1 Timothy 2:9

Conduct of Women

2:9 Likewise ¹  the women are to dress ²  in suitable apparel, with modesty and self-control. ³  Their adornment must not be ⁴  with braided hair and gold or pearls or expensive clothing,

1 Timothy 2:15

2:15 But she will be delivered through childbearing, ⁵  if she ⁶  continues in faith and love and holiness with self-control.

Titus 2:2

2:2 Older men are to be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, ⁷  sound in faith, in love, and in endurance. ⁸ 

Titus 2:4

2:4 In this way ⁹  they will train ¹⁰  the younger women to love their husbands, to love their children,

Titus 2:6

2:6 Encourage younger men likewise to be self-controlled, ¹¹ 

Titus 2:12

2:12 It trains us ¹²  to reject godless ways ¹³  and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

Titus 2:1

Conduct Consistent with Sound Teaching

2:1 But as for you, communicate the behavior that goes with ¹⁴  sound teaching.

Titus 1:13

1:13 Such testimony is true. For this reason rebuke them sharply that they may be healthy in the faith

Titus 1:7-8

1:7 For the overseer ¹⁵  must be blameless as one entrusted with God’s work, ¹⁶  not arrogant, not prone to anger, not a drunkard, not violent, not greedy for gain. 1:8 Instead he must be hospitable, devoted to what is good, sensible, upright, devout, and self-controlled.

[2:9]  ¹ tc ‡ Most witnesses have καὶ τάς (kai tas; so D¹ Ψ 1881 Ï) or simply καί (א² D* F G 6 365 1739 pc) after ὡσαύτως (Jwsautw"). A few important witnesses lack such words (א* A H P 33 81 1175 pc). The evidence is for the most part along “party” lines, with the shortest reading being found in the Alexandrian text, the conjunction in the Western, and the longest reading in the Byzantine tradition. Externally, the shortest reading is preferred. However, there is a good chance of homoiomeson or homoioteleuton in which case καί or καὶ τάς could have accidentally been omitted (note the αι [ai] and αι ας [ai as] in the word that follows, written here in uncial script): wsautwskaigunaikas/ wsautwskaitasgunaikas. Nevertheless, since both the καί and καὶ τάς are predictable variants, intended to fill out the meaning of the text, the shortest reading seems best able to explain the rise of the others. NA²⁷ has the καί in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[2:9]  ² tn Grk “to adorn themselves.” Grammatically the phrase “to adorn themselves” continues the author’s words in v. 8: “I want…likewise the women to adorn themselves.”

[2:9]  ³ tn This word and its cognates are used frequently in the Pastoral Epistles. It means “moderation,” “sobriety,” “decency,” “sensibleness,” or “sound judgment.”

[2:9]  ⁴ tn Literally a continuation of v. 9a, “not with braided hair…” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[2:15]  ⁵ tn Or “But she will be preserved through childbearing,” or “But she will be saved in spite of childbearing.” This verse is notoriously difficult to interpret, though there is general agreement about one point: Verse 15 is intended to lessen the impact of vv. 13-14. There are several interpretive possibilities here, though the first three can be readily dismissed (cf. D. Moo, “1 Timothy 2:11-15: Meaning and Significance,” TJ 1 [1980]: 70-73). (1) Christian women will be saved, but only if they bear children. This view is entirely unlikely for it lays a condition on Christian women that goes beyond grace, is unsupported elsewhere in scripture, and is explicitly against Paul’s and Jesus’ teaching on both marriage and salvation (cf. Matt 19:12; 1 Cor 7:8-9, 26-27, 34-35; 1 Tim 5:3-10). (2) Despite the curse, Christian women will be kept safe when bearing children. This view also is unlikely, both because it has little to do with the context and because it is not true to life (especially life in the ancient world with its high infant mortality rate). (3) Despite the sin of Eve and the results to her progeny, she would be saved through the childbirth – that is, through the birth of the Messiah, as promised in the protevangelium (Gen 3:15). This view sees the singular “she” as referring first to Eve and then to all women (note the change from singular to plural in this verse). Further, it works well in the context. However, there are several problems with it: [a] The future tense (σωθήσηται, swqhshtai) is unnatural if referring to the protevangelium or even to the historical fact of the Messiah’s birth; [b] that only women are singled out as recipients of salvation seems odd since the birth of the Messiah was necessary for the salvation of both women and men; [c] as ingenious as this view is, its very ingenuity is its downfall, for it is overly subtle; and [d] the term τεκνογονία (teknogonia) refers to the process of childbirth rather than the product. And since it is the person of the Messiah (the product of the birth) that saves us, the term is unlikely to be used in the sense given it by those who hold this view. There are three other views that have greater plausibility: (4) This may be a somewhat veiled reference to the curse of Gen 3:16 in order to clarify that though the woman led the man into transgression (v. 14b), she will be saved spiritually despite this physical reminder of her sin. The phrase is literally “through childbearing,” but this does not necessarily denote means or instrument here. Instead it may show attendant circumstance (probably with a concessive force): “with, though accompanied by” (cf. BDAG 224 s.v. δία A.3.c; Rom 2:27; 2 Cor 2:4; 1 Tim 4:14). (5) “It is not through active teaching and ruling activities that Christian women will be saved, but through faithfulness to their proper role, exemplified in motherhood” (Moo, 71). In this view τεκνογονία is seen as a synecdoche in which child-rearing and other activities of motherhood are involved. Thus, one evidence (though clearly not an essential evidence) of a woman’s salvation may be seen in her decision to function in this role. (6) The verse may point to some sort of proverbial expression now lost, in which “saved” means “delivered” and in which this deliverance was from some of the devastating effects of the role reversal that took place in Eden. The idea of childbearing, then, is a metonymy of part for the whole that encompasses the woman’s submission again to the leadership of the man, though it has no specific soteriological import (but it certainly would have to do with the outworking of redemption).

[2:15]  ⁶ tn There is a shift to the plural here (Grk “if they continue”), but it still refers to the woman in a simple shift from generic singular to generic plural.

[2:2]  ⁷ tn Or “sensible.”

[2:2]  ⁸ sn Temperate…in endurance. See the same cluster of virtues in 1 Thess 1:3 and 1 Cor 13:13.

[2:4]  ⁹ tn Grk “that they may train” (continuing the sentence of 2:3).

[2:4]  ¹⁰ tn This verb, σωφρονίζω (swfronizw), denotes teaching in the sense of bringing people to their senses, showing what sound thinking is.

[2:6]  ¹¹ tn Or “sensible.”

[2:12]  ¹² tn Grk “training us” (as a continuation of the previous clause). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 12 by translating the participle παιδεύουσα (paideuousa) as a finite verb and supplying the pronoun “it” as subject.

[2:12]  ¹³ tn Grk “ungodliness.”

[2:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “say what is fitting for sound teaching” (introducing the behavior called for in this chapter.).

[1:7]  ¹⁵ sn The overseer is another term for the same official position of leadership as the “elder.” This is seen in the interchange of the two terms in this passage and in Acts 20:17, 28, as well as in the parallels between these verses and 1 Tim 3:1-7.

[1:7]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “as God’s steward.”