Book Review: The Christian Mom’s Pregnancy Journal

(link for a giveaway at the bottom!)

A few years ago, I ordered a couple pregnancy journals to see what they were like. I returned all of them, groaning that they were super fluffy and seemed like a secular book with prayer and Bible verses added.

Not so “The Christian Mom’s Pregnancy Journal.”

While still an accessible, encouraging devotional, Aubry Smith’s book is steeped in Scripture and theology, considering the joys and trials of pregnancy and postpartum through a distinctly biblical lens, applying the truth of God’s Word to common perinatal circumstances, and encouraging prayer for every detail.

And while the devotions are good—and preceded by practical tidbits on your baby’s development and your medical care—the journaling prompts are the best part of this book. They’ll help you process not just the devotional, but all your many and varied pregnancy emotions, reflecting on God’s grace and care of you (and I think they’ll set you up well for processing or minimizing PMADs as well). There’s even space to work through unhelpful comments you’ve received and body image. Pregnancy is a time to be transformed in Christ, and this journal will help you grow in sanctification even as you grow your baby.

If you’ve read Aubry’s first book, “Holy Labor,” this has many parallel themes to it, especially in the areas of dependence, weakness, and our view of and trust in God.

But like Holy Labor, I do have some minor theological disagreements, this time with the term “co-creator.” I find it at best a confusing term, and also think that with regard to pregnancy, we really are more vessels than active creators as we might be with other creative endeavors. I would prefer sub-creator, to keep the Creator/creature divide clear, as we don’t create in the same way God does—and in pregnancy, our creating is really quite passive anyway! It’s not a term coined by Aubry, and she does clarify what she means by co-creator in Holy Labor, so I’m not concerned about her usage. Since it isn’t explained more in the journal I did want to touch on it in my review and give Aubry’s quote from Holy Labor–which is also a beautiful way to wrap up my review of The Christian Mom’s Pregnancy Journal.

“In Israel, not just kings but all humans were to imitate God as cocreators who fill the earth, as vice-regents who were created to rule with justice and care, as God rules over all with justice and care. Humans made in the image of God were intended to act, in limited but powerful ways, like God does.
“Eve notes this remarkable ability to cocreate with God as a child bearer as she gives birth to Cain. “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man,” she exclaims (Gen 4:1). God created Eve from her husband’s rib, and Eve participated in the creation of third human. What an incredible gift to work with God in bringing new life to the world! Women work alongside Yahweh as they yield themselves as life-giving vessels when they give birth, as they groan and suffer over their children in childbirth, as they delight over their children, and as they cocreate with God. This doesn’t make mothers birth goddesses by any means; it makes them small and limited representations of a wondrous Creator.”

Aubry Smith, Holy Labor, page 50

I’m running a giveaway of The Christian Mom’s Pregnancy Journal on Instagram, so head over there if you want to enter! It closes on November 22.

(I received this book as a review copy from the publisher)

Who We Are

Our toddlers have always been concerned when one of us removes our glasses. Our eldest actually used to cry when my husband took his off. Our current youngest becomes distraught, touches my face, and says, “glasses! Glasses!” It’s like she doesn’t know who I am anymore. It seems so silly to me, and yet, there are times when I look at pictures of myself from eight years ago and don’t think it looks like me today.

It’s even worse postpartum. My hair misbehaves. My tummy pooches. My shirts hang in odd ways. At least for a few weeks, I don’t do any of the things I usually do—no writing, no sourdough baking, no oboe. Throw in a perinatal mood disorder or two, and I can’t even appeal to my personality to know I’m still me.

I’ve thought it, and I’ve heard other mothers say it: I don’t feel like myself. I don’t look like myself.

Of course, we don’t actually think we’re different people. My body, interests, and features of my personality today are not what they were in other points in my life, and most of the time, that’s a good, healthy, and welcomed thing (it’s good that our 18-month-old no longer looks and acts like a newborn).

Instead, this statement expresses a disconnect between who we view ourselves to be and who we are finding ourselves to be in reality.

Whether from disease, old age, mental illness, or pregnancy and postpartum, our identity and self-image are challenged. We’re forced to figure out who we really are.

As I’ve considered this feeling (because it really is just a feeling—you are always still you, no matter how you feel about it), there are three areas I’ve found bring it on.

• My Need to be Sanctified is Revealed

The days I’m cranky are often the ones I feel the least like myself. “I used to be so easygoing! What happened?” What happened is that there are more stressors in my life than there used to be, and so more sin overflows out of my heart. This feels like regressing in sanctification—I want to go back to when I was more patient, when my emotions were more stable. I start defining myself in terms of how I do or don’t sin.
But who I am is not my sin or lack thereof.

