At one of the churches we recently visited, the pastor was working his way through the book of 1 Timothy on Sunday nights. One night we attended, he was expositing 1 Timothy 2:11-15.

“Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing–if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.”

This is a very interesting concept to me, and one that I wish more people understood. In the chapter on the discipline of nurturing, Barbara Hughes addresses this verse. Here is how she explains it:

In the immediate context of this passage, Paul is instructing us about the behavior of godly women as distinct from that of godly men, especially in reference to how we should behave at home and in the church. Paul directs our attention back to Creation and the ordained differences between Adam and Eve from the very beginning. He uses childbearing as a universal example of the God-given differences between the roles of men and women. Men don’t give birth. Therefore, when Paul says, “women will be saved through childbearing,” he means that by living out their God-given roles and not seeking a man’s role, they will more likely remain in the heart attitude that invites salvation and its attendant blessings. The essential attitude here is one of submission…In this text, we women are encouraged to submit to the God-given nurturing realm for which we were designed, willingly abiding in the four virtues of “faith, love, and holiness with propriety.” (Disciplines of a Godly Woman, pg. 159-160)

The rest of the chapter, Hughes gives one example after another of how women can nurture others whether they have their own biological children or not. She mentions so many different kinds of women. This is my second time to read this chapter, but this time, thanks to the internet, I could put a face with each of her examples. When she wrote about women who have answered God’s call to nurture those in other countries, I thought of Amanda. Amanda is a missionary teaching English in Taiwan and has many opportunities to offer a nurturing touch to her students. When Hughes turned to nurturing orphans, my mind turned to Jane and Kim, who are anxiously awaiting that phone call from China. And Shawnda, who already has two blessings by adoption. When she turned to women who have bought the feminist lie, my mind turned to my friend Alison, who pursued a career rather than a family and is not as happy as she thought she’d be. She has two Bachelors degrees and a Masters degree, but as we approach 30 she longs for two kids and a husband. My mind also turned to the many women I know, not just on the web, who are fulfilling their roles as a nurturer. Then, as I though of each woman I know, I felt compelled to pray for them. I have a fresh realization today how unique we all are and how God gives each of us and our tasks significance.

God uses many circumstances to keep us close to Himself. But I found myself wondering what my life would look like had God not ordained my marriage to Karl. What would my spiritual life look like? God has definitely used Karl and my children as tools to shape this lump of clay. I know that bearing children, attending to my home, and raising our children has saved me by keeping me close to Jesus’ side.