............................................
“The
Childbirth”
Saved
through 'The Childbirth'
By John David Pitcher, Jr.,
MD
“The Childbirth”
If you’ve never
seen the story of Christmas in Paul’s letter, 1 Timothy, I’d like to show it to
you in a very controversial section of Scripture:
“For Adam was formed first, then Havah. Adam wasn’t deceived, but the
woman, being deceived, has fallen into disobedience; but she will be saved
through her childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and sanctification
with sobriety.” (1 Timothy
2:13-15, World Messianic Bible)
The phrase “through her childbearing” (dia tas
teknogonias) includes a preposition (dia), definitive
article (tas) and noun in the genitive singular feminine case (teknogonias).
That word is not
used anywhere else in the translation of the Old Testament Hebrew by the 70
Rabbis, known as the Septuagint, or elsewhere in the New
Testament.
It is unique.
Most
translations render the phrase “in
childbearing,” and that translation would include a participle, a type of
verb.
But in the Greek
in 1 Timothy 2:15, it is clearly a noun and the phrase is better translated “through The Childbirth.”
“What
Childbirth?” you may ask.
Note that Paul
places the reader of the letter in the Garden of Eden with the very context of
the sentence.
That first fall into disobedience is followed by the prophecy given by
God that “her seed (not the man’s) should
bruise the serpent’s head” (Genesis 3:15).
So in 1 Timothy 2:15, “The
Childbirth” possesses the means of salvation (she will be saved “through The
Childbirth”) just like how anyone gains salvation.
Here, Paul
identifies the Messiah as the unique Seed of woman, the promise of Genesis
3:15, the protoevangelium, the first messianic prophecy of the Torah.
When those
children in Bethlehem were murdered by Herod (Matthew
2:16), those boys’ mothers were wailing (Jeremiah 31:15) because their son would not be the “Seed” that would crush Satan’s head,
and perhaps if he was supposed to be the “Seed,”
all Israel was now lost, even all mankind (cf. Genesis
4:25).
Though it is
generally considered that the early Church fathers were the first to recognize
Jesus as fulfilling Genesis 3:15, it is clear from the progression of thought
in 1 Timothy 2:9-15 that Paul recognized it before his execution in 67 AD.
Today, you have
the opportunity to be saved through “The
Childbirth.” That is, by believing in the Messiah who was born of the
betrothed virgin foretold by Isaiah to the wicked king Ahaz (Isaiah 7:14).
Messiah lived an
unblemished life and sacrificially took the punishment of sin for you–you will
be saved like anyone else is saved and stand righteous before God, through “The Childbirth.”
This reminds me
of the statue at the Church of the Primacy of Saint Peter (photo below) on the
Sea of Galilee in Tabgha, Israel, where tradition has it Jesus (Yeshua is His
Hebrew name) appeared again to His disciples after His Resurrection and where
it really sunk in that He is Messiah and that it also can ‘sink in’ for you!
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