QUESTIONS and ANSWERS - Viewpoint

Question: What does it mean that women are saved through childbearing in 1 Timothy 2:13-15? This seems to conflict with the Scriptures that teach that salvation comes by faith alone?

“For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.” – NIV

There is no doubt that this “women are saved” does not have any attachment to salvation that comes through faith in the only Name by which men must be saved. The Apostle Paul’s writings are clear that salvation for both women and men are one and the same based on the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. He became a ransom for all (1 Tim. 2:6). This being so, then to what does the question refer?

In 1 Corinthians 7 Paul specifies at length the responsibilities in a marriage union. Verses 2-4 read, “But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife.” Why did Paul have to write this? Even at this early stage of the church, truth was being attacked by Satan and his coworkers. There were super-spiritualists on the scene from the start of Christianity. It is possible that the problem was that there were some women even in Ephesus who were being deceived into thinking that sexual relations which resulted in child-bearing was unspiritual and this was what concerned the Apostle Paul. Those of this mind-set, rejecting the normal domestic and maternal roles, perhaps used it as evidence that were truly the more spiritual.

This deviation from the Scriptures and God’s design for His human creation was being attacked, undermining the truth of the Word of God. It also had an adverse effect on the growing church causing much confusion, threatening the church’s credibility, and hindering new potential converts. Could it be that Paul was saying that by performing the scriptural responsibilities of a marriage relationship and bearing children would save them from erroneous deceptions that would lead to them straying from the faith?

E. Weeks