“Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety” (1Tim 2:15, KJV).
Historically, some brethren read this verse to imply that Paul is telling Timothy that women disciples can only be saved if they give birth, or perhaps, raise children. One Christadelphian Magazine article quotes this verse then opens with, "The question of birth control and family planning is a difficult one...", and goes on to expound this interpretation. Since some women may be infertile by no fault of their own, this teaching would be both tragic and heartless, and not reflective of God's compassion towards those who have suffered from infertility throughout Scripture.
Other brethren, recognizing this problem, have attempted to stretch the meaning of “childbearing”. Some implied that sisters can, in effect, raise up children to God by participating in Sunday School teaching. While this may be true, it is probably not the intended meaning in this passage, as it is a bit of a stretch for a word which denotes “childbirth”.
Others have posited that this verse is an allegory relating to Mary giving birth to the Lord Jesus, but it would actually take quite a bit of pretzel twisting to derive a meaning that grandiose from this single verse, and the context cannot possibly support the view.
When no satisfactory explanations exist, it often pays to study the wider context. As we take a step back and look at the surrounding chapters, we find one of Paul’s themes here is false teaching. This is apparent especially by the time we get to chapter 4, which emphasizes “good doctrine” vs “fables”. The word “teaching” (or “doctrine”, depending on your version) appears several times in Timothy, especially given the small size of these two letters. Paul was dealing not only with Judaizers, but also with proto-gnostics (1) and followers of Greek mythology. This means we should step even further back and look at the cultural context of the epistle for more clues.
Paul’s letter was advice for Timothy who managed the ecclesia in Ephesus. Scripture informs (2) us that Ephesus was the seat of the cult of the goddess Artemis/Diana (3). When equipped with this cultural context, it will be seen that several striking correlations confirms the topic at hand.
In Ephesus, Artemis was seen to be the guardian of women's health issues and protector during childbirth. Paul needs to confront this false worldview, so he states that a woman doesn't need (4) to pray to Artemis to be kept safe during childbirth, but God will protect her if she continues in the virtues of "faith and charity and holiness with sobriety" (1Tim 2:15). Given how tightly it fits the context of Paul's letter, it is hard to argue against this being the proper and intended meaning of this passage, and we can safely discard any prior concerns about women having to give birth in order to be saved.
When proto-gnosticism infiltrated Ephesus, it was combined with the prevalent Artemis cult, to form a syncretism. Based on ancient pseudepigraphic writings, we know quite a lot about the (5) fables behind proto-gnosticism, including creation accounts that place Eve coming before Adam, and promoting an ideology of female supremacy through fertility . With these texts in view, it becomes evident that Paul is confronting this false ideology in the preceding verses:
Paul’s concerns in this passage clearly fit into the Artemisian cultural context like the points in a matching fingerprint. He was faced with a worldly ideology perverting the gospel, and addressed it point by point, with specific instructions to manage the cultural issues the Ephesian believers faced.
Interestingly, another conclusion arises out of this analysis. If, as it appears, these last five verses were written to deal with a specific heretic anomaly local to Ephesus, then Paul may never have intended these ordinances to apply generally to ecclesias where these heresies do not exist. While there may be other scriptures that support universal ecclesial practices of keeping sisters silent, or sisters abstaining from leadership positions (exhorting, teaching brothers, etc), it would seem a misuse of Paul’s intent here to wrest this passage from its context for that purpose.
2 1Tim 1:1-3.
3 Acts 19:35. The Greek “Artemis” is often translated as the latin equivalent, “Diana”.
4 Callimachus's first hymn (ca 300 BC) quotes the goddess, "I will visit only when women vexed by the sharp pang of childbirth call me to their aid". An epigram by Zonas tells of a mother who “perished in bearing a boy” because Artemis was “busy”. The role of Artemis as protector during childbirth was also documented by Strabo (Geography, 14:20).
5 A blending of two or more religions.
6 The “Apocryphon of John”, “Targum Pseudo-Jonathan” and others have Cain conceived without involvement of a man. “Hypostasis of the Archons”, has Adam saying to Eve, “It is you who have given me life.” Refer also to “On the Origin of the World”.
7 Refer to “The Apocalypse of Adam”, where Adam says Eve “taught me a word of knowledge of the eternal God.”
Historically, some brethren read this verse to imply that Paul is telling Timothy that women disciples can only be saved if they give birth, or perhaps, raise children. One Christadelphian Magazine article quotes this verse then opens with, "The question of birth control and family planning is a difficult one...", and goes on to expound this interpretation. Since some women may be infertile by no fault of their own, this teaching would be both tragic and heartless, and not reflective of God's compassion towards those who have suffered from infertility throughout Scripture.
