Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Timothy 2:15

σωθήσεται κ.τ.λ. The connexion of thought is as follows. The woman fell into transgression, and the judgement pronounced on her for all time was ἐν λύπαις τέξῃ τέκνα (Genesis 3:16): the fulfilment of her proper duty shall be accompanied with pain. But yet shall she be safely brought through her τεκνογονία, if she abide in faith and love &c. That which may be her curse may also be her highest blessing if she use it aright. St Paul has been deprecating the assumption by woman of duties, such as that of public teaching, which have not been assigned to her in the Providence of God; he ends with a word of encouragement to her if she confine herself to her own sphere; σωθήσεται she shall be saved not only in her body, but in the highest sense of all[522].

[522] The cases of man and woman are exactly parallel. For man there is pronounced the doom of labour (Genesis 3:17); yet labour is discipline through which he may win his way to God. ‘Laborare est orare.’ For woman it is ordained, ‘In sorrow she shall bring forth’ (Genesis 3:16). Yet by it and by the duties involved, she is trained for the kingdom of Heaven.

The construction σωθήσεται διά has a strict parallel in 1 Corinthians 3:15 : αὐτὸς δὲ σωθήσεται, οὕτως δὲ ὡς διὰ πυρός. τεκνογονία is not the meritorious cause of woman’s salvation; it is the sphere, being her natural duty, in which she may hope to find it. The emphasis laid in these Epistles on good works, especially on the performance of the common duties of life, has already been remarked (see on 1 Timothy 2:10 above).

Two other interpretations have been proposed: (1) that of Chrysostom, who regards τεκνογονία as identical here with τεκνοτροφία, the Christian education of children, and supposes an implied τέκνα to be the subject of μείνωσιν. But τεκνογονία cannot be thus explained; τεκνογονεῖν is used in this very Epistle (1 Timothy 5:14) in its ordinary sense of bearing children. And further such an interpretation does not harmonise with the context. (2) Many modern commentators lay stress on the article τῆς and interpret διὰ τῆς τεκνογονίας as through the Child-Bearing, sc. of the Blessed Virgin, the τεκνογονία in the Apostle’s mind being the Saviour’s Birth, foreshadowed in Genesis 3:16. But it is impossible to suppose that St Paul would have spoken of the Nativity of Christ as ἡ τεκνογονία without any further explanation. The interpretation must be counted among those pious and ingenious flights of fancy, which so often mislead the commentator on Holy Scripture. The Latin versions give the sense correctly, per filiorum generationem.

μείνωσιν. The promise is given to woman (ἡ γυνή); its fulfilment is for such women as continue in faith, &c. Hence the plural, and likewise the aorist, specifying to these what was given generally. The thought of the whole passage may be illustrated by 1 Corinthians 7:20 : ἕκαστος ἐν τῇ κλήσει ᾗ ἐκλήθη ἐν ταύτῃ μενέτω.

ἐν πίστει καὶ�. Faith and love will issue in holiness. Cp. ch. 1 Timothy 1:14.

μετὰ σωφροσύνης. σωφροσύνη has already been spoken of as a grace specially to be commended to Christian women. See on 1 Timothy 2:9 above.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Timothy 2:15

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