The Childbearing

1 Timothy 2

2467 words long.

Published on 2024-05-19

Lost in Translation?

The riddle of "The Childbearing" is one of the principal emotional riddles in the Bible. 1 Timothy 2:15 is wedged in among verses reviled by feminists. It causes conniptions among egalitarians. The variety of translations alone adds to the camouflage that disguises the true meaning. Let's start there. Here are some English translations of this passage; most of the ones I omitted are paraphrases, useful for seeing the full range of meaning, but less useful for scholarly study. I have sorted them such that the first few translations are ones that I personally favor for regular Bible study or prefer for their translation of this particular verse.

Favored Translations:

ESV: Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.
DLNT: But she will be saved by The Childbearing, if they continue in faith and love and holiness with sound-mindedness.
CSB: But she will be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with good sense.
KJV: Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
NIV: But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.
NKJV: Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.
HCSB: But she will be saved through childbearing, if she continues in faith, love, and holiness, with good judgment.
YLT: and she shall be saved through the child-bearing, if they remain in faith, and love, and sanctification, with sobriety.

Other Translations:

KJ21: Notwithstanding, she shall be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobermindedness.
ASV: but she shall be saved through her child-bearing, if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety.
AMP: But women will be preserved (saved) through [the pain and dangers of] the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control and discretion.
AMPC: Nevertheless [the sentence put upon women of pain in motherhood does not hinder their souls’ salvation, and] they will be saved [eternally] if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control, [saved indeed] through the Childbearing or by the birth of the divine Child.
BRG: Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
CEB: But a wife will be brought safely through childbirth, if they both continue in faith, love, and holiness, together with self-control.
CJB: Nevertheless, the woman will be delivered through childbearing, provided that she continues trusting, loving and living a holy life with modesty.
CEV: But women will be saved by having children, if they stay faithful, loving, holy, and modest.
DARBY: But she shall be preserved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and love and holiness with discretion.
DRA: Yet she shall be saved through childbearing; if she continue in faith, and love, and sanctification, with sobriety.
ERV: But women will be saved in their work of having children. They will be saved if they continue to live in faith, love, and holiness with sensible behavior.
EHV: But she will be saved—while bearing children—if they remain in faith and love and sanctification with self-control.
ESVUK: Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.
EXB: But she will be saved through having children [or motherhood; C less likely, a reference to the birth of Christ] if she continues in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control [propriety; good sense].
GNV: Notwithstanding, through bearing of children she shall be saved, if they continue in faith, and love, and holiness with modesty.
GW: However, she ⌞and all women⌟ will be saved through the birth of the child, if they lead respectable lives in faith, love, and holiness.
GNT: But a woman will be saved through having children, if she perseveres in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.
ICB: But women will be saved through having children. They will be saved if they continue in faith, love, holiness, and self-control.
ISV: even though she will be saved through the birth of the Child, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, along with good judgment.
JUB: notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if she continues in faith and charity and sanctification and modesty.
AKJV: Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
LSB: But she will be saved through the bearing of children, if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with self-restraint.
LEB: But she will be saved through the bearing of children, if she continues in faith and love and holiness with self-control.
TLB: So God sent pain and suffering to women when their children are born, but he will save their souls if they trust in him, living quiet, good, and loving lives.
MEV: Yet she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.
MOUNCE: but she will be saved through childbearing, if they remain in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.
NOG: However, she and all women will be saved through the birth of the child, if they lead respectable lives in faith, love, and holiness.
NABRE: But she will be saved through motherhood, provided women persevere in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.
NASB: But women will be preserved through childbirth—if they continue in faith, love, and sanctity, with moderation.
NASB1995: But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.
NCB: However, women will be saved through the bearing of children, provided that they continue to persevere in faith, love, and holiness, marked by modesty.
NCV: But she will be saved through having children if she continues in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.
NET: But she will be delivered through childbearing, if she continues in faith and love and holiness with self-control.
NIRV: Will women be saved by having children? Only if they keep on believing, loving, and leading a holy life in a proper way.
NIVUK: But women will be saved through childbearing – if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.
NLV: But women will be saved through the giving of birth to children if they keep on in faith and live loving and holy lives.
NLT: But women will be saved through childbearing, assuming they continue to live in faith, love, holiness, and modesty.
NMB: Notwithstanding, through the bearing of children they may be preserved, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with discretion.
NRSVA: Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.
NRSVACE: Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.
NRSVCE: Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.
NRSVUE: Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.
NTFE: She will, however, be kept safe through the process of childbirth, if she continues in faith, love and holiness with prudence.
OJB: But womankind will be saved through her childbearing if nashim remain in emunah and ahavah and kedushah with tznius.
RGT: Nevertheless, through the bearing of children she shall be saved, if they continue in faith and love and holiness with modesty.
RSV: Yet woman will be saved through bearing children, if she continues in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.
RSVCE: Yet woman will be saved through bearing children, if she continues in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.
TLV: Nevertheless, she will be sustained through childbearing—if they continue in faithfulness and love and holiness, with sound judgment.
VOICE: Still, God, in His faithfulness, will deliver her through childbearing as long as she remains in faith and love and holiness with self-restraint.
EB: but she will be saved through her childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and sanctification with sobriety.
WYC: But she shall be saved by generation of children, if she dwell perfectly in faith, and love, and holiness, with soberness.