• My Identity is Misplaced

“What do you do?” is one of the first questions we ask strangers. It’s one of the ways we define ourselves, and one of the easiest places to find our identity. We talk about our jobs, our hobbies, our interests. It’s what makes us unique from others.
We go to new churches where people don’t know us and want them to know specific things about us. Do they really know me if they don’t know I play the oboe? Do I lose my TCK status if I seem just like a regular American?
Thus, the loss of these hobbies, roles, or identities leaves us confused, wondering who we are if we aren’t known or defined by what we view as so important.
But who I am is not what I do.

• My Outer Person is Deteriorating

Pregnancy and postpartum reveal the weakness of my body in many ways. This will only become clearer as I age. My body will not always be the same. In fact, it will one day return to dust. Some of this deterioration is a sign of sickness that should be addressed—I’m not saying to simply let your body fall apart.
But who I am is more than my body.

Paul tells us that we are body and soul, and he tells us what the end of these things will be (2 Cor. 4:16-5:10).
Our outer selves are wasting away. Our bodies are falling apart—yet they are still our bodies, the same ones we were born with.
On the other hand, our inner selves are being renewed. Contrary to our earthly bodies, our souls are growing better—yet they are improved, not replaced.

When our bodies are destroyed in death (a great change to ourselves), and we go to a temporary, disembodied state (2 Cor. 5:8), we are still somehow ourselves. Our bodies can change, even be done away with for a time, and that doesn’t change who we are. Disease, old age, pregnancy, and postpartum all take their toll on us. We feel our weakness and humanity. But even while we may grieve, these negative changes give way to and prepare us for something better, more magnificent. These changes tell us to look ahead to what is lasting.

The body’s return to dust is not the end of the body. We will not spend eternity disembodied—the body is not an evil cage we need freeing from. We receive new, imperishable bodies (1 Cor. 15:42-44), bodies that cannot deteriorate and decay as these ones do. Scripture doesn’t tell us specifically what our new bodies will look like. They will be like Christ’s glorious resurrected body (Phil. 3:21). But will I be recognizable? (Will I need to be?)

As we age or give our bodies to grow and birth children, our outer selves look less and less like a glorified body, but in Christ, our inner selves grow to be more like Jesus. Someday, the new life in our souls will be given to our bodies as well.

My hobbies have and will change with my season of life. My body will return to dust. My sin must be killed, but I must have an accurate view of the sin that remains in my life.  These things will all pass away. 

But in Christ, my soul will continue on to be with Him, and one day it will be given a new body, one that will last forever, imperishable, incorruptible. But that new body and new life with God are still not where my identity lies: my identity, then and now, is in Christ.

Round 3: 3rd and 4th Trimesters

The third trimester of B’s pregnancy went the fastest, which I was thankful for. I love being pregnant, but was ready to be done waiting for birth and postpartum, which I just wanted to be over. Not knowing the gender helped with that, though, because it gave me something to look forward to about the birth and postpartum.
And as I got closer to my due date I was tired of driving half an hour for midwife appointments and was looking forward to the “break” of not cooking and cleaning.
Once again I had bad round ligament pain (though less frequently than with E), and my gag reflex was over the top.
It was also hard to make plans with the girls – I didn’t want to tell them we could do something and then it not happen. So a few times when they asked to do something or have pancakes for breakfast, etc. I told them they could have pancakes, or something better, the baby, if she was born.

38 weeks, at rehearsal for Ezra’s brother’s wedding.
The two weeks after the wedding were peaceful and relaxing, and were a good time to continue to work through fears and find hope and refuge in God not things like a needle-free birth.

4th Trimester
I think with the first two kids I would have benefited from treating the whole first three months as recovery, but this time I am extra thankful I had that mindset. B came out crying and crying and doctor’s visits (just about daily – high bilirubin requiring monitoring, tongue tie, my infection) characterized our first few weeks with her. This was my most physically uncomfortable postpartum, thanks to B’s tongue tie and an infection I got. But we were so supported by biological and church family through out all of that, and it has made such a difference that Ezra works/studies from home most days so he gets the big girls up in the morning, makes/dishes up breakfast, and then his lunch break is at home and he doesn’t have a commute so is off right at 5. That plus in-laws living upstairs makes me wonder how we would survive if we ever had another in a different living situation!
Also, home visit lactation consultants are worth the money!

