Female Leaders in the Early Church --- Was Junia an apostle?

[Guest]

The apostles of the early church were definitely not limited to The Twelve.
Luke called both Paul and Barnabus apostles in Acts 14:14

But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out among the multitude...

Paul also called Epaphroditus the apostle of the Philippian church. I don’t know why so many translators render the word “messenger”. Perhaps they are slavishly following the King James Version.

I deemed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow-worker, and fellow-soldier, but your apostle and minister to my need.

Paul also called James, the Lord’s brother an apostle. James was not one of the twelve. He is not to be confused with James the son of Zebedee, nor James the son of Alphaeus.

But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. Galatians 1:19

Then we have this interesting greeting in Romans 16:7

Greet Andronicus and Jun…, who are notable in the apostles, and who have been in Christ before me.

Commentators are not in agreement as to whether this means that these two were notable by the apostles, or whether they themselves were apostles and were notable among them.

Gill, Barnes, Poole, and Robertson subscribe to the former, while Calvin, Luther, and Alford, the latter.

The Greek word for “in” (“en”) does sometimes seem to mean “by”. In this context, most translators translate it as “among”, but even that does not seem to remove the ambiguity. Personally, I favour the latter view, (yes, I agree with Calvin in this case) that Paul is saying that these two were themselves apostles, and were apostles of note.

A further difficulty with the verse is the second name. The name is “Junia” (feminine) according to the AV, ESV, JB2000, KJ21, NKJV, and R Webster. However, the name is “Junias” (masculine) according to ASV, Darby, Douay, Message, NASB, NIV, Philips, Rotherham, RSV, NRSV, and YLT.
Does the Greek help us here? It only Paul had placed an article before the name, it would have. But without the article, the accusative (objective) case has an identical ending for masculine words ending in “as” and feminine words ending in “a”. That ending is “ian”.

In the book of Matthew, there are five masculine names in the accusative case ending in “ian”. They are Uzziah [1,8], Hezekiah [1:9], Josiah [1,10], Jechoniah [1:10], and Elijah [16:14]. There is one feminine name in the accusative case ending in “ian” Mary [1:20]. However there are 29 other feminine words (non-names of persons) in the accusative case, ending in “ian”. The word “Messiah” is masculine, and is used in the accusative case, ending in “ian” in John 1:41.

Some who claim the word “Junian” in Rom 16:7 is the accusative form of “Junia” say that this is evidence that there was a female apostle. But since “Junias” would also have the same accusative form, it cannot be determined from the construction of the text itself whether this person was a man or a woman.

As I see it, it seems unlikely that this person was a woman in view of other statements made by Paul, such as that a woman was to be silent in church, and if she had a question to ask her husband at home.

Some claim that since Paul mentions a female deacon, Phoebe, in Romans 16:1, that this is evidence that there were female leaders in the primitive church. However, the function of a “deacon”, today, differs drastically with deacons in the first century. Then they were “servers” or “distributors”. They served tables as the original seven appointed deacons, or they ministered to the needs of the needy, by distributing to them what was necessary. They were not Christian leaders.

[Guest]

Hi, Paidion,

Do we have evidence for either Junias or Junia as names in contemporary documents?

Shlamaa,
Emmet

[Guest]

Thank you for the suggestion, Emmet!

I did a bit of research. The only contempary writer that I could find who deals with these names is Plutarch, who wrote about Marcus Brutus (died 42 B.C.) In that writing (available online), Plutarch said that Marcus Brutus was descended from Junius Brutus. I couldn't find his work in Greek, but I suspect that the name translated as "Junius" is "iounias".
Plutarch also said that Cassius married Junia, the sister of Brutus.

This is the only cases of which I am are aware, in which the names, both Junias and Junia are used

It is also interesting that there two Christian writers of the fourth century who commented on Romans 16:7, John Chrysostom and Epiphanias.

The well known John Chrysostom believed "Jun..." was a female apostle. He wrote:

“Who are of note among the Apostles.” And indeed to be
apostles at all is a great thing. But to be even amongst these 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
(philosophy) of this woman, that she should be even counted worthy of
the appellation of apostle!

Epiphanias the bishop of Salamis, on the other hand, believed "Jun..." was a man. He wrote:

Junias, of whom Paul makes mention, became bishop of Apameia of Syria.

First, of all, Epiphanias used the masculine form "Junias" in the nominative case. Secondly, his phrase "of whom", in Greek, is a masculine relative pronoun. So clearly, Epiphanius believed Junias was a man.

Thus the same problem about whether "Jun..." was a man or a woman, existed in the fourth century. As far as I can determine, there still is no proof one way or the other.

[Guest]

Paidion,

Just to clarify, when you say "leader" are you restricting the discussion to elders and apostles?

livingink

[Guest]

Just to clarify, when you say "leader" are you restricting the discussion to elders and apostles?

Hope not. That isn't how I took the question when I responded to the poll.
D.

[Guest]

Just to clarify, when you say "leader" are you restricting the discussion to elders and apostles?

I had in mind any type of leader of the entire body of a local congregation.

[Guest]

I had in mind any type of leader of the entire body of a local congregation.

Didn't some of the epistles mention some women that hosted house churches?
D.

[Guest]

I believe in past discussions we've been unable to clearly show that women were apostles or elders. In Matthew 20:24-28, Jesus made the point that his disciples would not seek leadership by exercising authority over others but instead would be notable for their servanthood. In Romans 16:1-2, Paul commends Phoebe as a servant of the church and asks the Roman congregation to give her any help she may need. Please note that I do not give her the unneeded title of deaconess as it only seems to cloud and confuse the fact that she was notable for serving others. In a sense, she was a leader.

livingink

[Guest]

How come I can't vote?

[Guest]

I can't seem to vote either, but I'm relatively certain that there were female leaders in the early church.