Motherhood Is a Respectable Office
1 Timothy 2:13-15 is, if not the most difficult, probably the most avoided passage in the New Testament. In in a few sentences packed with Old Testament quotation and allusion, Paul grounds the qualifications for eldership in the story of creation. He ends with this enigmatic statement:
Yet she [woman] will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.
What in the world does Paul mean?
Ephesus, where Timothy is pastoring, had perhaps the most progressive sexual ethic of any city in the Roman world. First-century Ephesus was especially known for its vision of the new Roman woman, liberated from the cultural restraints of nature or history.
The underlying premise was the devaluation of motherhood. The culture taught that the truly enlightened woman should be liberated from childbearing. Motherhood was an inferior office, an inconvenience, a limitation to female achievement. Therefore, Ephesian women who found themselves pregnant often chose to end their pregnancy by abortion or infanticide (death by exposure).
There are many things we could explore about Paul’s response in verse 15–for example, how his allusion to Genesis 3 sympathizes with the real suffering of childbirth that results from the fall or how it echoes God’s promise to restore his people through the Messiah’s birth. But one thing is especially clear: Motherhood is a respectable office. Women, especially Christian women, are not to terminate pregnancy. In the face of every cultural pressure, God’s people are to safeguard motherhood.
Christians recognize that God has designed marriage as the legitimate context for sexual intimacy. He has designed it to be a safe place where both mother and child can be respected, nurtured, valued, and protected. But being a mother is a respectable office in every condition. Unwed mothers, unplanned pregnancies, are not exceptions. God’s people are to safeguard motherhood. This is what the Scriptures teach and what the church has confessed throughout all times.
The US Supreme Court’s Roe decision—the ruling that has legalized the killing of millions of children, and caused untold harm to millions of mothers—will be overturned one day. There will be much reason to rejoice. But the pro-life cause will continue, as it has since the first century. And one thing is certain about the future: there will always be struggling mothers who need to be reminded of their dignity, whose office is worthy of celebration, who will need encouragement, blessing, and practical help. Our work as a church will not end.
In his kindness, God has called each of us as his children to particular works in this world. Not all of us will get to be mothers. But each of us can honor that office and support mothers in the high calling they have received. Church, let us do so now more than ever.
This reminds us of our need to confess. Will you pray with me?:
Our Father in heaven, while we can feel powerless in the face of great cultural evils, we confess that we often fail to do what is right before us. We confess how easy it is to see the pro-life cause as a cultural war to be won rather than an opportunity to serve mothers who are pressured, overwhelmed, ashamed, or scared. We confess our pride and our indifference. And as we consider these things, we bring before you all the other ways we have failed to honor you this week in this time of silent confession.
Father, we give thanks with the prophet Jeremiah that, because of your steadfast love, we are not cut off. Your mercies are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Inspire us with new vision—invigorate us with new energies—to live in a manner worthy of the calling we have received in Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen.
