Last Sunday I preached on one of the most difficult texts in the Bible: 1 Timothy 2:15, where Paul writes that women “will be saved through childbearing.” That same evening, Sam Smith and Kim Petras performed their song “Unholy” at the Grammys, provocatively dressed as red-leather-clad Satanists.
I couldn’t help but connect 1 Timothy 2:15 with the “Unholy” spectacle—which serves as the latest example of contemporary pop culture’s rejection of biblical truth about sex and gender. Paul’s words, after all, are timeless.
Smith and Petra’s “Unholy” made history by topping the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first openly nonbinary and transgender artists to do so. Smith has said he’s nonbinary (“I’m not male or female. I think I float somewhere in between”) and prefers they/them pronouns. Petras, a German artist, is transgender and identifies as a female. Petras is the first trans woman to win a Grammy.
The ‘Unholy’ spectacle serves as the latest example of contemporary pop culture’s rejection of biblical truth about sex and gender.
“Unholy” speaks of infidelity between a couple involving “unholy” behavior at a strip club, and the music video (which has a staggering number of YouTube views) shows Smith and Petras at raunchy cabaret shows.
This is low-hanging fruit for those who harp on the moral degradation of our culture. But more important than simply decrying the perversion on display, we should see the result of rejecting God’s design and speak to the beauty of God’s created order. This is what Paul did in his own morally confused time.
What Does ‘Saved Through Childbearing’ Mean?
Though much of 1 Timothy 2 is debated, verse 15 has particularly troubled interpreters. Paul says women “will be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with good sense” (CSB). If you want to stump Bible readers, pull out this verse and ask them what it means.
The meaning seems plain, but it can’t mean women who give birth will see the face of God and live with him forever. That goes against the Bible’s clear teaching that all people are saved by grace and through faith, not by works (Rom. 3:28; Gal. 2:16). Such a reading is also demeaning to women who are single and never conceive or those who are married but barren. Paul commends singleness in 1 Corinthians 7, so he can’t be saying every woman must be married with children. Additionally, how could God allow some women to be barren and then punish them for such a state?
Others read the verse as saying women will be “kept safe” through childbearing. “Saved” was employed to mean “safe” in the first century and in Scripture (Matt. 14:30; 27:40; Acts 27:20). Childbearing was dangerous in the first century, and the Ephesian culture was saturated with Artemis worship. Artemis was known as the “Protector” when the pangs of labor drew near. Paul may have been saying women who trust in God will be “safe” in childbirth not because of Artemis but because of God’s protecting hand. While this is possible, one wonders what Paul would have said to the Ephesian women who still died during childbirth. Furthermore, Paul never uses “saved” in this way in the Pastoral Epistles.
Still others think this verse refers not to the act of childbearing but to a specific birth. In the context of 1 Timothy 2, Paul has spoken of Adam and Eve who were promised a certain child would come who will crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). Thus, Paul isn’t speaking of women being saved through their childbearing but through the specific birth of Jesus Christ. While this is possible, I think the verse more naturally reads as referring not to a birth but the generic act of giving birth.
Childbearing: Illustration of Accepting God’s Design
I think Paul’s words are an illustration of how women can strive for obedience. Childbearing is unique to women. J. Budziszewski tells the story of meeting with a college student who said, “Men and women are the same, we can all do the same things.” He kindly responded, “There is one thing you can do that I can’t.” She was flabbergasted and asked what that was. He replied, “I can’t give birth.”
As Paul speaks of gender roles in the church, he tells women how they can walk in holiness. They can do so by embracing their femininity and their God-given design. One of the clearest ways is by accepting the body God has given them—a body ingeniously designed with the potential to become pregnant and give birth to children.
This doesn’t mean women who don’t give birth aren’t women. This confuses potentiality with actuality. Definitions of womanhood (and manhood) are more fundamentally tied to their creational potential than to the outcome of that potential. In her book The Genesis of Gender, Abigail Favale thus defines a woman as “the kind of human being whose body is organized around the potential to gestate new life.”
You might also apply this logic to defining “man”: at minimum, a man is the kind of human being whose body is organized around the potential of fatherhood. In both cases, our definitions of gender are intricately tied to the procreative potential of God’s design.
First Timothy 2:15 also doesn’t mean women must be stay-at-home moms. The Bible gives no such specific guidelines. Paul simply illustrates what it looks like for a woman to welcome how God designed her. For many women, this will mean leaning into God’s design for her body to bear children and give birth.
We all, men and women, must embrace how God has made us. In Romans 1:18–32, Paul has strong words for those who would deliberately suppress, pervert, or deny the truths revealed about God in how he created the world—including the “natural relations” of sexual complementarity in the male-female binary. Paul tells us this is a downward spiral.
We all, men and women, must embrace how God has made us.
We don’t follow God’s design because he’s a prude who likes to shackle our potential. Rather, we pursue God’s design because it yields freedom. His commands function as lanes for us to run in so we don’t stumble. He provides these lanes because he loves us and wants us to reach our full potential.
Kim Petras, Sam Smith, and Salvation
Both Kim Petras and Sam Smith are running from God’s design for them rather than leaning into it. Kim Petras is a man who has declared he’s a woman. Smith is a man who has declared he’s nonbinary. Still, facts are stubborn things. Neither is qualified to say what he is. God has spoken in their bodies. Neither of them can give birth.
I’m sure in some ways Petras and Smith are more kind, intelligent, and gifted than I am. But we’re not saved by those things. We’re saved by grace through faith.
Part of what it means to live by faith is to look at how God made us and agree it’s “very good” (Gen. 1:31). My hope for Smith and Petras is they too will see the beauty in how God created them and then embrace him as a loving Father and perfect Creator. He will welcome them with open arms. All of us stand on level ground beneath the cross.
Involved in Women’s Ministry? Add This to Your Discipleship Tool Kit.
We need one another. Yet we don’t always know how to develop deep relationships to help us grow in the Christian life. Younger believers benefit from the guidance and wisdom of more mature saints as their faith deepens. But too often, potential mentors lack clarity and training on how to engage in discipling those they can influence.
Whether you’re longing to find a spiritual mentor or hoping to serve as a guide for someone else, we have a FREE resource to encourage and equip you. In Growing Together: Taking Mentoring Beyond Small Talk and Prayer Requests, Melissa Kruger, TGC’s vice president of discipleship programming, offers encouraging lessons to guide conversations that promote spiritual growth in both the mentee and mentor.
