construction of the sentence is precisely as ref. 1 Cor. , . Just as that man should be saved through, as passing through, fire which is his trial, his hindrance in his way, in spite of which he escapes, so she shall be saved, through, as passing through, her child-bearing, which is her trial, her curse, her (not means of salvation, but) hindrance in the way of it.

The other renderings which have been given seem to me both irrelevant and ungrammatical. Chrys., Thl., al., for instance, would press to mean the Christian education of children: Heinrichs, strangely enough, holds that her . is the punishment of her sin, and that being undergone, she shall be saved ., i.e. by having paid it. Conyb. gives it ‘ women will be saved by the bearing of children ,’ i.e., as he explains it in his note, “are to be kept in the path of safety (?) by the performance of the peculiar functions which God has assigned to their sex.” Some, in their anxiety to give the instrumental meaning, would understand , ‘by means of the Child-bearing ,’ i.e. ‘the Incarnation:’ a rendering which needs no refutation. I see that Ellicott maintains this latter interpretation: still I find no reason to qualify what I have above written. 1Co 3:15 seems to me so complete a key of Pauline usage of , that I cannot abandon the path opened by it, till far stronger reason has been shewn than he here alleges. In his second edition he has not in any way strengthened his argument, nor has he taken any notice of the Pauline usage which I allege. After all, it is mainly a question of exegetical tact: and I own I am surprised that any scholar can believe it possible that St. Paul can have expressed the Incarnation by the bare word . He himself in this same Epistle, 1Ti 5:14 , uses the cognate verb, of the ordinary bearing of children: and these are the only places where the compound occurs in the N. T.), if they (generic plural as before singular) have remained (shall be found in that day to have remained a further proof of the higher meaning of ) in faith and love and holiness (see reff., where the word is used in the same reference, of holy chastity) with self-restraint (see above on 1Ti 2:9 ).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1Ti 2:15 . : The penalty for transgression, so far as woman is concerned, was expressed in the words, “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children” (Gen 3:16 ). But just as in the case of man, the world being as it is, the sentence has proved a blessing, so it is in the case of woman. “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread” expresses man’s necessity, duty, privilege, dignity. If the necessity of work be “a stumbling-block,” man can “make it a stepping-stone” (Browning, The Ring and the Book, The Pope , 413), Nay, it is the only stepping-stone available to him. If St. Paul’s argument had led him to emphasise the man’s part in the first transgression, he might have said, “He shall be saved in his toil,” his overcoming the obstacles of nature.

So St. Paul, taking the common-sense view that childbearing, rather than public teaching or the direction of affairs, is woman’s primary function duty, privilege and dignity, reminds Timothy and his readers that there was another aspect of the story in Genesis besides that of woman’s taking the initiative in transgression: the pains of childbirth were her sentence, yet in undergoing these she finds her salvation. She shall be saved in her childbearing (R.V. m. nearly). That is her normal and natural duty; and in the discharge of our normal and natural duties we all, men and women alike, as far as our individual efforts can contribute to it, “work out our own salvation”.

This explanation gives an adequate force to , and preserves the natural and obvious meaning of , and gives its force to . here has hardly an instrumental force (as Vulg. per filiorum generationem ); it is rather the of accompanying circumstances, as in 1Co 3:15 . . It remains to note three other explanations:

(1) She shall be “preserved in the great danger of child-birth”.

(2) Women shall be saved if they bring up their children well, as if = . So Chrys.

(3) She shall be saved by means of the Childbearing “of Mary, which gave to the world the Author of our Salvation” (Liddon). “The peculiar function of her sex (from its relation to her Saviour) shall be the medium of her salvation” (Ellicott). The R.V., saved through the childbearing , is possibly patient of this interpretation. No doubt it was the privilege of woman alone to be the medium of the Incarnation. This miraculous fact justifies us perhaps in pressing the language of Gen 3:15 , “thy seed,” and in finding an allusion (though this is uncertain) in Gal 4:4 , ; but woman cannot be said to be saved by means of a historic privilege, even with the added qualification, “if they continue,” etc. See Luk 11:27-28 , “Blessed is the womb that bare thee. Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God,” etc.

: This use of with and an abstract noun is chiefly Johannine, as the reff. show.

