Language Studies

Difficult Sayings

Junia, A Female Apostle?
Romans 16:7

"Greet Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me." (Romans 16:7, Louw-Nida Lexicon #03267 / 93.178) which could represent either. The masculine form would be a non-existent but theoretically possible contraction of Junianus, whilst the female form was a very common Roman name. In fact, there are over 250 instances in Latin literature of Junia found at Rome alone.^F1

If you compare the word with verse 15 which has another accusative ιουλιαν, 'ioulian (Strong's #2456), with only a one letter difference in spelling, which is rendered as Julia, without any fuss, you will see that the simplest answer is that she is female. However, even here a couple of manuscripts' marginal readings have the reading Junia for Julia, and one, P⁴⁶, has Julia for Junia in verse 7! According to the Anchor Bible Dictionary,

"Without exception, the Church Fathers in late antiquity identified Andronicus' partner in Rom 16:7 as a woman, as did minuscule 33 in the 9th century which records iounia with an acute accent. Only later medieval copyists of Rom 16:7 could not imagine a woman being an apostle and wrote the masculine name 'Junias.'"^F2

As there is, however, no certain occurrence elsewhere of the abbreviated masculine form, therefore, the feminine is to be preferred (as with Nympha/s, in whose house the church met, in Colossians 4:15, where a feminine name is more likely).

So, if taken simply as a woman we are left with an alternate difficulty, that of whether she was an apostle, and what Paul meant by apostle in this context.

The eminent theologian of nearly three centuries ago, John Gill, thought them both men and possibly apostles from amongst the 70 (72) sent out according to Luke 10:1. They could equally be from those appointed by the risen Christ in 1 Corinthians 15:7.

Many commentators argue that the passage is clear in that Paul regards the pair as apostles and on this basis the second named, Junia, cannot be a woman for women cannot be apostles.

FF Bruce regards the name as female (TNTC) and as respected a modern male commentator as James Dunn says of the attitude that this rules out her being an apostle,

"The assumption that it must be male is a striking indictment of male presumption regarding the character and structure of earliest Christianity (see, e.g., Schlatter, Lietzmann, Althaus, Gaugler, Michel, Murray, Schlier) ^F3

Barnes, similarly, regards apostles as a male and narrow occupation and that therefore,

"this does not mean that they were apostles, as has been sometimes supposed ... It by no means implies that they were apostles. All that the expression fairly implies is, that they were known to the other apostles; that they were regarded by them as worthy of their affection and confidence; that they had been known by them, as Paul immediately adds, before he was himself converted."

Amongst older commentators who took Paul's phraseology to mean "noted apostles" and hence men could be listed Luther, Calvin, Bengel, Olshausen, Tholuck, Alford, and Jowett; others, who keeping to a narrow definition of the apostolic ministry, regard the meaning as "esteemed amongst the apostles" have included: Beza, Grotius, De Wette, Meyer, Fritzsche, Stuart, Philippi, and Hodge.

Matthew Henry thought it probable that they were man and wife and "the original will well enough bear it; and, considering the name of the latter, this is more probable than that they should be two men, as others think". So, perhaps, a ministering couple as Priscilla and Aquila.

Grotius thought they were man and wife, and even sourced their Jewish names, Masinissa and Naarah, others thought they might be brother and sister.

Indeed, at least one early church father thought Junia a woman but allowed her the title apostle, John Chrysostom (337-497). He commented on how great this woman must be to be even accorded the title 'Apostle', in such a male dominated society.

"And indeed to be apostles at all is a great thing. But to be even amongst those of note, just consider what a great encomium this is! But they were of note owing to their works, to their achievements. Oh! how great is the devotion of this woman, that she should be even counted worthy of the appellation of apostle!"^F4

According to a survey of other early commentators by Dr. Leonard Swidler,

"To the best of my knowledge, no commentator on the text until Aegidus of Rome (1245-1316) took the name to be masculine."^F5

Other church fathers of note that endorsed her as a woman included the second century, Origen, of Alexandria^F6. Also: Jerome^F7 (340-419), and Hatto of Vercelli (924-961), Theophylack (1050-1108), and Peter Abelard (1079-1142) according to Trombley.^F8

So the church fathers and the Greek text taken plainly regard her as a woman and at least one was happy to call her apostle. The argument of later commentators that they were merely "of note among the apostles", rather than "apostles of note", is weak as the Greek would have used pros or para rather than en, which implies a close relationship within or a representative as typical of a group.

What if she was an apostle, but what kind of apostle? Clearly she was not among the 12. There is nothing to indicate that the 72 were all men although it appears likely, as their number mimics the number of Israel's sons, the nations, and the Sanhedrin. Amongst the 120 gathered in the upper room were men and women and those that "witnessed the resurrection" were of both sexes. At the very least it should be taken in its broadest sense as a teacher, preacher, messenger, as in 2 Corinthians 8:23 and Philippians 2:25, which, despite being translated as messenger, use the Greek term apostolos (Strong's #652).

These apostles were allowed to teach and have authority, and it appears at least one woman was included amongst their number, despite the problems some people have with this. The office of apostle continued for a few decades in the early church as a ministry, 1 Corinthians 12:28, even down to the early church writing, the Didache (11:3,4,6), probably first century, which still mentions their involvement. Paul regarded such second-generation disciples as Barnabas, Silvanus and Timothy, as apostles (Colossians 1:1; Acts 14:3,4; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2:6) and thought of Junia very highly indeed, and so should we, whoever she was.

---

FOOTNOTES:
F1: Women in Scripture, editor Carol Meyers, 2000, article "Junia" by Bernadette J. Brooten, p.109, cited by Dianne McDonnell, http://www.churchofgoddfw.com/monthly/junia.shtml; cf. Lampe, Iunia/Iunias: Sklavenherkunft im Kreise der vorpaulinischen Apostel, ZNW 76, 1985pp.139-40, 147, cited by Dunn in WBC (see below)
F2: Freedman, David Noel, ed., The Anchor Bible Dictionary, (New York: Doubleday) 1997, 1992
F3: Dunn, James D.G., Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 38b: Romans 9-16, (Dallas, Texas: Word Books), 1998
F4: Chrysostom, Homily on the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Romans XXXI
F5: Leonard Swidler, Biblical Affirmations of Women, (Westminster Press), 1979, p.299
F6: Origen, Epistolam ad Romanos Commentariorum 10, 23; 29
F7: Jerome, Liver Interpretationis Hebraicorum Nominum 72, 15
F8: Charles Trombley, Who Said Women Can't Teach, (Bridge Publishing), 1985, p.190

Subscribe …

Receive the newest article each week in your inbox by joining the "Difficult Sayings" subscription list. Enter your email address below, click "Subscribe!" and we will send you a confirmation email. Follow the instructions in the email to confirm your addition to this list.

Copyright Statement
'Difficult Sayings' Copyright 2024© KJ Went. 'Difficult Sayings' articles may be reproduced in whole under the following provisions: 1) A proper credit must be given to the author at the end of each article, along with a link to https://www.studylight.org/language-studies/difficult-sayings.html  2) 'Difficult Sayings' content may not be arranged or "mirrored" as a competitive online service.

Meet the Author

KJ Went has taught biblical Hebrew, hermeneutics and Jewish background to early Christianity. The "Biblical Hebrew made easy" course can be found at www.biblicalhebrew.com.

Why not consider Greek, Aramaic, Biblical or Modern Hebrew online, it's easier than you think.

BMSoftware, founded by KJ, offer a wide range of biblical, Hebrew, Greek and multilingual software for theological use.