“Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety” – 1 Timothy 2: 15
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.””- Gen 2: 28
Families play a primary role in establishing God’s kingdom on earth, and for dominion. When God created man in his own image (both Male & Female) (Gen 1:27), He blessed them with an assignment to fill the earth and subdue it (Gen 1:28), we are of His own image and He wanted his image to fill and subdue earth as His ambassadors enforcing His authority. There are two critical parts to this blessing;
1- Fill and 2 -Subdue,
it is obvious that Adam could not have fulfilled both this task on his own and the blessing was given in the context of man (as male & female), Adam had begun the role of subduing whilst lacking the capability to fill, and therefore God creates a woman (Eve) as suitable helper to Adam and they are now uniquely equipped to fill & subdue.
The Woman is assigned to “fill” through reproduction and Man takes the role to “subdue” through headship as he was created first. Here partnership is important for the blessing to manifest, the offspring are produced, imparted with wisdom in a family unit and sent out to fill & subdue and this continues from generation to generation. Filling and Subduing are to be done in tandem otherwise its useless. That’s why man and woman are to be one flesh to fulfill their roles.
When sin (through the influence of the enemy) manifested through disobedience, the curse impeded this unique capability of Man and Woman, it added pain to their respective assignments, for Man he will subdue (work the ground) with pain whereas for a Woman she will reproduce (fill) with pain. At this stage Adam prophetically declares Eve as the mother of all living things, whose offspring (Jesus) will eventually bring redemption from curse of sin restoring life, reinstating the fill & subdue blessing, and allowing for it to manifest. She bore Cain and Abel, again sin (influence of the enemy) brings on a disaster destroying the offspring capability to fill & subdue, Abel is killed whilst Cain is cursed making him incapable of subduing. God gives them Seth, whose name means Appointed or Compensation, and in his lineage, Christ is born. (Cains’s offspring were fully destroyed in the great flood)
In conclusion Paul in his letter to Timothy in 1 Tim 2:15 (“Saved through childbearing”), emphasizes the role & assignment (to fill) of a Woman as per the blessing of God (Gen 1 :28), her children are a compensation, by earnestly exercising Faith, Self-sacrifice and holiness, just as Eve (Mother of all living things) was saved by bearing Seth, in the same way a woman is saved (from the enemies influence & sin and its curse) by filling the earth with more images of God who either go on to fill or subdue thus annihilating the enemy and expanding boundaries of God’s Kingdom.
Prayer: Lord I pray, as you reveal the deeper purpose of our lives, help us take our respective roles with earnestness. In Jesus name I pray. Amen
Sol.Paul