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R. Scott Clark, D.Phil
Associate Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology

"For Christ, His Gospel, and His Church"
Associate Pastor
Oceanside URC
The Heidelblog

Thank you Dr. Clark. I argued this very thing to a reformed seminary professor about 5 years ago. He was skeptical about my uninformed view (I was new to the Reformed faith). It seemed so obvious to me, but I "kept it in my heart."

It is heartening to see it being addressed by real scholars.

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R.Vic Bottomly
Providence Reformed Baptist Church, Tacoma, WA

Here is another possibility I have heard. Look at 1 Timothy 2:15: read it without "through childbearing". Yet she will be saved —if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control. That sounds like the perseverance of the saints. Now add "through childbearing" back in and compare with 1 Timothy 4:16. It's rather similar. According to this reading, perseverance is not merely abstract: it's perseverance in Christian life in the responsibilities God has given you. So Timothy, a minister, cannot persevere without persevering in a close watch on himself and his teaching. So the typical woman who gets married and has children cannot persevere without persevering in the duties God has given her within the home. Perseverance in grace necessarily involves perseverance in vocation.

What do other people think of this?

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Ruben

Spanish Blog -Teologia en Mexico
English Blog -The Howling Wilderness

It's an interesting allegorical interpretation, but the context shows the salvation is from the deception Eve fell into, whereby she usurped the authority of the man. It's not salvation from the physical pains and dangers associated with childbearing, but deliverance from the temptations associated with public office if she gives herself to serve in that private sphere which is ordained for women in the gift of childbearing.

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Yours sincerely,


"Illum oportet crescere me autem minui."

I'd just be careful not to absolutise the means, since the apostle is only providing a remedy for a particular problem.

That was actually drawn from Albert Martin.

I recognize that it is a difficult passage, but I find this interpretation more persuasive. It seems to me that the flow of the passage is women aren't to teach, but they do well to continue in the duties of childbearing.

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Scott Roper
Member, Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA): "A bunch of hippie Calvinists"
Winston-Salem, NC