Compassion was a word that came to mind our first night in the hospital. I’m thankful it did because it helped me have that as a goal and the forefront of my mind as we navigate this transition. Toddler tears and kindergartner meltdowns, newborn fussiness and my own mental fog. Yes, I have yelled here and there and been impatient a lot. But I have Supernaturally also been more understanding of the older girls’ moods and more patient with the newborn stage than I expected to be (though I still find months 1-4 to be the hardest for me).

PPD: by God’s grace, it has not been a big issue. Guarding my mind has been a daily, sometimes hourly, fight. Anxiety was a bigger issue than depression, but that too settled by the end of the fourth trimester. I may write another post on why I think PPD didn’t come this time, as I think that there are some key areas of personal growth and understanding that helped that – though the biggest reason is Supernatural, especially considering how difficult of a baby B has been.

I mentioned she cried a lot the first few weeks. That may have been purple crying, but from the start she seemed uncomfortable and would not sleep anywhere but our arms most of the time, from day one. Her digestion seemed to bother her, like she needed to fill her diaper a while before she could. I knew some of this and her gassiness were due to her tongue tie, but unfortunately that didn’t solve the problem (but at least I wasn’t crying every feed anymore!). I once again have had too much milk (that is not as good as it seems!), and by six weeks we could tell she also had reflux I say also because S had it too and E had a touch of it). I felt like I really didn’t understand her and as her sleepiness wore off it got even worse because I could not figure out when she was tired and she fought sleep very badly (which may have in part been due to overstimulation, especially since she would mostly sleep being held which meant she was sleeping with sisters around her!).
The basic reflux management strategies didn’t work with her (they had with E, but not with S), so I cut dairy. It took a few weeks to really see a difference, but her fussiness slowed down, she was a better nurser, and her other reflux symptoms settled too. We got her sleeping in a borrowed swing (since if she was going to have a sleep crutch we figured it should be out of my arms so I could take care of the big girls), but it wasn’t a seamless transition and her naps were usually still 30 minutes no matter what (that’s improving as I write this at three months, but is still unpredictable). Her nights got more predictable without dairy but right now we are still recovering from the effects of me challenging the dairy sensitivity! Still, it was good to challenge it to know that that’s what made the difference and also to know that all the layers of soothing we had had to do were not just us overdoing it or creating dependencies accidentally but something she actually NEEDED to settle her because of her discomfort.

That all makes her sound like a terrible baby, which is not true! Our most difficult, definitely – but she smiled at four weeks and once dairy got out of my system she has been a very happy baby and I can’t wait to see her personality develop more. One thing that has gotten me through the hard moments is knowing that she will grow out of them and will be six months soon enough and after that my enjoyment of her will increase exponentially.

The fourth trimester is a really real thing, and all three of our kids have definitely settled down at around three months and become more predictable, easier to nurse, and have better sleeping habits (though it’s usually closer to four months before they are going to sleep on their own in their own space).

Round 3: Second Trimester

20 weeks… first thing in the morning. 😉 Even as I write this at 29 weeks I can still see a big difference in my bump in the morning and the evening. I don’t know if others can tell, though! Proper core activation also makes a big difference. In general, I’ve felt bigger this pregnancy (though pictures show that’s not a whole lot!). Either way, our bodies are not machines. No two women carry the same way, because our bodies are not machines. And my body is not a machine and will be different every time, for better or worse (this baby – not just bump, but the baby – is measuring bigger than the girls did, but I do also have a small diastasis recti). But it doesn’t really matter. What my body is doing is amazing.
28 weeks in the evening:

This pregnancy has felt so slow. With the first two, I got to the halfway point and desperately wanted it to slow down, but this time I’ve been wishing it would speed up a little! The summer has felt faster, which I am thankful for. I’m not uncomfortable, I think there’s just less going on for me so the routine of daily life feels a lot more mundane.

I’m thankful that this time I feel fully comfortable with my midwives and the policies where we’re delivering – with S I had some doubts about being at a freestanding birth center, and with E we only had one option and I didn’t love it. The only two downsides this time are that there are so many midwives that I won’t get to know them all (but I have loved all the ones I have met!) and that the hospital is half an hour away without traffic.

There’s very little to complain about with this pregnancy, which I am thankful for. My glucose test was terrible because they do the 2 hour fasting one as their standard and a needle while I was fasting was not a good idea, so they switched me to the 1 hour one after feeding me saltines (so then I was worried that the carbs from the saltines would affect my score!) but my numbers were just fine.
Heartburn and restless legs are no fun, but manageable with apple cider vinegar for heartburn and magnesium lotion for restless legs. I am using a prenatal support/splint and that always feels so nice to put on in the afternoons, especially for round ligament pain.

