What say ye?

[Guest]

I've always thought that understanding why Paul mentioned Adam and Eve in this passage would be the key to understanding the whole passage . . .

You may well have thought correctly!

Paul may have been suggesting that since it was Eve that was deceived rather than Adam, their female offspring would also be more easily deceived than the males. Consequently, women should not rule men, but be in subjection to their husbands. Otherwise, (because of their propensity to be deceived), they may lead astray their whole family, or church, or nation.

Perhaps I'm reading into it more than Paul actually meant. But to me, that seems to be what he was saying. However, I don't think genetics works that way.

[Guest]

What do you think of the idea others have set forth that Paul was directly addressing an early form of Gnosticism, propagated mainly by the women, that Eve was created before Adam?

I've heard it said that reading the letters of Paul is like listening to one side of a telephone conversation; you don't know the full gist of what is being said until you know what's going at the other end. Therefore, I think a good interpretation of Pauline texts is really imcomplete without historical context. What do you think? What do you understand the historical context of this passage to be?

[Guest]

Here's my 2 cents worth. I think by child bearing Paul is speaking symbolically not literally and he meant by a women fulfilling the most important role God gave her and being faithful she will be saved. I don't mean to say a women will be saved by works but because of faith she will be happy to fulfill the most important job that God has given her without which the human race would cease to exist.

[Guest]

Here's my 2 cents worth. I think by child bearing Paul is speaking symbolically not literally and he meant by a women fulfilling the most important role God gave her and being faithful she will be saved. I don't mean to say a women will be saved by works but because of faith she will be happy to fulfill the most important job that God has given her without which the human race would cease to exist.

Steve, I think you are on the right track here. A good mother is a servant. Being faithful to her task of motherhood requires caring for your child and seeing to their needs. Mothers cannot be selfish. Caring for others brings God's blessings, while selfishness brings condemnation.

Todd

[Guest]

The verse means that it is by a woman that the Christ comes into the world. If women did not bear children, Christ would not have been born. But by Bearing Children, and especially the Christ Child, Women and men are saved.

Peace

[Guest]

So where does the historical fact fit in that women used to offer sacrifices to Diana of Ephesus to save their lives during childbirth?

[Guest]

So where does the historical fact fit in that women used to offer sacrifices to Diana of Ephesus to save their lives during childbirth?

In a history book

[Guest]

Oh right, I forgot. History has no bearing on how we are to understand scripture since the Bible was written specifically to us in the 21st century.