A Biblical Unknown

This next verse is a problem if you want a definite interpretation. To try to sort it out for myself I did some thorough studying and reading – thus the delay of several days in writing. Here's the verse.

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

NASB: But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.

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

Here's some notes I made about translating the verse.

Greek New Testament	Strong's	Transliteration (of root word)	English Word	Notes	My Translation
σωθήσεται	4982	sōzō	heal, preserve, save, deliver, protect	3 pers sing pass fut Indic	she will be saved
δὲ	1161	de	but, and, etc.	conj	but
διὰ	1223	dia	in, through (the channel of)	prep	through
τῆς			the	def art, gen sing KJV, ESV ignore	the (her)
τεκνογονίας	5042	teknogonia	childbirth	n fem (only N.T. use)	bearing of children
ἐὰν	1437	ean	in case, if	Conditional particle	if
μείνωσιν	3306	menō	stay, remain, rest, dwell, lodge	3 pers pl aor 1 subj	they remain
ἐν	1722	en	in	prep denotes a fixed position	in
πίστει	4102	pistis	faith, belief, conviction (moral)	n fem dat sing	faith
καὶ			and	conj	and
ἀγάπῃ	26	agapē	love	n fem dat sing	love
καὶ			and	conj	and
ἁγιασμῷ	38	hagiasmos	purification, sanctity, holiness	n masc dat sing	holiness
μετὰ	3326	meta	with (when noun is in gen)	prep	with
σωφροσύνης	4997	sōphrosunē	soundness of mind, self-restraint/control, temperate, discreet	noun fem gen sing	self-restraint

Usual and most common interpretation

1. The singular verb must refer back to "the woman" (Eve) in v. 14. So as the mother of mankind, her salvation is based on her bearing of children, i.e., from her offspring will come the Savior.
   
2. Her offspring (they) receive the same salvation by remaining in faith, love, and sanctification with self-restraint.
   

Other interpretations I've read include...

1. Saved refers only to physical health, not spiritual salvation. Therefore, childbearing brings true wholeness or maintains a woman's health. However, try telling that to single women.
   
2. Some tie the verse to Gen 3:15 where the seed of a woman would crush the serpents head, a variation of the Messianic theme above.
   
3. The last is based on the Hebrew and Greek cultures viewing motherhood as a very health-giving experience and that the woman's basic value was in giving birth to children and raising them.
   

I really appreciate commentator Gary Demarest's view when discussing 1 Timothy 2:12-15,

It need not be surprising that Paul reflected the view of the Fall which prevailed in his time. To make this a case for the inherent inferiority of women is neither necessary nor good. This is not the only passage by Paul which presents us with difficulty. His allegorical treatment of Sarah and Hagar, with Hagar corresponding to Mount Sinai and the earthly Jerusalem in contrast to the heavenly Jerusalem (Sarah) (Gal. 4:21-31), is not as clear as we might wish. Likewise, his argument in Romans 11 and the statement that "all Israel will be saved" (11:26) is a source of continuing difficulty, and interpreters have been unable to agree upon a universally acceptable solution.

Rather than make a case for a rigid view of the inferiority and subservience of women, why not place this passage in the category of those remarkably few statements of Paul which best be admitted to be beyond our grasp? There's no question in my mind that it reflects a debatable view. To argue that the sequence of the creation narrative teaches the superiority of the man certainly goes beyond anything said in Genesis.

To me this is one of the passages about which God will reveal more when I have complete understanding.

Pressing on, Ed ><}}}>