Free Grace Women

Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

1 Timothy 2:15 ESV

Introduction

This is a difficult verse, and deserves our attention. It should be noted that Paul is not a male chauvinist who thinks women get to heaven by popping out babies. Men and women receive eternal life the same way, by faith alone in Jesus for the gift of eternal life. Whatever this verse means, it cannot contradict the simple message of grace, by faith alone (Eph 2:8-9). 

In light of that truth, let’s scrutinize the verse a little closer and see what we can learn.

Saved from What?

First, there is the word “saved.”  By simple definition, “saved” means “to be kept safe from something.”  The Bible talks about being saved from enemies, illness, the lake of fire, a wasted life, physical destruction, and other things.  What salvation is Paul speaking of in this verse?

The verses immediately preceding don’t say what this salvation is from: “For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.”  (1 Tim 2: 13-14 ESV)  Though some might say that women are deceived more easily than men, and what they are being kept safe from is that weakness, it doesn’t follow easily.  Verses 13 & 14 seem to be a unit, and the order of Adam’s and Eve’s creation was recorded as “very good.”  (Gen 1:31)  Why would Eve (specifically) or women (generally) need to be saved from something that is very good?

Instead, the reasons given in verses 13 & 14 make more sense as the history behind the commands given in verses 11 & 12.  “Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.  I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.”  (1 Tim 2:11-12 ESV)  In these verses we also find something from which a woman could be saved: sorrow, frustration, or jealousy. There are roles in the church that a man may fill, but she may not.

So if 1 Timothy 2:11 & 12 are commands about women’s roles in teaching and exercising authority in the church, and verses 13 & 14 are background information related to those commands; in verse 15, who is being saved, saved from what, and how?

A woman¹ (as mentioned in verses 11-12) will be saved…from sorrow, frustration, or jealousy at not having a teaching and authority role in the church if certain persons continue in faith, love, and holiness with self-control.  Since the verse says, “saved through childbearing,” the most obvious candidates for “those who continue” would be the woman’s children. 

Few influences in a person’s life shape his (or her) worldview like the influence of a mother.

What about Women without Children?

Are women without children “unsaved”?  In this passage, they can be–salvation is not from the lake of fire, destruction, or being worthless.  If 1 Timothy 2:15 is saying a woman can be saved from unhappiness [due to not being eligible for teaching and authority roles in the church] by having a special role raising and teaching her children, but a woman does not have children, she might still be frustrated that she is not eligible for certain roles of teaching and authority in the church.  Here, Paul is writing about a unique and important way men may serve the church, as well as a unique and important part of teaching that falls within the domain of women.  There are also many roles serving God that are open to both men and women, for example, Luke is mentioned as a fellow laborer of Paul’s (Philemon 24), and Euodia and Syntyche are women who labored with Paul in the gospel (Philippians 4:2-3); Phoebe was a servant (the Greek word is “deacon”) of the church in Cenchrea who likely carried Paul’s letter to the Romans (Ro 16:1-2), Tychicus appears to be the carrier of Ephesians (Eph 6:21-22) and Colossians (Col 4:7-8); and Priscilla is listed along with her husband as explaining to Apollos the way of God more accurately (Acts 18:26).  The Bible does not specify that Luke ever had a teaching and authority role in a church; nor does it say if Euodia, Syntyche, Phoebe, or Priscilla ever had children.  Not every godly man fills a role from which women are excluded, and not every godly woman is disappointed that she can’t serve the church in a teaching and authority role.  If a woman is not bothered by the commands in 1 Timothy 2:11-12, she doesn’t need to be saved in the 1 Timothy 2:15 sense.  If she does resent being excluded from authority and teaching in the church, she can be saved from that resentment by raising children who become part of the church.

Saved by Success?

But why is a woman only saved if her children continue to follow the Lord?  Just as men can serve in teaching and authority roles in the church, but may suffer disappointment and sorrow in that role (cf. Heb 13:17b), women’s special role is not universally successful.  Each child is a person who makes their own decisions, and may refuse to look at evidence that leads to belief in Christ, or might believe and then live an ungodly life.  A godly mother who has such a child will still suffer sorrow and frustration, maybe even frustration that she can’t have a larger role leading the church body.  Still, a mother who teaches her children about the Lord from birth gives them an understanding about the Lord and life that is much harder to acquire (and to consistently live by) later in life; and her children that walk “in faith and love and holiness, with self-control” are indeed a tribute/vindication/salvation that her desire to serve the Lord was not wasted just because she didn’t have a speaking and authority role in the church.

Not every woman is a mother, and not every mother has children who are still influenced by her teaching, but for those mothers who do have young children, don’t waste your unique, God-given chance to teach the next generation of disciples.

And to those mothers who have invested their time doing their best to raise up their children in the Lord,

thank you.

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1.  Depending on the translation you are reading for this verse, we might need to clear up one confusion about the “who” part of that question.  In Greek, “will be saved” takes a singular subject, while “continue in faith and love…” takes a plural.  (Think of the difference between “is being saved” and “are being saved.”)  The ESV correctly translates the Greek as “she will be saved” and “if they continue,” but some translations confuse the issue by inserting the plural “women [will be saved]” instead of saying “she” or “a woman,” e.g., the NASB says “But women shall be preserved…” ↩︎

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