My main difficulty has been anxiety. I’m sure some of this is related to the car accident in March, but I remember having some similar anxiety with S, being hypervigilant and worrying about every possible thing that can happen in a way that isn’t normal for me – and that was not something I dealt with the first month and a half after the car accident so it’s probably not entirely related. It comes and goes, and tends to get worse when there is a specific thing to be worried about (like being worried about my rhogam shot after I almost passed out getting my blood drawn for my glucose test. Something lifted immediately after I got my rhogam shot and I was less anxious right away, even though I hadn’t felt consciously anxious about the shot).
Whatever the root, I want to be aware that it could just be hormonal but also not build habits of anxiety.
Knowing that these things are more common in pregnancy (and generally for women!) I wanted to share a few things that have been helpful for me, at least as a first line of defense:
*consistency with supplements, especially magnesium lotion, vitamin D, and cod liver oil.
*Natural Anxiety Remedies – won’t necessarily work for all but have been super helpful for me.
*4 Prayers to Pray When You’re Anxious
*Identifying which fears are real and which are just imaginations.
*Lilias Trotter, in “Parables of the Cross:” “An old habit of doubting and fearing asserts itself in your soul, alive and strong. You have two things to do. Close the door upon the doubt: shut your eyes to it: reckon yourself dead to it. And then reckon into life the new-born growth of faith in your soul, and put all your force into believing: lift up your eyes to the God in Whom you believe: believe in the teeth of everything, as if the cause for doubt were not there.”
*Proverbs 1:33 “whoever listens to [wisdom] will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.” and Proverbs 3:25-26: “don’t be afraid of sudden terror… for the Lord will be your confidence.”
*This sermon by John MacArthur
*This blog post by Kevin DeYoung

The Womb and Childbearing: Heaven Someday and Motherhood Right Now

What happens to the womb in Heaven? Isaiah 65:23 states that in the New Heavens and New Earth “they shall not labor in vain, nor bear children for calamity.”  However, Jesus says that in the resurrection, “they neither marry nor are given in marriage” (Matt. 22:30). One answer to this dilemma is to say that Isaiah 65 references a temporary state before eternal heaven. A second solution is that Isaiah is speaking metaphorically of the curse being overturned: in the New Heavens and the New Earth, childbearing will no longer lead to wayward children or happen in a place where children will be attacked. Either way, in the New Heavens and the New Earth, the curse will be overturned and fullness of blessing restored to those who dwell with Christ. The war that was won in Christ is finally over, the Serpent crushed, and sin abolished.

 

What about us right now, living in between the epistles and heaven? There are three unifying themes that come out of tracing the womb and childbearing across scripture that can help us today.
First, we can know childbearing is blessed. Children are viewed as a blessing (Psa. 127:3-5) and having them is commanded (Gen. 1:28). It is something that is longed for (Gen. 30:1-2), while the lack of it is seen as a curse (Deut. 28:18, 53) and judgment (Hosea 9:11-16). In the New Covenant, the church family takes priority, but faithful mothering is encouraged and rewarded (Titus 2:4, 1 Tim. 5:10). The womb is the place God fashions and forms humans made in His image, and thus it should be valued, but not worshiped or seen as an end in itself.

Second, the womb is under the sovereign hand of God. At times, the closing of the womb is due to judgment (though we should always be slow and cautious to point to sin as causing infertility or miscarriage), and infertility is also a sign of a fallen world. However, Scripture often states that it is God who opens or closes the womb (Gen. 29:31). Barrenness is not always a sign of His rebuke, it is also for His glory (John 9:2-3). Not only is conception under His control, but so is the timing of birth and the direction children take once they are born (Psa. 22:9-10). This offers comfort as well as a call to submit to His Lordship.

Third, childbearing is hard. It’s difficult because Satan still wars against the seed of Promise (Rom. 16:20, 1 Peter 5:8). It’s also difficult because of the curse: God told Eve that her toil in childbearing would greatly increase. This is due in part to the basic fallenness of the world, and can explain miscarriage, infertility, postpartum depression, imbalanced hormones, disabilities, birth trauma, and many other things. But childbearing is also hard because of individual sin, such as anger, irritability, selfishness, or pride, to name only a few sins that make the process of growing and raising children more strained.

