Sermon Tone Analysis

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

[1]

The role of women—in society and especially in churches—is a topic fraught with grave danger.

The man who dares speak on the biblical role of women among the churches had better pledge his head toward heaven; the topic generates great heat—few congregants are truly neutral.

Preachers don’t particularly enjoy controversy for the sake of controversy.

Consequently, many of my ministerial colleagues, to say nothing of myself, will make a valiant effort to avoid conflict.

This is not surprising, as among character traits that disqualify from eldership are pugnacity—a tendency to bully, and contentiousness—and a quarrelsome temper.

Having stated what should be obvious, I must hasten to say that controversy will come.

If the servant of Christ fulfils his duty before God and to the flock of the Lord, he will generate opposition and stir emotions.

When opposition comes, and be assured it shall come, it is often accompanied by animosity.

The man of God must avoid responding in kind.

The minister of Christ must be guided by the Word of God.

“The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.

God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will” [2 TIMOTHY 2:24-26].

Elsewhere, Paul has admonished all Christians concerning the appropriate response to outsiders.

“Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” [COLOSSIANS 4:6].

And though it is true that all believers are to be gracious in their speech, servants of Christ, especially, are to be gentle, but firm.

This point is sufficiently important that I must appeal to Peter’s words to reinforce this truth.

The Apostle to the Jews wrote, “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame” [1 PETER 3:15, 16].

Having stated this truth, which should be apparent to anyone even casually conversant with the Scriptures, the text for the message this morning does require our attention.

In preaching through these Pastoral Letters, we have come to this portion of the Word.

And though the issue of women’s ministries has become problematic among the professed people of God in this day, we dare not invest an inordinate amount of time addressing what should require but passing attention.

The fact that the issue must be considered in depth is less an indication of the complexity of issues arising from the discussion than it is our own fallen and perverse nature.

The verse that serves as text for the message this day is controversial for what it says.

Even if there were no broader dissention about the role of women, the verse itself qualifies as difficult to understand and fraught with potential to lend itself to being misunderstood.

Accordingly, because the text is before us and because I want you to be thoroughly informed, we shall consider this verse, asking what it says and seeking to apply it in our lives.

*TEXTUAL ISSUES* — “She will be saved through childbearing.”

Superficially, this statement creates some difficulties for the interpreter of Scripture.

The heart of the controversy over Paul’s meaning centres on the word that is translated “saved” in my translation.

The word is translated “salvation,” [2] “delivered” [3] or “preserved” [4] in other translations—the latter two efforts likely reflecting concern about the soteriological impact of Paul’s choice of words.

The usual meaning of the word as used in Paul’s writings speaks of eternal salvation.

However, the word can also speak of rescue in other senses; the context determines what is meant.

Underscore in your mind that Paul was speaking of salvation—but it was the salvation of the lost and not the salvation of those who professed Christ as Lord when he wrote these words.

The Apostle’s concern has been that the people of God at worship not offend the propriety of lost people by advancing their own agenda and calling it worship.

Paul has urged “supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings” for all people.

The purpose of this admonition is for the glory of the Master.

As we enjoy peaceful and quiet lives, living a godly and dignified lifestyle, we will have greater opportunities to witness to the grace of God.

We know that God desires all people to be saved, coming to the knowledge of the truth that Jesus Christ is the One Mediator presented for fallen mankind.

The Apostle continued by pointing out that the men were responsible to lead in congregation prayer and that women were not permitted to occupy the place of congregational teacher nor were women to be placed in eldership.

He based this admonition and proscription on priority in creation and on the fact that though Adam sinned, Eve was deceived.

Then, as though to soften the prohibition against women functioning as elders, he provides this fifteenth verse.

Multiple suggestions have been advance to explain what Paul might have meant.

Here are some that can still be found among the various commentaries available today.

1.

She will be kept physically safe through childbearing.

2.

She will be kept safe eternally.

3.

She will be kept safe through the Child bearing, referring to the birth of Jesus.

4.

She will be kept safe from a meaningless life in which she must compete with man for usefulness and uniqueness.

5.

She will be kept safe from seeking to live a totally independent life.

6.

She will be kept safe from an inappropriate relationship with her husband.

7.

She will be kept from an out-or-balance prioritising attention given to herself.

Several of these suggestions can be quickly dismissed as unsuitable explanations.

Obviously, believing women are no safer when being delivered of children than unbelieving women.

