Re: 1 Tim. 2:15

From: Randy Leedy (RLEEDY@wpo.bju.edu)
Date: Mon Jul 22 1996 - 14:55:53 EDT


Andrew Kulikovsky started a thread on I Tim. 2:15 while I was on
vacation. As I read through the digests, I felt that I had little to
contribute, for three reasons. First, my view is quite close to his
own. Second, my view carries very little weight, because I have not
yet worked through any extra-biblical Greek usage on some important
points of word meaning. Third, I suspect that the verse has had its
share of attention on the list "before my time," since I joined the
list just this summer.

However, the appearance of my name on the list of "legends" cries too
loudly to ignore. It proves, I suppose, that there are at least two
ways to become legendary: one is to do something genuinely
noteworthy; the other is apparently to make a noteworthy amount of
racket. To dispel any notion that I may be in the first group (a
little embarassment now will, I hope, prevent further embarassment in
the future), I will briefly state my tentative view of the passage.

I take the subject of SWQHSETAI as the woman (generic), and I incline
toward taking the word itself as referring in this context to
"deliverance" from the dishonor arising from Eve's role in the Fall
(but does SWZW refer elsewhere to deliverance from something of this
nature?). The woman's honor is "redeemed" by the crucial contribution
she makes to the human race (in contrast to the harm to the race that
she instigated) via bearing children.

I take the article with TEKNOGONIAS as the normal usage with unique
entities, not as pointing out a specific instance of childbirth. BAGD
cite hH ZWH and hO QANATOS as examples of this usage (II.1.a.alpha.).
TEKNOGONIAS seems to fit into this category quite well.

As to the subject(s) of MEINWSIN, I think it would be helpful to have
more information about how TEKNOGONIAS is used (it's a hapax
legomenon in the NT). If it can refer to the children begotten
(perhaps including the rearing process: see I Tim. 5:14, where the
cognate verb could quite possibly entail activity extending beyond
birth) as well as to the event of childbirth, then I think the plural
verb could refer to the woman and her child(ren). Her "redemption"
rests, not upon the simple event of birth, but upon the additional
condition of a godly lifestyle--at least her own godliness, and
possibly that of her children as well.

Perhaps the true legends will speak up, or at least re-post whatever
comments they have made previously.

----------------------------
In Love to God and Neighbor,
Randy Leedy
Bob Jones University
Greenville, SC
RLeedy@wpo.bju.edu
----------------------------



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