The subject of is usually taken to be ; but inasmuch as St. Paul has been speaking of women in the marriage relation, it seems better to understand the plural of the woman and her husband. Compare 1Co 7:36 where refers to the and her betrothed, whose existence is implied in the question of her marriage. If this view be accepted, then , , and refer respectively to the duties of the man and wife to God, to society, and to each other: faith towards God, love to the community, and sanctification in their marital relations. See chap. 1Ti 4:12 where these three virtues are again combined. See 1Ti 2:9 for .

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Notwithstanding = But.

in = through. App-104, 1Ti 2:1,

childbearing = the childbearing. Greek. teknogonia. Only here.

if. App-118.1. b.

continue. Greek. meno. See p. 1511.

charity = love, as in 1Ti 1:6.

holiness. Greek. hagiasmos. See Rom 6:19.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

15.] But (contrast to this her great and original defect) she (general) shall be saved through (brought safely through, but in the higher, which is with St. Paul the only sense of , see below) her child-bearing (in order to understand the fulness of the meaning of here, we must bear in mind the history itself, to which is the constant allusion. The curse on the woman for her was, (Gen 3:16). Her is that in which the curse finds its operation. 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 purposely for its higher meaning, and the construction of the sentence is precisely as ref. 1 Cor.- , . Just as that man should be saved through, as passing through, fire which is his trial, his hindrance in his way, in spite of which he escapes,-so she shall be saved, through, as passing through, her child-bearing, which is her trial, her curse, her (not means of salvation, but) hindrance in the way of it.

The other renderings which have been given seem to me both irrelevant and ungrammatical. Chrys., Thl., al., for instance, would press to mean the Christian education of children: Heinrichs, strangely enough, holds that her . is the punishment of her sin, and that being undergone, she shall be saved ., i.e. by having paid it. Conyb. gives it women will be saved by the bearing of children, i.e., as he explains it in his note, are to be kept in the path of safety (?) by the performance of the peculiar functions which God has assigned to their sex. Some, in their anxiety to give the instrumental meaning, would understand , by means of the Child-bearing, i.e. the Incarnation: a rendering which needs no refutation. I see that Ellicott maintains this latter interpretation: still I find no reason to qualify what I have above written. 1Co 3:15 seems to me so complete a key of Pauline usage of , that I cannot abandon the path opened by it, till far stronger reason has been shewn than he here alleges. In his second edition he has not in any way strengthened his argument, nor has he taken any notice of the Pauline usage which I allege. After all, it is mainly a question of exegetical tact: and I own I am surprised that any scholar can believe it possible that St. Paul can have expressed the Incarnation by the bare word . He himself in this same Epistle, 1Ti 5:14, uses the cognate verb, of the ordinary bearing of children: and these are the only places where the compound occurs in the N. T.), if they (generic plural as before singular) have remained (shall be found in that day to have remained-a further proof of the higher meaning of ) in faith and love and holiness (see reff., where the word is used in the same reference, of holy chastity) with self-restraint (see above on 1Ti 2:9).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

1Ti 2:15. , but she shall be saved) She shall be rescued from that offence (and from its consequences).- , in child-bearing) The part of the woman is here described, in antithesis to the duty of teaching and governing: , bringing forth and training children. He is not speaking here as to the properly-called cause of salvation; for many who bring forth children nevertheless perish: many, who do not bear children, are saved; but the state or condition is denoted, in which a woman may be likely to obtain salvation, although she be not mixed up with the duty that belongs to the man. Wherefore the if has a stronger force here than , in: and the continuing takes for granted the standing in faith, etc.-, if they continue) Namely, the women. A Syllepsis[19] of the number. For sobriety, which is presently praised, is competent for (a grace peculiarly becoming in) women: comp. 1Ti 2:9. Let them remain within these bounds.- , in faith and love) General divisions.- ) in holiness with sobriety. A special part of sanctification is modesty or moderation, a grace which regulates man in respect of himself, as faith in respect of God, love in respect of our neighbour: , holiness, especially chastity: , moderation, self-control, 1Ti 2:9; 1Ti 2:11

[19] A figure whereby , the singular, is here expressed, whilst the plural is meant. And accordingly the plural verb is put, agreeing with , women, understood.-ED.

