bible_study/Thoughts/Difficult Passages.md

> [!Bible]- [1Timothy 2:15 - ESV](https://bolls.life/ESV/54/2/)
> 15. Yet she will be saved through childbearing — if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

> [!NOTE]- John MacArthur
> https://www.gty.org/library/bibleqnas-library/QA0139/how-are-women-saved-through-childbearing
> 
> The following is an excerpt from _The MacArthur New Testament Commentary_ on 1 Timothy 2.
> 
> **But women shall be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint. (2:15)****Preserved** is from _sozo_, the common New Testament word for salvation. The word can also mean “to rescue,” “to preserve safe and unharmed,” “to heal,” “to set free,” or “to deliver from.” It appears a number of times in the New Testament without reference to spiritual salvation (cf.. [Matt. 8:25](https://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Matt.%208.25); [9:21–22](https://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Matt%209.21%E2%80%9322); [10:22](https://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Matt%2010.22); [24:22](https://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Matt%2024.22); [27:40](https://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Matt%2027.40), [42](https://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Matt%2027.42), [49](https://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Matt%2027.49); [2 Tim. 4:18](https://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/2%20Tim.%204.18)). Paul obviously does not intend to teach that women are eternally saved from the wages of sin **through the bearing of children**. That would contradict the New Testament’s teaching that salvation is by grace through faith alone (cf.. [Rom. 3:19–20](https://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Rom.%203.19%E2%80%9320)). The future tense and the use of the plural pronoun they indicate that he was not even referring to Eve. The plural and the absence of any connection to the context show Paul was not referring to Mary, the mother of Jesus, as some suggest.
>
>Paul teaches here that although a woman precipitated the Fall and women bear that responsibility, yet they may be preserved from that stigma through childbearing. The rescue, the delivery, the freeing of women from the stigma of having led the race into sin happens when they bring up a righteous seed. What a perfect counter! Women are far from being second-class citizens because they have the primary responsibility for rearing godly children. Mothers spend far more time with their children than do their fathers, and thus have the greater influence. Fathers cannot know the intimate relationship with their children that their mother establishes from pregnancy, birth, infancy, and early childhood. Paul’s point is that while a woman may have led the race into sin, women have the privilege of leading the race out of sin to godliness. That does not mean that God wants all women to bear children; some He doesn’t even want married ([1 Cor. 7:25–40](https://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/1%20Cor.%207.25%E2%80%9340)). Paul speaks in general terms. The pain associated with childbirth was the punishment for the woman’s sin ([Gen. 3:16](https://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Gen.%203.16)), but the joy and privilege of child rearing delivers women from the stigma of that sin.
>
>For women to reverse the blight that has befallen them in the Fall and fulfill their calling they need to raise a godly seed. To do that, they must **continue in faith and love**, where their salvation really rests. And they must continue in **sanctity** (Holiness) **with self-restraint** (the same word translated “discreetly” in verse 9). It is the very appearance, demeanor, and behavior demanded of believing women in the church that becomes their deliverance from any inferior status, as they live godly and raise godly children.
>
>In this passage we see how God has perfectly balanced the roles of the sexes. (For a complete discussion of the design of God for men and women in the church, see my book _Different by Design_ [Wheaton, Ill.: Victor, 1994].) Men are to be the leaders in the church and the family. Women are kept from any accusation of inferiority through the godly influence they have in the lives of their precious children. For the church to depart from this divine order is to perpetuate the disaster of the Fall.

> [!NOTE]- David Guzik
> https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/guzik_david/study-guide/1-timothy/1-timothy-2.cfm?a=1121015
> 
> 1. ([1 Timothy 2:15](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lsb/1ti/2/15/s_1121015)) Being a Christian woman in light of Eve’s curse.
>
>Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.
>
>a. **Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing**: Many people regard this as one of the most difficult passages in the whole Bible. On the surface, it could be taken to mean that if a woman continues in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control, that God will bless her with survival in childbirth — which was no small promise in the ancient world.
>
>i. Yet this interpretation leaves many difficult questions. Is this an absolute promise? What about godly women who have died in childbirth? What about sinful women who have survived childbirth? Doesn’t this seem like just a reward for good works, and not according to God’s grace and mercy?
>
>b. **Saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self control**: Some approach this passage saying **saved** refers to gaining eternal life. Yet this interpretation is even more difficult. Are women saved eternally by giving birth to children — but only if they continue with godly virtues? What about women who _can’t_ have children? Are they denied salvation?
>
>c. **She will be saved in childbearing**: Some say that Paul “Has mostly in mind that child-bearing, not public teaching, is the peculiar function of woman, with a glory and dignity all its own.” (Robertson) The idea is that one should let the men teach in church and let the women have the babies.
>
>d. **She will be saved in childbearing**: A better way to approach this passage is based on the grammar in the original Greek language. In the original, it says _she will be saved in the childbirth_. This has the sense, “Even though women were deceived, and fell into transgression starting with Eve, women can be saved by the Messiah — whom a woman brought into the world.”
>
>i. Probably, the idea here is that even though the “woman race” did something bad in the garden by being deceived and falling into transgression, the “woman race” also did something far greater, in being used by God to bring the saving Messiah into the world.
>
>ii. The summary is this: Don’t blame women for the fall of the human race; the Bible doesn’t. Instead, thank women for bringing the Messiah to us.
>
>e. **Faith, love, and holiness, with self-control**: Most of all, we should note these positives. They are all qualities God wants to be evident in women, and that women have effectively nurtured in their children through generations.

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