Other brethren, recognizing this problem, have attempted to stretch the meaning of “childbearing”. Some implied that sisters can, in effect, raise up children to God by participating in Sunday School teaching. While this may be true, it is probably not the intended meaning in this passage, as it is a bit of a stretch for a word which denotes “childbirth”.
Others have posited that this verse is an allegory relating to Mary giving birth to the Lord Jesus, but it would actually take quite a bit of pretzel twisting to derive a meaning that grandiose from this single verse, and the context cannot possibly support the view.
When no satisfactory explanations exist, it often pays to study the wider context. As we take a step back and look at the surrounding chapters, we find one of Paul’s themes here is false teaching. This is apparent especially by the time we get to chapter 4, which emphasizes “good doctrine” vs “fables”. The word “teaching” (or “doctrine”, depending on your version) appears several times in Timothy, especially given the small size of these two letters. Paul was dealing not only with Judaizers, but also with proto-gnostics (1) and followers of Greek mythology. This means we should step even further back and look at the cultural context of the epistle for more clues.
Paul’s letter was advice for Timothy who managed the ecclesia in Ephesus. Scripture informs (2) us that Ephesus was the seat of the cult of the goddess Artemis/Diana (3). When equipped with this cultural context, it will be seen that several striking correlations confirms the topic at hand.
In Ephesus, Artemis was seen to be the guardian of women's health issues and protector during childbirth. Paul needs to confront this false worldview, so he states that a woman doesn't need (4) to pray to Artemis to be kept safe during childbirth, but God will protect her if she continues in the virtues of "faith and charity and holiness with sobriety" (1Tim 2:15). Given how tightly it fits the context of Paul's letter, it is hard to argue against this being the proper and intended meaning of this passage, and we can safely discard any prior concerns about women having to give birth in order to be saved.
When proto-gnosticism infiltrated Ephesus, it was combined with the prevalent Artemis cult, to form a syncretism. Based on ancient pseudepigraphic writings, we know quite a lot about the (5) fables behind proto-gnosticism, including creation accounts that place Eve coming before Adam, and promoting an ideology of female supremacy through fertility . With these texts in view, it becomes evident that Paul is confronting this false ideology in the preceding verses:
- Paul emphasizes to the Ephesians that “Adam was first formed, then Eve”, addressing the Artemisian-Gnostic belief that Eve was created first. (6)
- Those Ephesian sisters, who were promoting false doctrine, are commanded to “learn in silence” and not teach, quite likely in response to the gnostic heresy that women were distributors of divine knowledge. (7)
- A woman was not to “usurp authority” over “the man”. The particular Greek word used here, “authentes”, denotes absolute domination or supremacy. It is related to “author”, indicating an originator, implying the authority of one’s creator.
Paul’s concerns in this passage clearly fit into the Artemisian cultural context like the points in a matching fingerprint. He was faced with a worldly ideology perverting the gospel, and addressed it point by point, with specific instructions to manage the cultural issues the Ephesian believers faced.
Interestingly, another conclusion arises out of this analysis. If, as it appears, these last five verses were written to deal with a specific heretic anomaly local to Ephesus, then Paul may never have intended these ordinances to apply generally to ecclesias where these heresies do not exist. While there may be other scriptures that support universal ecclesial practices of keeping sisters silent, or sisters abstaining from leadership positions (exhorting, teaching brothers, etc), it would seem a misuse of Paul’s intent here to wrest this passage from its context for that purpose.
Footnotes
1 Predecessors to gnosticism.2 1Tim 1:1-3.
3 Acts 19:35. The Greek “Artemis” is often translated as the latin equivalent, “Diana”.
4 Callimachus's first hymn (ca 300 BC) quotes the goddess, "I will visit only when women vexed by the sharp pang of childbirth call me to their aid". An epigram by Zonas tells of a mother who “perished in bearing a boy” because Artemis was “busy”. The role of Artemis as protector during childbirth was also documented by Strabo (Geography, 14:20).
5 A blending of two or more religions.
6 The “Apocryphon of John”, “Targum Pseudo-Jonathan” and others have Cain conceived without involvement of a man. “Hypostasis of the Archons”, has Adam saying to Eve, “It is you who have given me life.” Refer also to “On the Origin of the World”.
7 Refer to “The Apocalypse of Adam”, where Adam says Eve “taught me a word of knowledge of the eternal God.”