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Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

1Ti 2:15

but she shall be saved through her child-bearing,-Child-bearing here embraces not only the act of childbearing, but the life of caring for and training children that the bringing of them into the world necessitates. This domestic life of child rearing is placed in contrast with the forward public life in which she had blundered, and she is told that in this quiet life women shall be saved.

if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety.-If they continue in faith in God and love to humanity and holiness of life, coupled with a modest, retiring behavior. Sometimes women and men, too, think this is assigning women to an inferior position. Inferior in the sense that she is not by nature, physically or morally, suited to public positions or to counteract the rougher elements of the world. But she is of finer texture physically and morally than man. and is better fitted (superior to man) for work of nursing, training children, and keeping home attractive and cheerful. She is the trainer of children and the companion of man in the home, becomes the conservator of virtue, morality, and religion and of all the purifying and elevating influences shed by them. No more sacred and no higher office did God ever lay on mortals than that he has laid on woman-to bear and train children and subjects for his everlasting kingdom. The woman who neglects the duties she owes her children and her home for the public life that God has created for man leaves her work, her character, and her mission.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

she: Gen 3:15, Isa 7:14, Isa 9:6, Jer 31:22, Mat 1:21-25, Luk 2:7, Luk 2:10, Luk 2:11, Gal 4:4, Gal 4:5

in childbearing: Gen 3:16

in faith: 1Ti 1:5

sobriety: 1Ti 2:9, Tit 2:12, 1Pe 4:7

Reciprocal: Gen 35:16 – hard labour Lev 12:5 – General Joh 8:31 – If Rom 12:3 – soberly 2Co 6:4 – in all 2Co 13:5 – in the faith 1Th 5:6 – sober Jam 1:25 – and 1Pe 3:5 – who 1Pe 5:8 – sober

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

1Ti 2:15. While Eve was the first woman, and the one who brought transgression into the world, all women bear the same relation to God as to responsibility. We know Paul means to include them in the argument, for he has been writing to women of his day, and referred to Eve only to show the reason why he placed the restrictions on her–on women in general. However, such restrictions as he placed on woman need not endanger her salvation as we shall see. -the shall be saved in childbearing. This cannot mean the woman is given assurance of passing safely through childbirth, for the salvation is made conditional that she continue in faith, etc. It would be foolish to say a woman will live through childbirth provided she lives right afterward. Neither can it mean she will be saved through the birth of Christ, for that is true also of man, if he is saved at all. But it is replied that a woman was chosen to bring the Saviour into the world, hence she and her kind have the promise of salvation through her act. Again, that is just as necessary for the man as for the woman. The part that Mary performed in nurturing and bringing forth Jesus into this life was just like the experience of all mothers. It was the conception that was different, and that was not anything done by her personal choice. The italicized words are preceded by the word notwithstanding. Although the first woman transgressed, and as a result all her daughters down through the ages are destined to suffer the increased inconvenience and added sorrow of childbirth, yet that very thing will be one of the conditions on which she can save her soul. There are regular terms of salvation set forth in the Gospel, and all men and women must observe them regardless of their station in life. But there are special duties that apply in particular to those who are parents or children; husbands or wives; and neither of them can take the place of the other, and no two of them have the same obligations. The special duty of woman is to bear children, which is one of the conditions on which she may be saved. Of course, motherhood alone will not assure a woman of salvation, but she must follow it up with a life of faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. In 1Ti 5:14 Paul commands women to marry and bear children. It is therefore one of the conditions of salvation imposed upon woman. A woman who is able to bear children and refuses to do so, will find herself in trouble on the judgment day.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

1Ti 2:15. Saved in childbearing. Better by childbearing. There seems no ground (in spite of the authority of some great names) for taking the Greek article as giving a meaning of pre-eminence to the word that follows it She shall be saved by the childbirth, i.e. by the seed of the woman, the incarnate Christ. It is scarcely credible that St. Paul, if he meant this, would have expressed it so obscurely. We may, I believe, see in this a kind of bold Luther-like way of stating that home life rather than public life, the functions of a mother rather than of a teacher, are appointed for her. At first, it is true, the latter were assigned as a punishment; but they shall become her way of salvation, if only she fulfils the ethical relations that attach to it. Comp. the similar advice in 1Ti 5:14.

