1Ti 2:14-15 | JFB | STEP | 14. Adam was not deceived —as Eve was deceived by the serpent; but was persuaded by his wife. , "hearkened unto . . . voice of . . . wife." But in , Eve says, "The serpent beguiled me." Being more easily deceived, she more easily deceives [BENGEL ], ( ). Last in being, she was first in sin—indeed, she alone was deceived. The subtle serpent knew that she was "the weaker vessel" ( ). He therefore tempted her, not Adam. She yielded to the temptations of sense and the deceits of Satan; he, to conjugal love. Hence, in the order of God's judicial sentence, the serpent, the prime offender, stands first; the woman, who was deceived, next; and the man, persuaded by his wife, last ( ). In , Adam is represented as the first transgressor; but there no reference is made to Eve, and Adam is regarded as the head of the sinning race. Hence, as here, , in , woman's "subjection" is represented as the consequence of her being deceived. being deceived —The oldest manuscripts read the compound Greek verb for the simple, "Having been seduced by deceit ": implying how completely Satan succeeded in deceiving her. was in the transgression — Greek, " came to be in the transgression": became involved in the existing state of transgression, literally, "the going beyond a command"; breach of a positive precept ( ).

1 Timothy 2:14-15

14. Adam was not deceived—as Eve was deceived by the serpent; but was persuaded by his wife. Ge 3:17, "hearkened unto . . . voice of . . . wife." But in Ge 3:13, Eve says, "The serpent beguiled me." Being more easily deceived, she more easily deceives [BENGEL], (2Co 11:3). Last in being, she was first in sin—indeed, she alone was deceived. The subtle serpent knew that she was "the weaker vessel" (1Pe 3:7). He therefore tempted her, not Adam. She yielded to the temptations of sense and the deceits of Satan; he, to conjugal love. Hence, in the order of God's judicial sentence, the serpent, the prime offender, stands first; the woman, who was deceived, next; and the man, persuaded by his wife, last (Ge 3:14-19). In Ro 5:12, Adam is represented as the first transgressor; but there no reference is made to Eve, and Adam is regarded as the head of the sinning race. Hence, as here, 1Ti 2:11, in Ge 3:16, woman's "subjection" is represented as the consequence of her being deceived.

being deceived—The oldest manuscripts read the compound Greek verb for the simple, "Having been seduced by deceit": implying how completely Satan succeeded in deceiving her.

was in the transgression—Greek, "came to be in the transgression": became involved in the existing state of transgression, literally, "the going beyond a command"; breach of a positive precept (Ro 4:15).

15. be saved in childbearing—Greek, "in (literally, 'through') (her, literally, 'the') child-bearing." Through, or by, is often so used to express not the means of her salvation, but the circumstances AMIDST which it has place. Thus 1Co 3:15, "He . . . shall be saved: yet so as by (literally, 'through,' that is, amidst) fire": in spite of the fiery ordeal which he has necessarily to pass through, he shall be saved. So here, "In spite of the trial of childbearing which she passes through (as her portion of the curse, Ge 3:16, 'in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children'), she shall be saved." Moreover, I think it is implied indirectly that the very curse will be turned into a condition favorable to her salvation, by her faithfully performing her part in doing and suffering what God has assigned to her, namely, child-bearing and home duties, her sphere, as distinguished from public teaching, which is not hers, but man's (1Ti 2:11, 12). In this home sphere, not ordinarily in one of active duty for advancing the kingdom of God, which contradicts the position assigned to her by God, she will be saved on the same terms as all others, namely, by living faith. Some think that there is a reference to the Incarnation "through THE child-bearing" (Greek), the bearing of the child Jesus. Doubtless this is the ground of women's child-bearing in general becoming to them a blessing, instead of a curse; just as in the original prophecy (Ge 3:15, 16) the promise of "the Seed of the woman" (the Saviour) stands in closest connection with the woman's being doomed to "sorrow" in "bringing forth children," her very child-bearing, though in sorrow, being the function assigned to her by God whereby the Saviour was born. This may be an ulterior reference of the Holy Spirit in this verse; but the primary reference required by the context is the one above given. "She shall be saved ([though] with childbearing)," that is, though suffering her part of the primeval curse in childbearing; just as a man shall be saved, though having to bear his part, namely, the sweat of the brow.

if they, &c.—"if the women (plural, taken out of 'the woman,' 1Ti 2:14, which is put for the whole sex) continue," or more literally, "shall (be found at the judgment to) have continued."

faith and charity—the essential way to salvation (1Ti 1:5). Faith is in relation to God. Charity, to our fellow man. Sobriety, to one's self.

sobriety—"sober-mindedness" (see on 1Ti 2:9, as contrasted with the unseemly forwardness reproved in 1Ti 2:11). Mental receptivity and activity in family life were recognized in Christianity as the destiny of woman. One reason alleged here by Paul, is the greater danger of self-deception in the weaker sex, and the spread of errors arising from it, especially in a class of addresses in which sober reflectiveness is least in exercise [NEANDER]. The case (Ac 21:9) was doubtless in private, not in public.