Women are Saved Through What???

Tomorrow night, I'll be teaching my youth from Ecclesiastes chapter 11, which opens with the strange command to "cast your bread upon the waters." The chapter, especially the opening verses, is full of metaphor and has been challenging to work through. As I pondered a hypothetical field trip down to the Ohio River to have my students chuck loaves of whole wheat in, I've been reminded of the importance of diligently studying God's word. Yes, the gospel message is simple and easy to understand, but much of the wisdom in the pages of Scripture can be obscured by the 2000+ years of human culture and thousands of miles that separate us from the original authors. The temptation is to read something that we don't understand and just skip it under the assumption that if God really thought it was important he would have made it clearer.

Perhaps that made yesterday's "Mondays with Mounce" post on the Kononia Blog even more interesting to me. Greek scholar Bill Mounce looks at some textual issues in 1 Timothy 2:15, without a doubt one of the most puzzling verses in all the Bible. There have been times when I have thought to myself, "Seriously, Paul - could you not have explained that one for us?" However, God inspired it for a purpose, and he was exactly as clear as he inteded to be. Check out Mounce's post for some interesting info, and don't grow weary in doing the work of studying God's word. We can meet up by the river tonight. I'll bring the rye.

HT: Tim Challies