With sobriety. The force of the change of preposition seems to be that the other graces, excellent as they are, require, each and all, to be coupled with the self-reverence, as contrasted with self-assertion, on which St. Paul is insisting.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Our apostle having, in the preceding verse, acquainted us with the woman’s sin, that she was in the transgression, and first in the transgression; in this verse he informs the woman of a part of her punishment for that her transgression; and that is, the severe pain and extreme peril of child-bearing.

He acquaints her, 2. With her comfort and support under that punishment; and that is, a hope of salvation: She shall be saved in child-bearing.

3. With the condition upon which that hope of salvation is grounded and bottomed: If she continue in faith and charity, and holiness with sobriety.

Learn, 1. That pain in child-bearing is a part of that punishment which was inflicted by God upon the woman for her first sin; and accordingly the woman’s sorrow and sensible feeling of the pains of child-birth ought to bring to her remembrance her original and first transgression. Surely when the woman feels the original punishment, it ought to remind her of her original sin, as a child ought to remember his fault at that very instant when he is under his father’s rod.

Learn, 2. That the infliction of this punishment, (the pains of child-bearing,) even unto death, is and shall be no hinderance of the woman’s eternal salvation, if there be found with her those holy qualifications and gracious conditions which the gospel requires; partly in regard to the relation which God stands in to her, partly in regard of the covenant which God has made with her. A child is as much a child under the rod as in the bosom; neither the father’s stroke nor the child’s grief can dissolve that relation.

Learn, 3. That faith and charity, holiness and sobriety, with a perseverance therein, are the great conditions of the gospel, upon which the woman’s eternal salvation in that hazardous condition doth depend. She shall be saved in child-bearing, if she continue in faith and charity, and holiness with sobriety.

The words may also refer to the woman’s temporal deliverance in the time of travail; and the sense runs thus: “She shall be saved in child-bearing, that is, she shall go through the pains of child-birth with safety, if she continue in faith, putting her trust in God for deliverance, in charity exercising compassion to those in the like condition; and in the exercise of temperance, sobriety, and chastity, according to her matrimonial vow.”

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

1Ti 2:15. Notwithstanding, she shall be saved in child-bearing That is, says Locke, she shall be carried safely through child-bearing; a sense which Dr. Whitby illustrates at large, and which Dr. Benson seems partly to adopt, observing, The apostle having intimated that the man was superior by creation, and the subjection of the woman increased by the fall, he here declares, that if the Christian women continued in holiness and charity, the curse pronounced upon the fall would be removed or mitigated. To the same purpose also Baxter paraphrases the words: Though her sin had brought her low, and even under a curse, in the pain and peril of child-bearing, she is, even in that low and sad condition, under Gods merciful protection, and saving covenant of grace, which contains the promise of this life and that to come, if she continue in faith, charity, and purity, with sobriety. He adds another interpretation, as follows: Though sin and sorrow in travail came in by the woman, yet by a womans child-bearing a Saviour came into the world, (which is some reparation of the honour of the sex,) and so the women may be saved as well as the men by Christ. This latter sense is nearly that adopted by Macknight, who thus paraphrases on the verse: However, though Eve was first in transgression, and brought death on herself, her husband, and her posterity, the female sex shall be saved equally with the male; through child-bearing; through bringing forth the Saviour; if they live in faith, and love, and chastity, with that sobriety which I have been recommending. He adds, by way of note, The word , saved, in this verse, refers to , the woman, in the foregoing verse, who is certainly Eve. But the apostle did not mean to say that she alone was to be saved through child-bearing; but that all her posterity, whether male or female, are to be saved through the childbearing of a woman; as is evident from his adding, If they live in faith, and love, and holiness, with sobriety. For safety in child-bearing doth not depend on that condition, since many pious women die in child-bearing; while others of a contrary character are preserved. The salvation of the human race through child-bearing, was intimated in the sentence passed on the serpent, Gen 3:15; I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head. Accordingly, the Saviour being conceived in the womb of his mother by the power of the Holy Ghost, he is truly the seed of the woman who was to bruise the head of the serpent. And a woman, by bringing him forth, hath been the occasion of our salvation. If they continue in faith The change in the number of the verb from the singular to the plural, which is introduced here, was designed by the apostle to show that he does not speak of Eve, nor of any particular woman, [merely,] but of the whole sex.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Verse 15

In child-bearing; in her appropriate province of rearing and educating her children. The meaning is, that if she devote herself patiently and faithfully to the duties of her proper sphere, the way of eternal salvation is open to her as well as to man.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

1Ti 2:15 “Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.”

