1 Timothy 2:15Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

See how many questions arise over one and the same subject. "The woman," he says, "being deceived, fell into transgression." What woman? Eve. Then will she be saved through childbearing? No. The Apostle does not say this, but that the whole female sex will be saved.

Was she not guilty? Certainly she was. Yet although Eve was guilty, the whole female sex will be saved through childbearing.

Why not through their own virtue? Does childbearing deprive the other virtues of their force? Besides, what has this to do with virgins? What has it to do with the barren? What has it to do with widows, who lost their husbands before they began to bear children?

Have they perished? Is there not the least hope left for them? Yet virgins are praised above all. What, then, does he mean?

Some say that, just as from the creation the whole female sex was placed in subjection because of what happened to the first woman, so it is here. Eve was created second and was in subjection. Therefore, they say, the whole female sex must be in subjection.

So too here, because Eve committed transgression, the whole female sex became transgressive. But this has no foundation. There everything was done according to the will of God. Here it was the consequence of the woman's sin.

Therefore his words have this meaning. Just as all men die on account of one man, because one man sinned, so the whole female sex became transgressive because the woman committed transgression. Yet let her not grieve. God gave her no small consolation, namely, childbearing.

But this, you say, is a matter of nature. So was the other also due to the influence of nature. Yet she was given not only what depends on nature, but also what pertains to the raising of children.

"If they continue in faith and love and holiness with chastity," that is, if after giving birth they preserve themselves in love and purity. Their reward will be no small one, but very great, because they have raised combatants for Christ.

By holiness he means a righteous life, and by chastity, seemliness. "The saying is faithful" (1 Tim 3:1) refers to this, not to "if a man desires the episcopate."

Since doubt had arisen on this point, he says, "The saying is faithful." Fathers and mothers can reap the fruits of their children's virtue when they have brought them up well.

But what if she herself is dishonorable and full of innumerable vices? Will the raising of children bring her any benefit? Is it not more likely that she will bring them up like herself? He speaks of the virtuous woman, not of every woman. Such a woman will receive great reward and recompense.

Hear this, fathers and mothers: the raising of children will not remain without reward for you. He says the same thing later: "well reported for good works, if she has brought up children" (1 Tim 5:10). Among other things, he sets this forth.

It is truly no small matter to dedicate to God children given by God. If parents lay firm supports and foundations beneath the building, they will receive a great reward. Conversely, for negligence they will undergo punishment.

So Eli perished through his children, because he ought to have corrected them. He did indeed correct them, but not as he should have done. He did not wish to grieve them, and he destroyed both them and himself.

Hear this, fathers. Bring up your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord with great care. Youth is untamed and needs many instructors, teachers, guides, overseers, and tutors. Only with such efforts can it be restrained.

What an unbridled horse is, and what an untamed beast is, youth is also. Therefore, if at the beginning, from the earliest age, we set proper limits for it, later we shall not need great efforts. Habit will then become law for them.

Let us not allow them to do what is pleasant and at the same time harmful. Let us not indulge them because they are children. Above all, let us preserve them in chastity, for here youth can suffer the greatest harm.

We must especially care for this, and to this we must be especially attentive. Let us take wives for them sooner, so that they may be joined to their brides with a pure and uncorrupted body. Such love is especially ardent.

He who was chaste before marriage will remain so all the more after marriage. By contrast, he who learned fornication before marriage will do the same after marriage. "To a fornicator," it is said, "all bread is sweet" (Sir 23:23).

For this reason crowns are placed on their heads, as a sign of victory. They enter the bridal chamber unconquered, because they were not overcome by desire. But if a man, carried away by pleasure, has given himself to harlots, why does he then wear a crown on his head, since he has been conquered?

Let us impress this upon them. Let us correct them with this, frighten them, threaten them, now doing one thing, now another. A weighty deposit has been entrusted to us: our children. Let us care for them and use every means, lest the evil one steal them from us.

Yet now everything among us is the opposite. We use every effort to make a field good and to entrust it to a reliable man. We seek out the most skilled donkey driver, mule driver, overseer, and steward.

But we give no attention to what is dearest to us, namely, entrusting a son to a man able to preserve him in chastity. Yet this treasure is more precious than all the others, and the others come for its sake.

We care about possessions for them, but not about them themselves. Do you see what madness this is? First form your son's soul, and he will receive possessions afterward.

If his soul is not good, he will not receive the least benefit from money. Conversely, if it has been properly formed, poverty will not harm him at all. Do you wish to leave him rich? Teach him to be good.

In this way he can increase his estate. Even if he does not increase it, he will be no worse off than those who are well-to-do. But if he is wicked, then even if you leave him countless treasures, you have not left a guardian of them.

Rather, you have made him more wretched than those who have fallen into the deepest poverty. For children who have not received a proper upbringing, poverty is better than wealth.