Finally, childbearing matters. Every child, in and out of the womb, bears God’s image (Gen. 1:27-28), giving them value and worth. The Bible makes it clear that this value begins in the womb (Job 31:13-15). It also matters because it is through the wombs of women that God moved forward redemptive history, choosing to redeem humanity through a God-Man born of a woman, and noting many other times that He opened the womb before men such as Isaac, Joseph, Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist were born. The womb is, in a sense, one of the primary weapons God has used in the war against Satan and sin, in bringing Jesus to save, assaulting Satan with more of His image, sanctifying mothers, and discipling offspring in Christian homes.

What difference might these truths make in our lives?

1. A proper biblical theology of the womb and childbearing is necessary in counseling difficulties childbearing brings, such as miscarriage, infertility, and postpartum depression. This allows mothers to place their story within the Story and to understand the value of what they long for while also answering the “why” questions.
2. There is also application for married couples deciding their family size. Their priorities must be the same as Scripture’s – children should not be had for personal fulfillment, neither should they be refused for earthly motives – and understanding how the Bible speaks to the womb and childbearing will help them see this more clearly.
3. Likewise, it affects how churches teach on unborn life and childbearing, and also how they treat mothers. Churches should value motherhood, not chide mothers for being taken away from “ministry,” or imply that a woman should do more than stay at home and disciple her children alongside her husband. However, the church should also not let mothers unplug from deep commitment to the body of Christ.
4. A grounding in the Bible’s teaching on the womb and childbearing offers great encouragement for mothers, especially in moments of difficulty, to explain why it is so hard, but also why it is worth it. In having children, we are filling the earth with more of God’s image, being further formed into His image ourselves, having opportunities to disciple the children in our home 24/7, and testifying to the transformative power of the gospel when our daily family life looks different from that of the world. Childbearing is part of a battle against Satan and our sin, going beyond morning sickness, tantrums, school runs, and curfews. The story of your most mundane moments is set within the greatest Story of God redeeming the world.

The Womb and Childbearing: She Will Be Saved Through… Childbearing?

A discussion of childbearing in the Bible cannot leave out the perplexing text, “she will be saved through childbearing” (1 Tim. 2:15). A better translation would be “preserved through childbearing.”[1]
There are two things this verse certainly does not mean. First, Women’s spiritual salvation is not attained through having children, but through the grace of God alone (Eph. 2:8-10). Second, it also cannot mean that Christian women will not die in childbirth as history shows otherwise.

Three possible interpretations for this passage will be considered here. One, women will be saved through the birth of the Child, Christ.[2] But there are grammatical difficulties with this interpretation,[3] and it is strange considering the second half of the verse, “if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control,” unless the second half points only to the demonstration of preserving faith. In this interpretation, “Woman may not lead man, and Eve brought about the fall by her sinful leading, but the woman’s role is still significant in God’s plan, for through her the Savior was born.”[4]

Two, Paul may be “teaching that, even though a woman bears the stigma of being the initial instrument who led the race into sin, it is women through childbearing who may be preserved or freed from that stigma by raising a generation of godly children.”[5]

Three, “Paul means that women will find salvation not in addressing meetings but in motherhood, which is their crowning glory,”^[6] lessening the blow of women not being able to exercise authority over a man.[7] 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.”[8] Due to the grammatical difficulties with option one, this seems more likely. Paul references Eve, but “the final fleeting allusion to the Genesis account develops into the instruction to women (plural) generally to “work out their salvation” in the domestic sphere by ensuring that they manifest the marks of authentic Christian existence.”^[9]

Yet whatever the exact meaning, this verse emphasizes the important role childbearing has played in redemptive history and the value it still has in the New Covenant. It also shows that women cannot rely on bearing children as a sign of spirituality: she must continue in faith, love, holiness, and self-control.

Thus, in the church age, while the primary focus is on discipleship and spiritual growth, teaching on the family and the roles of women proves that childbearing is still valued and significant.

[1] Philip H. Towner, “1-2 Timothy and Titus,” in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI;  Nottingham, UK: Baker Academic;  Apollos, 2007), 895.

[2] John R. W. Stott, Guard the Truth: The Message of 1 Timothy & Titus, The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 87.

[3] Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), 1 Ti 2:15.

[4] George W. III Knight, “1-2 Timothy/Titus,” in Evangelical Commentary on the Bible, vol. 3, Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1995), 1105.

[5] John MacArthur, The MacArthur Bible Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.,2005), 1784

^[6] William Barclay, The Letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, 3rd ed. fully rev. and updated., The New Daily Study Bible (Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003), 77.

[7] Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), 1 Ti 2:15.

[8] Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), 1 Ti 2:15.

 

^[9] Philip H. Towner, “1-2 Timothy and Titus,” in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI;  Nottingham, UK: Baker Academic;  Apollos, 2007), 897–898.