Many are the suggestions about the meaning of this difficult expression. We may not answer this one completely.

Let us just list some of the possible explanations of this text.

1. She will be spared becoming totally involved in the world system or society because she is home taking care of kids. She will be spared the troublesomeness of being out in the world.

Well, that doesn’t really fit in our world. If this was a promise of God, many Christian women are not enjoying it today.

2. Some suggest that she will get safely through childbirth – not succumbing to death.

I’m not sure that I would want to state that, because I have no facts to state that a Christian woman has never died in giving birth to a child.

3. Some teach that having many children results in better chances of entering into heaven. This is not acceptable! Salvation is based on the Blood of Christ not a woman having children.

4. It has been suggested that she will be saved from not being “worthless” spiritually. She will be serving God by giving birth to and raising children. She is being saved from being fruitless – due to her limitation in teaching in the assembly – but will be very productive as a mother.

The term translated saved can be used of being saved from destruction, but it also has the thought of saved TO completeness. The woman is completed in childbirth might be the thought here. I think most women would agree to this thought that having a child completes them as a woman.

Paul adds some modifiers to the thought of raising kids as well. He encourages faith, charity, holiness, and sobriety. I would challenge all women to study that list that Paul gives to you to live up to!

Not to say that the fellows shouldn’t take a look at the list for themselves!

Faith that continues is faith that is always there to meet the needs in prayer and trusting the Lord for answers to life’s problems.

Charity that continues is love that is available at all times. Not just now and then when you want to – but all the time – anytime that someone needs it.

Holiness that continues is holiness that is always there. The children and husband never need to worry about this woman – they know that she is walking with God. It is a holiness that is always there. You don’t find the holiness going in the glove box when they get behind the wheel, or the holiness that stays in the closet when the gossip session begins.

Sobriety relates to soundness of mind. The woman is in control of her mind at all times. She doesn’t allow it to become clouded by influences from within or from without. (The term only appears here and in 1Ti 2:9 and in Act 26:25.)

Sobriety that continues is found in the woman that really is together, and together all the time. Things might shake her for a short time, but she is back on top very quickly.

SOME CONCLUSIONS TO OUR STUDY OF CHAPTER TWO:

Paul does not tell us to go out and demonstrate – He tells us to PRAY for the leaders! It isn’t that demonstrations are wrong, but it is a question of if they are proper for the believer. How will your testimony wash if someone knows that you have been in that particular demonstration?

It is a matter of whether you are breaking the law or not.

It is a matter of whether God led you into it or someone else.

It is a matter of priorities. We are to be evangelizing the world. How will this demonstration help do that?

Paul stresses prayer and submission. I believe the two go hand in hand. Prayer is of the utmost importance in the Christian’s life. If you aren’t praying on a regular basis then you are missing God’s best blessing. Fellowship with the Creator of the heavens and the earth. It really helps to get prayer into your life.

Some quick thoughts on prayer:

1. Before you ask for anything seek forgiveness for your sin.

2. Be sure you are saved!

3. Be honest with God. Don’t try to put on a front for God. I have a hint for you – He knows better!

4. Be regular about it.

5. Try a prayer list. Item, date requested and date answered.

6. Try short prayers through the day when you have a few moments.

7. Be persistent about a request until you feel it is answered.

8. Combine praise with your requests.

9. Be open to God’s bidding – He may want you to be part of the answer.

10. Be sure the rest of your life is in proper order – sin wise -service wise – and give wise.

11. Pray with someone else as often as possible.

12. Pray longer than you think you should.

13. Share answered prayer with other Christians. It will encourage you as well as others.

14. If you’re just starting a regular prayer life, start with a short but specific amount of time.

I trust that the thoughts given have been uplifting to women. I trust I have not offended anyone – women are God’s special gift to men – they are not second class citizens, though our society hasn’t really given fact to that as yet. They do have their place in the order of God’s plan – a very special place.

Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson

2:15 {11} Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

(11) He adds a comfort by the way, that their subjection does not hinder women from being saved as well as men, if they behave themselves in those duties of marriage in a holy and modest manner, with faith and charity.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Perhaps the best explanation of this difficult verse is this. God promised women a life of fulfillment as mothers in the home, provided they walk with the Lord, rather than as teachers and leaders in the church.

"The meaning of sozo [to save] in this passage is once again something like ’spiritual health,’ a full and meaningful life. This fits the context quite well. Paul has just excluded women from positions of teaching authority in the church (1Ti 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. A salvation which comes only to mothers who persist in faithful service is not the faith alone salvation taught elsewhere." [Note: Dillow, p. 126. Cf. Bailey, p. 357.]

I believe this interpretation has fewer problems than the others. It balances Paul’s argument in this section (1Ti 2:8-15) and stays on the subject rather than switching to a discussion of a subject farther removed from the context. Some of these possible subjects are how women experience eternal salvation, or how they experience physical deliverance when giving birth, or how they experience spiritual deliverance from moral corruption. Some interpreters have even suggested that Paul was alluding to the saving effect of Jesus Christ’s birth. [Note: E.g., Knight, pp. 146-48.] Paul also may have wanted his female readers, who seem to have been under the influence of feministic teaching, to value the privilege of bearing and rearing children. [Note: Towner, The Letters . . ., p. 235; Winter, pp. 109-12.]

One significant problem with the view I prefer is this. If this is the true interpretation, can a woman who does not bear children find fulfillment in life? I believe Paul would have responded that certainly a single woman or a married woman who is not a mother can find fulfillment as a woman of God. However usually women find their greatest fulfillment as mothers. Perhaps we underestimate home influence and overestimate pulpit influence (cf. 2Ti 1:5). An old saying goes, "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." I believe Paul was again assuming a typical situation (cf. 1Ti 2:11-12): most women bear children. Even though a woman may not be able to bear physical children she may have spiritual children and so find great fulfillment (cf. 1Ti 1:2; 1Ti 5:10-11; 1Ti 5:14). Of course every human being-male or female, married or single-finds his or her greatest fulfillment in life through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. [Note: See Douglas J. Moo, "1 Timothy 2:11-15: Meaning and Significance," Trinity Journal 1NS:1 (Spring 1980):62-83; and Jack Buckley, "Paul, Women, and the Church: How fifteen modern interpreters understand five key passages," Eternity, December 1980, pp. 30-35.]

"Paul employed the term ’childbirth’ as a synecdoche for that part of the woman’s work that describes the whole." [Note: Lea, p. 102.]

A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part represents the whole or the whole stands for a part.

Paul balanced what women should not do with what they can do. In popular presentations of what the Bible teaches about women’s ministries this balance is frequently absent. After the presentation is over, women often leave feeling that they can do either anything or nothing depending on the presentation. One must be careful to maintain balance in the exposition of this subject, as Paul did.

To summarize, I believe Paul exhorted the males in the "household of God" (i.e., the local church, 1Ti 3:15) to function as mediators between Jesus Christ, humankind’s mediator with God, and His people. They should do this by praying, teaching, and leading the church. The women should concentrate on facilitating godliness in the church family as well as in their homes by learning, by cultivating good works, and by living godly lives. This is the hierarchical view of the passage. The egalitarian view is that there is nothing in this passage that limits the role of women in the church. [Note: See Alan Padgett, "Wealthy Women at Ephesus," Interpretation 41:1 (January 1987):19-31, for this view. Ronald W. Pierce, "Evangelicals and Gender Roles in the 1990s: 1 Timothy 2:8-15: A Test Case," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 36:3 (September 1993):343-55, gave reasons he changed from the hierarchical to the egalitarian view.]

Women who try to minister in traditionally male roles face difficulty because of psychological factors involving themselves and those to whom they seek to minister. [Note: See Andrew D. Lester, "Some Observations on the Psychological Effects of Women in Ministry," Review and Expositor 83:1 (Winter 1986):63-70.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)