Cheryl

Charis,

You said:

I am interpreting “the childbirthing” as Christ being formed in her- not salvation, but sanctification.

But Charis, remember that Paul said “She will be saved if…” This shows that the woman is not yet saved. I too understand the process of sanctification but it always follows salvation. This woman is not yet saved so Paul is not talking about the process of sanctification but the fact that she will be saved if….

Remember that we are talking about the salvation of a deceived person. Think about, for example, a Jehovah’s Witness. Can they just accept Christ by having the gospel preached to them or do they need to unlearn at least some of their false doctrine before the gospel will make sense to them and then they can have faith to believe in the real Jesus. Having lead a support group for ex-JW’s for 16 years, I know how hard some JW’s have to work to get past their false doctrine. It is difficult for them to put faith in Jesus when they have believed that he is a created being originally created as Michael the Archangel. Do you see the importance of making a deceived person sit down and learn the truth? Then, Paul says, once she has learned the truth and left her false doctrine aside so she can stay fully in the truth of God’s word, then and only then will she be in a position to be saved.

So the key here is not putting yourself in the passage. Don’t think sanctification. Think salvation of a deceived person. Go back to chapter 1 and read it as if the woman was in the group of deceived teachers who didn’t know what they were talking about. You will find these deceived ones close to the beginning of chapter 1. How will these deceived teachers be saved? One of them is separated by Paul from the others because one of them is a woman and her husband is saved but letting her continue in her deception and so Paul (and Timothy) need to get involved in a marriage situation. Watch how Paul differentiates between the deceived teachers and those who have already left the entire faith behind and are now deceivers (Hymenaeus distored the resurrection by saying that it had already happened. Check his name in the NT and you will read more about him. Alexander was also someone who actively opposed Paul in ministry. Check out the NT where Alexander is spoken about and you will see a complete difference between these two and the deceived teachers who were completely ignorant. The deceived teachers were not deceivers like H & A who were deliberate deceivers.)

Don’t worry about going onto Matt’s board right now. It will only confuse you. What you need to do right now is get your thinking fully on board with the subject of deception in 1 Timothy. You will be see things completely differently in chapter 2 if you do.

Just a reminder for those who didn’t read my comment on my latest post yesterday that this weekend is Thanksgiving here in Canada and my company arrives this afternoon so I will be off line for a few days while I play host to my in-laws. I hope you’all have a great weekend.

Blessings!
Cheryl