The Womb and Childbearing: Is the Womb Still Important?

Israel has returned from the judgment of exile, and after years and years of silence, God is visibly at work once more. This time, He chooses to use the wombs of an old, barren woman, Elizabeth, and a betrothed virgin, Mary.

In Elizabeth’s womb, John the Baptist is filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:15). Hence, he leaps for joy when Mary approaches with Jesus in utero (Luke 1:41-44). This again shows the sovereignty of God over the womb and points to the personhood of the unborn. Even more, it shows God at work in the war against the Serpent.

But the most important unborn child is Jesus, who for a time dwells in Mary’s womb. This does not make wombs holy, but does show again how God is using a process sin made more difficult to redeem women and men from their sin. The virgin Mary miraculously bears a son (Luke 1:30-33) who will fulfill the prophecies Isaiah gave, and will save the people from their sins, fulfilling God’s promise to Adam and Eve. The long-awaited Seed has finally arrived.

But the seed of the Serpent is also at work: Satan, through Herod, once again tries to thwart the plan of God to bring salvation through the offspring of the woman by slaughtering babies (Matt. 2:16-18). Yet God protects Jesus, and in His ministry the way physical offspring are viewed develops.

First, in John 3, Jesus makes it clear that more important than physical birth is spiritual re-birth (3:4). The physical family of a person is not what is important for salvation, being born of the Spirit is (John 8:39-47). Secondly, while God used Mary and her womb as an integral part of His plan, more blessed than Jesus’ physical family are His spiritual family, those who obey Him (Luke 11:27-28, 8:19-21). Thirdly, the Great Commission echoes the Cultural Mandate given in Genesis 1:28 but shifts its focus. The nation of Israel grew largely through physical means, but the Great Commission changes the emphasis of the church to disciple-making, and this is why there is a valuable place for those who are eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom (Matt. 19:12).

Through the cross and Resurrection, sin and the Serpent are defeated, but not yet destroyed. The war is won, but not over.

Jesus is the ultimate Seed promised to Eve, the high point of childbearing. Jesus’ teachings shifted the emphasis of the Kingdom from the physical reproduction of ethnic Israel in biological families to spiritual reproduction and the family of God, united by the faith of Abraham. The Seed of Promise now grows through spiritual regeneration rather than physical birth. What place, then, if any, does the womb have in the New Covenant, the time after Jesus’ death and resurrection, when the promised Seed has already come?

The epistles hold answers to this question. God is still sovereign over all things, therefore so is the womb and all that happens inside it, including calling people to Himself from before birth (Gal. 1:15). In Galatians 4:27, Paul quotes the promise given to barren Jerusalem about becoming fruitful, applying it to the growth of the church, her spiritual offspring. While there are many reasons the barren woman can rejoice in the New Covenant because of redemption, the primary application of Isaiah 54:1 is metaphorical. Still, Paul’s usage of Isaiah 54 begs the question: if Old Testament mothers exulted because they bore the seed of Promise, but now the spiritual mother exults over and grows through spiritual offspring, is the womb obsolete as a weapon for the Kingdom? 

            What role does physical childbearing have in the New Covenant? Teaching regarding the family centers mostly on familial relations and behavior, with no explicit mention of how many children to have or even whether or not to have them. The primary means by which God builds His Kingdom is now through spiritual discipleship rather than physical offspring. Does this negate the blessings of physical children spoken of in the Old Testament, if childbearing happens within Kingdom ethics and Kingdom priorities? While Paul writes about remaining single for the sake of the Kingdom (1 Cor. 7:32-34), the argument of remaining childless “for the sake of the Kingdom” cannot be directly made, because once married one can no longer claim single-mindedness to the things of the Lord. Also, while not the primary purpose of marriage, children are a part of the pre-fall design of marriage (Gen. 1:28). This is shown in Paul’s letter to Titus, when he admonishes the older women to teach younger women to “love their husbands and children” (Titus 2:4), but is also clear in Paul’s teaching in 1 Timothy regarding widows. Older widows are to be enrolled only if they have brought up children (1 Tim. 5:10), showing that Paul values the character-shaping and character-proving journey of motherhood, as well as the value of children, and the importance of providing for those in the church. Perhaps more significantly, Paul even urges the younger widows to remarry and have children (1 Tim. 5:14)! He views marriage and childbearing as intertwined. So then, the focus of spiritual family and discipleship in the New Covenant does not negate the joy and importance of physical childbearing. This joy is not subjective, but comes from reproducing the image of God in the new child and the great contribution to the Kingdom of God that comes from a Christian family. But this is within the framework of the New Covenant, where the church is the primary “family” for believers, discipleship must be happening, and that while a blessing, children are not an end in themselves.

