“Will the mother with the most children please stand up and receive a prize!” Many cultures in general and the Church in particular can be hard on women who don’t have children.  Weary of the annual game show atmosphere that crops up at many churches on Mother’s Day, many women opt to be somewhere else.  The pastor calls out, “The youngest mother!”  “The oldest mother!”  Women are met at the door with greeters handing out flowers to all mothers.  Ouch.  Then political correctness—or maybe the looks of pain they received morphed the practice into handing out flowers to all women.  “Today is Mother’s Day and we honor all women.” Huh?  “We honor all mothers—natural and spiritual.”  People can’t miss the awkwardness of such practices and the pain they cause but many churches press on (Though certainly people should honor their own mothers).

Meanwhile a prominent Christian radio commentator has said, “Bearing and raising children is the most feminine thing a woman can do.”  “Being a mother is the most important role for a Christian woman.”  So, women who never married and remained celibate or those who are married but unable to have children aren’t feminine or doing important service for God?” Where does the Bible say that?

Under the Old Covenant, following God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply was (and is in some Jewish circles today), considered a requirement for women to have children.  Women who were unable to bear children were taunted and considered cursed.  No wonder Hannah pined away (1 Samuel 1:1-16 ) in miserable jealousy of her husband’s other wife with all her children. And yes, the Bible does say that God “closed the womb” of Hannah and others whose husbands loved them more than “the other wife,” as a seeming balancing of affections.  We’re even told by the Psalmist that children are a heritage and reward of the Lord (and they are), that when “born in one’s youth are like arrows and blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them” (Psalm 27:3-5).

I once read that some Christian women in Africa (unfortunately, I can’t remember which country) were told that unless a woman has children, she can’t be saved!

But now, the people of God—those who follow Jesus are under a new covenant.  While it is still a good and honorable thing to bear and raise children, God’s emphasis has shifted.  Once aging, barren Elizabeth conceived and bore John the Baptizer and Mary gave birth to the Lord Jesus, of all the women honored in the Bible, few were noted because they were mothers.  Rather, most were acknowledged as teachers, “fellow workers in the gospel,” deacons or ministers (same word in Greek).

Jesus and his apostles didn’t put motherhood on the same pedestal that many cultures do to this day.

On the contrary, when a woman shouted from a crowd, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you!” Jesus said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it (Luke 11:27,28).”  Obeying Jesus’ teachings (which must always be done in love or they’re not his teachings) is the most feminine thing a woman can do and the most honorable role for a woman.

In case you are a mother reading this and gasping please know that I’m in no way putting down motherhood—I’m very glad to have been born, but only attempting to bring our understanding of God’s role for women into line with Jesus’ teachings.

When Paul is quoted as saying, “But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety” (1 Timothy 2:15), some translations have left out a crucial word that exists in the Greek—“the”! He said, “the childbearing” meaning Jesus, and the woman he referred to was Eve, whose seed would crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15). This is further confirmation that Eve’s “original sin” was also atoned for.  Context is crucial!