I Don't Know Exactly What This Verse Means

This is part of a series and I recommend to read the rest of the series where Scripture speaks clearly about the different roles of men and women in church and home. The links to those devotions are above the "theories." 

Today we'll seek to understand “a notoriously difficult verse with a myriad of potential interpretations” which Paul uses to confirm male leadership in church and home (source). 

“Women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.” 1 Timothy 2:15

First, let's establish there are no errors or contradictions in God's divinely inspired Word.(See Believing God's Word is Inerrant for multiple verses that affirm the inerrancy of God's Word.) But that doesn't mean we'll fully understand every verse and passage here on earth (We See Through a Glass Darkly).

Second, verse 15 doesn't change the fact that we can understand the concept of male leadership from the previous verses in the chapter and from other passages of Scripture.

Third, while most difficult passages can be fully explained. This one is extremely rare because scholars come to many different conclusions.

Fourth, this verse may be a test of our faith: will we trust God's Word even when we don't fully understand it? 

If this is all you need to know about verse 15, you can stop reading here. If you have a bit longer than a minute, you can explore some of the theories below. My opinion is at the bottom. But first let me give you the links to the other devotions in this series:

Part 1: Think God Needs "Updating"? Think Again!

Part 2: Women in Church Leadership: Complementarian or Egalitarian? 

Part 3: When Male Leadership in the Church Is Misused   

Part 4: My Response to Male Leadership in the Church 

Part 5: Egalitarians Actually Hold a Low View of Women and Scripture. Answering a reader's questions from Part 4.

Part 6: Examining a False Claim regarding Female Leadership

Part 7: Women's Roles: The Message of 1 Timothy 2

Part 8: What Do Adam and Eve Have to Do with Male Leadership?

Part 9: Leadership and the Fall of Mankind 

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

False explanations of 1 Timothy 2:15:

1. Having a child saves a woman.

2. Christian women won't die in childbirth, because the curse in Genesis 3:16 has been overturned.

3. Women will be saved if they raise godly children.

4. Eve was saved through childbirth and faith. 

5.  Christian women can lead men because the curse of creation order has been overturned. Paul's commands about male leadership weren't applicable when he gave them, and they aren't applicable now.

6. Paul was simply giving his opinion in this whole passage.

Possible legitimate explanations:

1. “The most likely interpretation that takes into account the immediate context is that, rather than abandoning their intended roles by demanding teaching and authoritative positions in the church, women will find true fulfillment through childbearing. Paul is saying God calls women to be faithful, helpful wives, raising children to love and worship God and managing the household wisely (1 Timothy 5:14; Titus 2:3–5). While this view is not without its difficulties, it appears to harmonize best with the context and with the remainder of Scripture.”  Got Questions

2. “My summary paraphrase would go like this: Even though many women today and in history may feel the ongoing effects of the curse in the pains of childbirth and the lifelong wounds that it may leave, I urge all of our Christian sisters not to despair. God’s word to you is hope, not curse. God’s plan for you is salvation, not destruction… At the last day, every vestige of the curse will be undone and every wound will be healed. That is part of what it means to be saved through faith in Christ.” Desiring God

3. “It is more likely that Paul uses childbearing as a figure of speech known as a synecdoche. A synecdoche is a figure in which the part stands for the whole. Childbearing is a part of a larger whole, which is the woman’s wider role to care for the home. This is the same role Paul describes in Titus 2:4–5: ‘Young women [are] to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.’”  Crossway

4. “It may seem to some reading this passage in 1 Timothy that women are being relegated to be of no value (especially after reading vv. 11-13), but this is indeed the opposite of Paul’s intention. Instead, he is showing that God is restoring them and commending to them the enormous significance of their ministry. By highlighting this important role, Paul emphasizes the ministry of childbearing and motherhood, and possibly even further, the ministry that Christian women have to others beyond their very own offspring. Childbearing is surely not the only significant ministry opportunity afforded to women, but it is one of particular prestige and relevance to the passage at hand and its discussion on roles in the church.” 

“Discussing this text in conjunction with Galatians 3:28, Köstenberger explains, . . . there is no warrant for taking Gal 3:28 to be normative while consigning 1 Tim 2:15 to the state of historical and cultural relativity. Contrary to such efforts, the teachings of Gal 3:28 and 1 Tim 2:15 should rather both be considered as normative teachings and be related to one another in the sense that Scripture teaches both that women and men have equal status as believers in Christ and that they have different roles assigned to them by their Creator. Despite the fact that the role of women in the church does not lie in teaching or being in authority over men, and despite the fact that Eve was deceived and fell into sin, yet she (women) will be restored to “that glory of God which was lost through sin,” as she, a genuine believer, participates in the role and ministry of childbearing, as well as other godly roles that fit within the order of God’s creation.” 

“Clearly, the attempted interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:15 has produced a great deal of work among scholars and Bible readers alike to come to an understanding of what this difficult text implies. The grammatical considerations, as well as the very words themselves, make interpreting this text a challenge.” (Liberty.eu)

My opinion: I'm personally not aware of any other verse or passage like this one. They may exist, but I haven't come across them in my years of Bible study and seminary. After studying it, I can't say for sure what it means, but there's enough in the passage we do understand to give us confidence that male leadership is God's plan.