The Womb and Childbearing: Old Testament Summary

The Old Testament explains that childbearing is a part of God’s good, original plan for men and women to reproduce, filling the earth with His image. However, sin led to that good design being filled with difficulty, but sin does not negate the good design. In fact, God then chooses to use childbearing as one of the primary ways He works to bring redemption. The rest of the Old Testament highlights the pain in childbearing women face, including infertility, death in childbirth, and wayward children. It emphasizes that children are a greatly desired blessing (Psa. 17:14, 127:3, 128; Prov. 30:16, 1 Samuel 1, Gen. 30:1-24), but conversely, that one form God’s judgment takes is barrenness, miscarriage, and the death of children. The Old Testament, especially the Psalms (Psa. 22:9-10, 58:3, 71:6, 139:13, Job 31:18), also reveals God’s sovereignty over the opening and closing of the womb – the place God fashions every image-bearing, valuable human (Job 31:13-15), and from where He sets apart His own (Judg. 13:5). The climax of this theme in the Old Testament is the promise that a Virgin shall bear a child, Immanuel, the hope of Eve.

The Womb and Childbearing: Warring Seed and Difficult Childbearing

The next step of God’s plan comes in the Abrahamic Covenant, when God promises Abraham offspring. But his wife Sarah is barren, sign of the fall at work. Abraham and Sarah don’t believe childbearing is possible due to Sarah’s old age (Gen. 17:15-21, 18:11-14). Here God’s sovereignty over the womb is first emphasized: what seems scientifically impossible is made possible. God again chooses to move redemptive history forward through women bearing children.

            In the next generation, Isaac’s wife Rebekah is barren until he prays to God for her, who then gives her twins (Gen. 25:21). Before they are born, God selects which one of the twins will continue the line of promise begun with Eve (Gen. 25:23-24). God knows what is in the womb, and not only that, but He chooses His people from the womb (Gen. 25:23-24).  With Leah and Rachel, God is again the one who opens and closes the womb (Gen. 29:31, 30:22). This is done to forward His plan of redemption, but barren wombs and the danger of childbearing (Gen. 35:16-19) – including Rachel’s death giving birth – also point to the curse.

The desirability and blessing of a fruitful womb are also seen: Rachel desires children more than life (Gen. 30:1-2), and Jacob blesses Joseph with the “blessings of the breasts and of the womb” (Gen. 49:25).

And Israel is blessed. The seed of the woman continues to grow, and when Exodus begins, God’s people are numerous. But the seed of the Serpent strikes, slaughtering male Hebrew infants. God’s plan is moving forward, yet the war is still waging.  God rescues His people from slavery in Egypt, using a plague that brought death on many firstborn of Egypt. When He makes the Mosaic Covenant with the Israelites in the wilderness, He builds on the foundation already laid for the importance of fruitfulness, but reiterates that childbearing truly is a blessing, not a right. Fruitfulness comes when there is faithfulness: the blessings for following His law includes fruitful wombs and children – the fruit of the womb – being blessed (Deut. 7:12-14, 28:4, 11). But for disobedience, the fruit of the womb will be cursed (Deut. 28:18, 53; Num. 5:22-28). Israel can only function as warriors against the seed of the Serpent when they are following God. But the curses are not irreversible: the fruit of the womb will be abundantly prosperous again when there is repentance and forgiveness (Deut. 30).

That said, Hannah’s story with Samuel shows that unfaithfulness is not the only reason God closes the womb. Her womb is closed so that God may open it for His praise and purposes (1 Sam. 1:5-6, 1 Sam. 2:1-7).

God’s moves His plan forward again in His covenant with David, when He promises that a descendant of David would be raised up to rule forever. Although the womb is not mentioned directly (2 Sam. 7:12), God is once again using it to bring redemption.

But David’s line crumbles, and the Prophets foretell destruction. They also repeat themes of God’s hand in the womb (Is. 49:1; Jer. 1:5) and His care of His people from the womb onwards (Is. 46:3).