Poverty, even against their will, keeps them within the bounds of virtue. Wealth, even if someone wished otherwise, does not allow a chaste life, but drags him away, overthrows him, and brings him into countless crimes.

You mothers, above all, watch over your daughters. This care is not difficult for you. See that they remain at home. Before all else, teach them to be pious, modest, to despise money, and not to be overly concerned with adornment.

Give them in marriage in this condition. If we form them in this way, you will save not only them, but also the husband who takes her. Not only the husband, but the children. Not only the children, but the grandchildren.

If the root is good, the branches also will grow better, and for all this you will receive a reward. Therefore let us all act as befits those who care for the good not of one soul, but of many through one.

When a daughter enters marriage, she should leave her father's house like an athlete leaving the place of contest. That is, she should know precisely the whole art by which she can, like leaven, raise the whole mixture to her own beauty.

Sons likewise should be so modest that they are recognized above all by their good conduct and chastity. Thus they may obtain great praise both from men and from God.

Let them learn to restrain the belly, to avoid unnecessary expenses, to be prudent, tenderly loving, and to obey authority. In this way they can bring a great reward to their parents.

Then everything will be to the glory of God and to our salvation, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with Whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, dominion, and honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

It seems to me that the Apostle, having forbidden women above to teach in church, now, for their consolation, gives them someone to teach. If you truly wish to teach, teach your children.

Some, however, for unknown reasons understood childbearing as the birth that came from the Most Holy Theotokos. She, they say, saved women by giving birth to the Savior. But such an understanding does not accord with the words that follow.

For listen: “If they continue in faith.” That is, the children, if they preserve the holy faith and dogmas.

“And love.” That is, if they remain in right living. For faith is not enough. The beginning and source of right living is love.

“And in holiness, with chastity.” By holiness the Apostle means purity of body. But since not all are virgins, he added, “with chastity.” For chastity is not denied to those who live in lawful marriage.

Or he simply calls purity chastity.

But what if a corrupt mother raises her children well? Though this is unlikely, if it should happen, she will receive a reward for them.

And what if a good mother raises her children badly? If she was careless and indulged them, she will suffer the fate of Eli.

But if, despite every care and suffering, she could not make them better, which happens rarely, she will still receive a reward for her labors.

For even the Son of God, despite all His works and His teaching, nevertheless had few believers.

Blessed Theophylact reads: “if they continue.”

It is just to apply to this the apostolic saying that the mother who rejoices in such children will be saved through childbearing. In the divine psalms the Psalmist cried out, saying: “He makes the barren woman dwell in the house as a mother rejoicing in children” (Ps 112:9).

For truly she rejoices as a mother, the virgin mother who has begotten immortal children by the Spirit, and who is called barren by the prophet because of chastity.

Virgins, the barren, and childless elderly women can wash this reproach from themselves through other virtues.

“The saying is faithful,” continued under 1 Tim 3:1.

In Zigabenus, “if they continue” stands instead of “if she continues,” and refers not only to the woman, but also to her children.

Theophylact asks: “What, then, of virgins and the barren? Have they perished? No. The Apostle does not say that she will not be saved by the virtue proper to her state, but that the upbringing of children will also serve as a foundation for salvation for women.

Thus a virtuous virgin too will undoubtedly be saved. And it seems to me that the Apostle, having forbidden the woman to teach, here, as it were for her consolation, entrusts to her those whom she will teach.

I do not know how some understand childbearing as the birth from the Theotokos. For, they say, by giving birth to the Savior, She thereby saved women.

Such a meaning does not at all fit the context of the discourse.” By the word “some,” Theophylact alludes to Photius, who admits such an opinion.

Second, in childbirth she always endures very severe pains, which were imposed on the woman by the righteous God as punishment for sin.

Having once borne punishment, she becomes, as it were, legally justified before the judgment of God, who will not wish to punish a second time those who have already borne punishment.

If, during the burdens of pregnancy, she observes all the rules of prudence and caution for the healthy development of her fruit, and if, during the pains of childbirth, she endures them with Christian humility and patience as a punishment appointed by God for the sin of the first mother, then this is already a work.

If, after the birth of the child, she takes upon herself with all diligence and zeal the labors of feeding and caring for the child for proper growth, then this will truly be a moral ascetic labor on her part.

It will be a great merit not only before God, but also before human society.

But her ascetic labor will be incomparably higher if, while caring for the physical upbringing of her children, she strives to raise them in the fear of God and in the spirit of Christian piety.

In this case her childbearing will multiply not only healthy members of civil society, but true children of the Church of Christ.

Thus, through her childbearing, she will assist in the spread and establishment of the kingdom of Christ on earth. For such an ascetic labor, salvation will most justly be prepared by God for every woman.

For the success of this twofold labor, both in giving birth and in raising children, the Apostle sets the following conditions for the woman: “if she continues in faith and in love and in holiness with chastity.”