From the variety of renderings, it is clear that the translators are not sure who is being born. That is the riddle.

Which Child is being Born?

The translations offer three possible identities for the child being born:

The AMPC, GW, EXB, ISV and NOG suggest the possibility (without certainty) that the childbirth responsible for the saving of women was the birth of Jesus, the "Divine Child".
Most translations associate the event with the natural process of childbirth, with each woman being saved from the effects of her own individual pregnancy.
A few translations refuse to define the precise meaning and therefore speak of it as "The Childbearing", "the Childbearing", or "the child-bearing".

The problem in many translations is that of number agreement. We have the woman or women giving birth, the child or children being born, the woman or women being saved, and the woman or women who act in faith, love and holiness. Some translations construe all four to be singular. "A woman" has "a child", then "she" is saved, because "she" acts in faith, etc. Some construe all to be plural, with multiple women collectively bearing multiple children, from which "they" are saved, because "they" continue in faith. The problem is that the Greek has both singular and plural references to women. A singular "she" is being saved, the birth has a definite article so is "the child-bearing", and it is "they" who are continuing in faith love and holiness. Only the DLNT and YLT (Young's Literal Translation) capture this subtlety.

The letter is being addressed by Paul to a collective group of women - the women of the early church - who are to act in holiness. Their great sacrifice will enable a future woman or women to benefit. Since the beneficiaries live in the future and the life of holiness was ongoing among Paul's hearers, "The Childbearing" must still remain in their future. That means that "The Childbearing" cannot be the birth of Christ!

There is only one savior, yet this verse speaks of an important child, a singular child who can bring great blessing to all the women who would come afterward. No person who is not Jesus can accomplish that, therefore the child to be born is a metaphorical child, not a literal child.

On the flip-side, literal death during childbirth was a terrifying reality to women for most of history, up until the middle of the last century. During American Colonial times, one woman in eight would die from childbirth. If this verse promises literal deliverance from the misery and death that attend childbirth, we must not take that hope away!

The answer to this riddle is that a supernatural birth occurred which brought literal medical salvation to women everywhere. The easing of women's pains in childbirth is the divine miracle and sign that God gave us to announce this birth! The answer to the riddle is this:

The Childbearing is the Protestant Reformation. The child is a new church and a new civilization. That civilization has steadily brought equality and justice to women. To proclaim this event, God gave us two signs, one symbolic and one literal. The first sign told us when the beginning of the rescue of women from oppression had begun. The second sign told us when that rescue would reach a mature stage, not complete but well advanced.

The first, symbolic sign, was the Protestant Reformation itself and the greater freedom that it allowed women to enjoy.
The second, literal sign, was the development of antibiotics and safe blood transfusions.

Symbolic sign. According to Solomon's Clock, the Reformation was "a time to tear", the time of the Childbearing. The tearing was the birth of a new civilization. Just as a baby being torn from its mother's womb is traumatic, so was the tearing of the Christian church into pieces. After the birth of a new child, a mother's body needs to mend. This period matches Solomon's "a time to mend". If the literal danger to women is post partum bleeding, what is the symbolic analog? The symbolic bleeding was the hemmhoraging of lives from the wars of religion that followed the Reformation, like the Thirty Years War. The miraculous sign was that the Protestant church survived, due in large part to the sacrifices made by women. The Peace of Westphalia and progress toward religious freedom was the evidence of the mending of war-torn Europe.

Literal sign. From the discovery of blood circulation by William Harvey in 1628 AD to the discovery of Rh typing and long term blood storage in 1940 AD, this whole era of over three hundred years saw slow progress toward the ability to offer safe blood transfusions. The first attempt to treat post partum hemorrhaging via a transfusion was by James Blundell in 1818. Once this procedure was perfected and combined with the invention of antibiotics in 1928, the rate of women dying from childbirth dropped FIFTYFOLD! So if 1 Timothy 2 was a prophecy that God would one day save women from the terrible suffering of childbirth, there is only one time in history that could possibly fit the bill: the period from 1928 to 1945 when this revolution in medicine occurred.

So when Paul the apostle told women that God would save them through "the Childbearing", he meant it. For a more in-depth treatment of this topic, see Reconciliation. It shows that Paul not only told us that God would remedy this medical problem, but told us when.

This passage from 1 Timothy is also analyzed extensively in:

"Appendix I: A Clock for Timothy" from Peace, like Solomon Never Knew.
"Epilogue: The Fifth Commandment" from Plague, Precept, Prophet, Peace.