What Does it Mean That Women Will Be Saved through Childbearing?

The Scripture reads, “Women should learn quietly and submissively. I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly. For God made Adam first, and afterward he made Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived by Satan. The woman was deceived, and sin was the result. But women will be saved through childbearing (or will be saved by accepting their role as mothers, or will be saved by the birth of the Child), assuming they continue to live in faith, love, holiness, and modesty.”

This scripture is a controversial scripture and at first glance, it seems to place stipulations on women. However, I’d like to submit that Paul was actually forming a framework for us women on how to live and to keep our salvation in front of us. Particularly – in light of our connection to home life - our relationships and responsibilities to our spouses and children, and our ability to continue living holy and righteous lives.

Now, I myself am a wife and a mama of two girls. Every day, I have the grace to be able to support and submit to my husband, and to train up and lead my children. Some days are harder than others. However, the point is that I have the grace to be able to do this, and do it well. This wasn’t always the case for me, nor for any other woman.

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In the glory of Creation’s beginning was the Garden of Eden. A place of perfection. In Hebrew, the name Eden means pleasure. Can you imagine that? A place where everything was beautiful and pleasurable to the senses, the heart, and the soul?

This garden was created to be the starting point for a perfect oasis of a world. Everything was available to Adam and his wife except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God gave them a command to never eat the fruit from that tree. In a fateful turn of events, Adam and his wife disobeyed God’s command through the lie and deception of the serpent, and fell into sin. As a result of sin, God cursed everyone involved: the serpent, Adam, and the woman (who actually went unnamed until after God spoke the curse).

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Here is the curse God gave specifically to the woman:

“Then the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.’ Then he said to the woman, ‘I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.’” Genesis 3:14-15

As you can see, the curse spoken over the woman was two-fold. The first part of the curse established that her pain during pregnancy would increase and that she would give birth in pain. The second part of the curse declared that she would desire to control her husband, but would be ruled over by him.

When I look at the world and the plight of women over time up until the modern day, two areas seem to affect women the most: motherhood and all that encompasses motherhood (becoming pregnant, staying pregnant, giving birth, the expectations placed on raising children, etc), and our relationship with men. 

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God is a God of redemption whose heart’s desire is to restore what was lost and broken back to what he created them to be. The curse given in Eden placed a fierce struggle upon every area of a woman’s life that ought to have been free-flowing. However, because of God’s redemptive nature, He sent Christ – fully God, fully human, and fully perfect – to earth to undo the curse laid upon us, so we could be blessed instead.

Christ made atonement for every sin – past, present, and future – restoring humanity to God. What was lost in the Garden of Eden was restored in the Garden of Gethsemane. The act of redemption had to be walked out in real time through Jesus’ obedience: arrested, slandered, flogged, and hung on a cross for all to see. However, I believe the true battle occurred in the Garden of Gethsemane, the place where Jesus had to make up his mind and align his will with the will of the Father.

Jesus chose, there in the Garden of Gethsemane, to become the curse so every person would have access to blessing forevermore. He set himself on the path to undo the curse placed on the woman in the Garden of Eden, and through this, all women everywhere – for all time.

We now have the grace to be the wives and mothers God intended for us to be, through Christ Jesus. 

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So then, what does this mean? That now pregnancy and childbirth are no longer painful, and women no longer have the desire to rule over men? Well, not exactly. Like I said earlier, if we look at our world today, we will see very clearly that these things still exist. Women still experience pain in pregnancy and childbirth. Women still desire to rule over men.

We still live in a fallen world where sin exists. Christ’s death made a way for people to be free from sin. However, we have to choose Christ. Unfortunately, not everyone chooses Christ, which is what allows sin to continue in this world. We will not be free from the pains of this world until the new heaven and the new earth come (Revelation 21:1-4).

That brings me to my next point: all of this is bigger than women’s ability to birth children pain-free, and to love and submit to our husbands.

Christ redeemed our souls back to the Father.

This is about our salvation. 

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If you recall the scene in Genesis when the curses were given, God placed hostility between the serpent and the woman. He said, “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15).

Here is God foretelling the coming of Christ, who would come into the world through childbirth (Jesus didn’t simply appear), and defeat the enemy once and for all.

Women, we have life through the blessing that came through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.

We have grace to birth children, and the pain we endure in so doing is not meant to be a curse unto us, but rather serves as a reminder of the salvation given to us. We now have the grace to honor, respect, love, and submit to our spouses. This isn’t something we do begrudgingly, but with joy.

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Lord, thank you for redeeming the role and identity of women. Thank you for giving us the grace to be saved. Thank you for taking the things that used to remind us of the curs placed on us, and using them to remind us instead of the salvation that is free to us. Father, it is by your mercy that you sent your son to restore us back to yourself. It is in our relationship with you that we learn to walk in the fullness of our femininity. Jesus, thank you for dying so that we could be whole. Continue to teach us and guide us in the blessing of life that is over us. To yours be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Britnee Bradshaw is a free-spirited, Old Navy-wearin', coffee-shop lovin', wife and momma. She serves in the worship ministry with her husband at their home church in Glendale, AZ and writes with the sole purpose of pointing others to Christ. You can catch up with her on her blog or via social media @b_brdshw!

This article is part of our larger resource library of popular Bible verse phrases and quotes. We want to provide easy to read articles that answer your questions about the meaning, origin and history of specific verses within Scripture context. It is our hope that these will help you better understand the meaning and purpose of God's Word in relation to your life today.

"Be Still and Know that I Am God"
"Pray Without Ceasing" 
"Fearfully and Wonderfully Made"
"Faith Without Works is Dead"
"Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart"
"All Things Work Together for Good"
"Be Strong and Courageous" 
 

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