Childbirth has attendant dangers, many of which have been mitigated in modern times.

However, no physical protection is granted to believing women.

If childbirth has inherent danger, believers are not shielded merely because they believe.

The second suggestion is quite blatantly errant—childbirth is not a substitute for the Cross of Christ.

While most people think well of their mothers, we are assured that Heaven will not be populated by mothers, many of whom would have but one claim to eternal salvation—bearing a child in her womb.

Childbirth is not sufficient to lay claim to God’s mercy.

The third suggestion has a fatal defect—we are saved by Christ’s death, not by His birth.

It is instructive to observe that though several sermons are recorded in the Book of Acts, each speaking of Christ’s death and resurrection, the birth of Christ is not the subject of any of the sermons that were recorded in the New Testament.

It is not that the birth of Christ is unimportant to the Faith; it is that His sacrifice and resurrection from the dead are vital!

The sermons recorded by the Spirit of God reveal what God esteemed as essential; the issues addressed by the Apostles as they preached reveal what was vital to their theology.

This particular suggestion persist to this present day because of the use of the definite article in the original language—“she will be saved through the childbearing” (/tês teknogonías/).

“The childbearing” is taken by some commentators as referring to the birth of the Christ.

Some translations make it clear that this was the understanding of the translators.

For instance, one translation reads thusly, “However, she |and all women| will be saved through the birth of the child, if they lead respectable lives in faith, love, and holiness.”

[5]

There is another problem arising from the language Paul employed.

The word translated “childbearing” cannot refer to the single birth of a child.

It speaks of the continuing act of bearing a child.

Of course, the birth of Jesus the Messiah was a singular event in history; there will be no other birth of a Saviour!

This thought that Paul had the birth of Christ in view when he wrote these words has gained traction among many evangelical Christians in this day.

However, one further matter arguing against the thought that passage points to the birth of the Master must be noted.

While “she” in the opening words of the verse is singular, the plural pronoun “they” is used in the latter portion of the verse.

Also, what is written in the latter, explanatory portion of the verse is future tense and not past tense—the birth of Christ was already in the rear-view mirror for the Apostle, as it is for us.

Obviously, the verse could not refer to Mary as some have suggested!

Again, the greater problem with this suggestion is that we are assured that salvation is through the sacrifice of Messiah and His resurrection from the dead—not through His birth.

Recall the manner in which Paul opened the Letter to Roman Christians.

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord” [ROMANS 1:1-4].

Such an effort seems stilted at best; moreover, it leaves the impression that women, in particular and in contradistinction to men, are saved through the birth of Messiah!

The next four possibilities that have been advanced by commentators have more to recommend them as approximating the meaning of the Apostle’s words.

In some measure, each of these suggestions overlaps; each speaks as though the word “saved” refers to something other than salvation from sin or salvation to life.

In light of Paul’s appeal to Eve’s deception and subsequent exclusion from exercising dominion over the man, these concepts of the apostolic meaning share a measure of comity.

Let me remind you of what these suggestions are.

1.

She will be kept safe from a meaningless life in which she must compete with man for usefulness and uniqueness.

2.

She will be kept safe from seeking to live a totally independent life.

3.

She will be kept safe from an inappropriate relationship with her husband.

4.

She will be kept from an out-of-balance prioritising attention given to herself.

Because Paul has already referred to Eve, noting in particular that she was deceived.

It seems apparent that this verse should not be divorced from the previous thought.

While Adam sinned through his choice to rebel, Eve became a transgressor because she was deceived, as the Apostle has stated [see 1 TIMOTHY 2:14].

When God pronounced the curse on Eve, he said:

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;

in pain you shall bring forth children.

Your desire shall be for your husband,

and he shall rule over you.”

[GENESIS 3:16]

Therefore, childbirth is not a curse; but the pain of childbirth is the curse that was pronounced.

In the text, Paul teaches that although Eve became a transgressor through being deceived, and though she bears the stigma of having led the race into sin, yet in the act of childbearing women are preserved from that very stigma.

Women are freed from the stigma of the pain accompanying childbirth as they invest their lives in the lives of their children, thus raising godly seed!

Restating the matter, it is as though the Apostle is saying that while a woman led the race into sin, women have the privilege of leading the race out of sin and into godliness through investing their lives into raising godly children.

No one should conclude from what I’ve said that God wants all women to bear children.