The Gospel of Childbirth

This really is a weird passage. Even in the CEV.

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'But women will be saved by having children, if they stay faithful, loving, holy, and modest.' 1 Tim 2:15. What? So women will receive eternal salvation by having children? Well that would be nonsense of course if that really was what Paul meant. But what it does suggest is that Paul is probably trying to counter a particular form of early heresy. And putting the jigsaw pieces together, it looks as if the false teaching was something to do with an unhealthy comparison between men and women, focussed on creation, i.e. 'Women good. Men bad. Look at Genesis'; and some sort of rejection of women having children connected with the curse of original sin.

But this is a troubling passage that has caused huge amounts of damage down through the ages with it's apparent prohibition of women teaching. I am not convinced that Paul is specifically forbidding women from teaching for all time and in every circumstance (or indeed from speaking as some incredibly fundamentalistic quarters maintain) for two reasons. Firstly there is talk of women leaders and teachers in other portions of scripture. Secondly there are hints aplenty in this passage of Paul wanting to address a specific heresy. One word frequently and traditionally translated as 'have authority over' in 2:12 actually has a much more defined specific meaning of 'usurping authority, seizing or taking over.' Again that fits with the strange pronouncements Paul is making at this point.

If it were the case that an outbreak of strident women were bursting on to the scene, taking over meetings and introducing a 'women are superior beings who must avoid being contaminated by bearing the offspring of men' teaching into the church then this little piece of Paul becomes much more understandable. Just a thought.