As if to give women special assurance that they will certainly be saved through the labor of their blessed childbearing, the Apostle adds: “The saying is faithful.”

Our interpreters relate these words to the preceding discourse, that is, to what was said about the salvation of women through the good upbringing of children, together with the fulfillment of the common conditions for salvation.

St. Chrysostom, and after him Oecumenius, also connect these words with the preceding discourse in their reading, and begin the third chapter with, “If anyone desires the episcopate” (Bishop Theophan).

Every woman, the Apostle says, shall be saved. How? There are no special conditions of salvation for women, but the same ones appointed for mankind in general: faith and love. “If she continues in faith and love,” that is, in faith in the Lord Savior, about Whom the first woman heard the gospel, indicated in the future seed of the woman, cf. Gen 3:15; and in love for God and neighbor, the mother, nourisher, and sustainer of all virtues.

What the Apostle adds to this, “and in holiness with sobriety,” is not some special condition of salvation. It is only the outward or visible clothing of the woman’s saving soul, believing and loving.

In the Apostle, “holiness” means both a holy and righteous life in general, and especially bodily holiness, purity from fleshly desires and sins. In the present place the general holiness of women has already been indicated in faith and love. Therefore by “holiness” one should understand a particular holiness, namely purity. In this sense it is equivalent to sobriety.

The distinction between them may be set forth only in this way. Holiness may be taken as faithfulness to the marriage bed, or married purity of body and soul. Sobriety may be taken as sharing the marriage bed with the husband not to indulge lust, but in obedience to the God-given law of nature, with the intention of dedicating its fruits to the glory of God.

Blessed Theophylact writes, “By ‘holiness’ the Apostle understands purity of body. But since not all are virgins, he added, ‘with sobriety.’ For sobriety is not denied to those who lawfully use marriage.”

There is also pure chastity within marriage, when married life is conducted soberly and not in lustful pleasures. The Apostle used both these words in order to show more clearly what should visibly distinguish the woman who is saving her soul.

Blessed Theodoret indicates the conditions of women’s salvation in this way. “If they wish,” he writes, “not only will they suffer no harm from Eve, but they will also gain very great benefit by their faith and love, preserving holiness and sobriety.”

He does not touch the question why the Apostle said, “she shall be saved through childbearing.” What salvation through childbearing means is resolved by our other interpreters. It is self-evident that childbearing in itself cannot effect salvation, just as no other natural act can, such as food, drink, or sleep.

Yet just as food, drink, and sleep can be used in such a way that they either assist or harm salvation, so also childbearing can. How, then, can childbearing be turned into an aid to salvation?

One might say this. Childbearing was given to the nature of the first-created pair. As an act of nature, it should have occurred not only easily, but also pleasantly. But the fall intervened and brought pains into this act of nature: “In pains you shall bear children,” Gen 3:16.

Pains are a punishment, a natural penance for women. If a woman, while suffering the pains of birth, endures them precisely in this sense, that is, as a punishment which reminds her of sin and calls her to repentance, then her childbearing will take place within the order of salvation.

But this alone is not enough. When borne in such dispositions, the burden of childbearing merely will not hinder salvation. It must not only fail to hinder salvation, but also assist it. How can it do this?

If, after birth, the upbringing of children is joined to it, in the fear of God and to the glory of God. Saint Chrysostom says, “The Apostle speaks as if saying: you women, do not be crushed because your sex fell under condemnation. God has granted you a certain special means for salvation, namely the upbringing of children, so that you may be able to merit salvation not only through yourselves, but also through others.”

A little later he says, “Childbearing is a work of nature. But to the woman has been granted not only this, which depends on nature, but also that which concerns the upbringing of children. No small reward, but a great one, will consist for them in this, that they have raised warriors for Christ.”

Oecumenius writes, “By childbearing the Apostle understands not only giving birth, but also the upbringing of children. What then, someone will say, have virgins, childless widows who lost their husbands before bearing children, and barren women perished? May it not be! The Apostle does not say that women cannot be saved without childbearing by their own virtue. Rather, he says that childbearing too will be an aid to salvation for them, provided, as is self-evident, that they work out salvation by their own virtue.”

Blessed Theophylact adds something particular to this. “One must not only give birth, but also raise the child. This is true childbearing. Otherwise it is not childbearing, but child-corrupting. Yet the upbringing of children assists the salvation of women not without their own virtue. A virtuous woman raises her children also in virtue. The virtue that exists in her passes through upbringing into the children. It seems to me that the Apostle, having above forbidden women to teach in church, now gives them, by way of consolation, whom they may teach. If you wish to teach, teach the children. Some, however, in a way one cannot understand, have taken childbearing to mean the birth that came from the Most Holy Theotokos. They say that she, by giving birth to the Savior, saved women. But such an understanding does not accord with the discourse that follows.”