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| She shall be saved in childbearing |
November 12, 2020
#she_shall_be_saved_in_childbearing
Genesis
3
15
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her
seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
16
¶Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception;
in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy
husband, and he shall rule over thee.
1Tim
2
12
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to
be in silence.
13
For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
14
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the
transgression.
15
Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith
and charity and holiness with sobriety.
A
few thoughts:
i.
Apostle Paul issued a command prohibiting a woman to teach - in the context of
public worship. To do so is to usurp the authority over the man; note, it does
not say "usurp the authority of the man"; it says "usurp the
authority over the man." Usurp whose authority over the man?
-
Usurp Christ's authority over the man. That's a serious matter, is it not?
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1Cor 11:3 "But I would have you know, that the head of every man is
Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is
God."
ii.
Apostle Paul gives two reasons for such a command; the reasons are not his
personal male-chauvinistic ideas. Instead, they arel reasons based on the hard
facts of both the creation and the fall.
-
the fact of the creational order: "For Adam was first formed, then
Eve." This is plain enough to understand. Some will object to its
relevance to the matter at hand; they retort, "so what?"
-
the fact of the fall: "And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived
was in the transgression." This little reminder stings hard against some.
They snap back, " but Adam did worse, he sinned!
iii. The factual statement that it was
"the woman being deceived was in the transgression" may be a big
hurtful blow to some women folks. Even women professing godliness may feel the
weight of that statement. It should be enough to subdue and humble any
sound-minded person whether man or woman.
iv.
Apostle Paul understood the weight of that statement on the woman being
deceived party; so he stated another no less important fact to comfort the
women professing godliness, i.e. "she (the woman being deceived) shall be
saved in childbearing."
-
what it does not mean: it is not speaking of any temporal salvation, or
being saved through childbearing. This is obvious, that is not God's way of
salvation; otherwise, it would limit the salvation to childbearing women; this
would exclude the same salvation from non-childbearing women! God forbid!
-
what it does mean: it speaks of spiritual and eternal salvation, not that
bearing children is the cause, condition, or means of eternal salvation.
-
Gen 3:16. Though there was a curse in the childbearing, yet it is in the
process of childbearing that brought forth the promised seed of the woman; the
seed of the woman brought redemption.
-
And so the words administer some comfort to women in their present situation of
subjection and sorrow. Nevertheless, there is salvation through the birth of a
promised Son.
-
Thus, in spite of the fall of man by the means of the woman being deceived, yet
there is salvation for both men and women, through the childrearing of the seed
of the woman.
v.
'if they continue in faith and charity, and holiness, with sobriety" - the
pronoun ‘they’ refers to women professing godliness. These are saved by the
grace of God alone, based on the redemptive work of the Messiah alone.
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"if they continue..." then they would be careful to observe the
injunction "suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the
man, but to be in silence."
-
When usurping took place in the garden of Eden, there was a disaster.
vi.
Adam was not deceived; Adam sinned with his eyes wide open. What explains
that? He wanted to be together with his woman, the "bone of my bones, and flesh of my
flesh."
-
Gen 3:16 "... he shall rule over thee" - "this was her
chastisement, because she did not ask the advice of her husband about eating the
fruit, but did it of herself, without his will and consent, and tempted him to
do the same." Gill
