As our dear daughter-in-law, Monica has borne a tenth grandchild for our family, my thoughts to to 1 Timothy 2.1-15 and the enigmatic phrase about women. “she will be saved through childbearing – if they continue in faith and love and holiness…”
As for 'through childbearing', Lenske reminds us that the GK “dia” does not invariably mean “by means of” (“through”). It may mean “along with” (genitive of accompaniment). The “she” who is saved (given the context) is also the female sex itself, of which at least half of all Christians are members (St. Theodore of Mopsuestia says the “woman” who is “saved through childbearing” is Eve and all Christian women).
As with all Christians, faith and love and holiness are required for a living relationship with God our Saviour. The Greek here also uses the article “the” as in “The Childbearing” that has “saved” (rehabilitated) the female sex (despite the woman being “deceived” and a “transgressor” she now is the bearer of the Christ-child.
It is orthodox to call the Virgin Mary the “theotokos” – the “bearer” of God, whose obedience to God compensates for the disobedience of Eve. “Childbearing” includes the calling of motherhood and childrearing (Lenske) making this a very pro-life text!
Women who bring children to baptism are living out their sanctification by applying their faith to their motherly vocation. In other words, (to paraphrase St.Paul) “A Christian woman will live out her salvation through her vocation, if in child-bearing, with faithful motherhood, characterised by love”.
