Cheryl

Charis,

Here is the key to understanding that Paul is not talking about every woman or about every wife. You said:

But that was just 1Tim 11-12. I still wondered about “she will be saved in childbearing if they continue”.

The fact is that “she” is singular feminine and we cannot get out from the grammar in this passage. It is not plural. It cannot refer to all women or all wives or all of anything.

You asked:

It seems to me that it cannot be Christian salvation because HER salvation is dependant upon something THEY do???
How can an individual’s Christian salvation be dependant upon “they”?

If you diagram out the closest “they” in the passage of people who are living at the time of Paul’s writing (because “they” have to do something) you get back to “a woman” and “a man” from verse 12. This is the simplest logical “they” that doesn’t do any cartwheels to force something on the text.

Now if you realize that it is only “she” whose salvation is in question, you can understand then that the other person in the “they” is saved. “A man” is saved but he is saying nothing to his deceived wife. He is letting her teach him her deception. If her now turns the tables and leads her into righteousness by making sure that she learns the truth, then he is now doing something that will result in her salvation.

Think of it this way – say there is a Christian man who is married to a woman who is into all kinds of weird new age religion. She actually thinks she is a Christian (many new agers think this) and she is bringing her false doctrine into the home and teaching him. If he takes the lead and brings her to church, he is doing something that will help her to see the truth and receive salvation. The work that he is doing by bringing her to church to hear the truth is a “work” but is a work that will cause her to hear the truth. It doesn’t merit salvation, it only brings her to the place where she can hear. The woman in 1 Timothy 2:12 needs to “hear” in order to learn. The husband must do something to encourage her to hear. To this point, he has been silent and she has been the teacher teaching false doctrine. He needs to quit being silent and speak up for the truth and if he leads, Paul is sure she will follow. Thus “she” will be saved if “they” (the husband leading the way for his wife) continue in the truth, etc. Does that make a little bit of sense?

You said:

If “THEY” is the husband and wife, then I reasoned that their relationship could be restored to a more “garden-like” state where he is not “RULING OVER HER”; the curse upon Eve is undone, when Christ is formed in her, IF THEY continue in faith, holiness, etc… IOW, if she gives up on the marriage and goes for divorce, the marriage will not not be “saved/rescued/restored” to that garden state…

However you have missed one thing. 1 Timothy 2:13-15 is not about the curse on Eve (no curse is mentioned in Genesis) or about the man’s ruling over her (nothing in the passage says this) nor is the Christ mentioned as being formed in her or that forming in her saves her. Salvation is an event not a birthing process. The garden is not mentioned only deceived and not deceived. Lots of things said and lots of things not said. Look carefully only what is said. The thing that you missed is deception. This is an absolute key to the passage right after “she” and “they”.

The word for “saved” means spiritual salvation and this is a one time happening. But how does she “a woman” get there? She needs to learn the truth (verse 11). The stopping of teaching is connected to deception (verse 14) and it has something to do with being second (verse 13). The big question is why was Adam not deceived? What happened after he was created and before Eve was created that immunized him to the deception of the serpent? That is the key not rulership or authority or the garden.

You said:

Now, as I mentioned, I project my own Christian experience into it… And my own marriage to a very traditional, patriarchal man who has used scriptures like this and other ones in a rather oppressive way 🙁

I know what you mean. I was there too. My husband received freedom too when he finally realized that he wasn’t responsible to make me into somebody I wasn’t. And he wasn’t responsible for me spiritually before God. That was a big one that helped him to stop being so hard on me.