However, the focus of the prophets regarding childbearing and the womb is on the curses of the Mosaic Covenant coming to pass (Is. 51:17-19). In their idolatry, Israel is no longer waging war against the Serpent, but joining his side in turning from God. The rise of the seed of Promise that peaked with David is in decline, and with the decline comes explicit prophecies regarding the curses of Deuteronomy 28 coming upon Israel (Hos. 9:11-16). The Lord will give them dry breasts and a miscarrying womb, and even if they bear children, the “precious ones of their womb” will be slain. This stomach-churning language is shocking, especially coming from the God who blesses fruitfulness and in whose image these children are made. But it shows the seriousness of sin in the face of the holiness of God. The death of precious infants and pain of miscarrying wombs are what are deserved by those who dare to sin against a holy, just, righteous God. Anything else is blessing and grace, given as God sustains the world while He progresses His plan of redemption, using both blessing and difficulty to bring people to repentance (Hos. 14:2).

But there is also positive anticipation in the midst of decline: God provides further detail about the Seed of the Woman. What Eve hoped Cain would be is coming: the virgin will bear a son and He will be called Immanuel, God with us (Is. 7:14). This child, the Mighty God Himself, will rule justly and righteously (Is. 9:6-7). Israel is being warned of captivity and suffering – the curses of Deuteronomy 28 – and yet she is also given hope, not only of Immanuel, but also of a future when the barren woman – a sign of cursed Jerusalem[1] – becomes fruitful once more after the Suffering Servant has borne their sins (Is. 53:12-54:8).

 

[1] Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 7 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996), 525.

The Womb and Childbearing: Introduction and Creation

It’s probably safe to say that almost everyone agrees being a mom is hard. Pregnancy mood swings. Pain in childbirth. Sleepless nights. Little to no time for yourself. Most women say that in the end it’s worth it, but our culture increasingly sends a contradictory message. Your career is more important. Kids keep you from contributing to society. They’re a drag on the economy. It’s best to avoid them, or tolerate and complain about them if you didn’t. But sometimes we hear the opposite from society: being a mom will complete you. It’s the answer to your deepest longings. If you can’t have kids, you’re not as much of a woman. Which message is right? Are either of them? In the church, something even different is said: “children are a blessing, but only God can satisfy.” This is true, but only scratches the surface of what the Bible has to say about children, the process of childbearing, and the significance of the womb. What value is there in having children? Why are babies targeted for slaughter (Exod. 1:15-22, Matt. 2:16-18, abortion)? Is conception just a matter of science? Are children still important in non-agrarian societies and the New Covenant? Why is having children so hard? The Bible offers rich answers to these questions, equipping moms to sift through the barrage of conflicting voices to find truth. It’s not often as simple as one verse or passage. These answers come by looking at how the understanding of the womb and childbearing develop across the canon of Scripture.

The Bible starts with a creation account, and it’s there we first catch a glimpse of God’s plan for the womb. In Genesis 1, each living thing is created “according to its kind” (Gen. 1:11-12, 21, 24-25), and the birds and fish are blessed to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:22). This pattern is echoed but expanded when God creates humans. Man is created in God’s image and likeness (Gen. 1:26-27). God then blesses them to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28). When they do this, Adam and Eve will be filling the earth not just with more humans, but more of their kind – the image of God.

But then Adam and Eve sinned, rejecting the natural authority of their Creator. As a result, fruitfulness becomes more difficult. Eve will now bring forth children in pain and toil (Gen. 3:16). The blessing of having children will be intertwined with trouble. Not only does it become harder for Eve personally, but there is now a war between the seed of the Serpent and the seed of the woman, the promised offspring of her womb (Gen. 3:15). She is told, however, that in this war, her offspring will ultimately prevail. This gives Eve hope: even though childbearing will be painful, the womb will be an instrumental tool in moving forward God’s plan of redemption and a primary weapon in the war between the seed of the Serpent and the seed of Promise. Eve seems to remembers this when Cain and later Seth are born; her words show that she hopes they will be the snake crusher (Gen. 4:1, 25).[1]  Instead, Cain becomes the first in a long string of proof that having children will now be filled with pain and toil which extend beyond the physical pain of childbirth.

After the flood, the importance of physical fruitfulness is re-emphasized in the Noahic Covenant – the promise God makes to Noah that He won’t flood the whole earth again. God also repeats the command to “be fruitful and multiply,” showing that this design, while marred, isn’t cancelled by humanity’s fall (Gen. 9:1-7).

So in the opening acts of Scripture, it’s shown “that the woman should bear children was the original will of God;” but sin brings “a punishment that henceforth she was to bear them in sorrow.”^[2] In Creation and the Noahic Covenant, this original plan is emphasized. In Eve it’s shown to be an integral part of God’s plan of redemption, both in its ultimate fulfillment in the Seed, Jesus and moving His plan forward to that day.

[1] Derek Kidner, Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 1, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1967), 75–76.

^[2] Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 1 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996), 64.