As the couple enters the courtyard, a joyful cheer erupts from the fifty Jesus-followers gathered in the enclosure.
“Praise God! You’re home again. The Lord has spared you—glory to his name!”
The brothers and sisters crowd around the man and woman, hugging them, weeping with joy and relief. The woman wipes a tear from her eye, careful to avoid the large purple welt on her cheek and the bloody gash on her eyebrow. Several sisters surround her, anxious to help.
“We’re so grateful our prayers for your release have been answered. You have suffered much for the Name. Please, be seated here while we fetch you some cool water. Or a cup of wine, perhaps? We found fresh figs at market today. And delicious cheeses.”
The woman gladly sinks into a cushion, grateful for all the loving concern from her community of faith. Their tenderness is a welcome change from the living hell she’s endured.
The scene replays in her mind. Cold stone floors. Heavy iron shackles. Putrid water, if any. Meager, rancid food portions. The stench of bodily waste. Groans and whimpers from the wounded, night and day. And the ever-present guards leering and pawing.
Shuddering, she swallows the bile rising in her throat, pushing the memories away. She will not speak of the worst of it. She will heal from her wounds. She will continue preaching the gospel, strengthening the church, and exalting the beautiful Savior she adores.
They can bruise her body. They can wound her soul. But they can’t take away the love which compels her.
Paul writes, “Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was (Rom. 16:7, NIV).”
The NASB uses the speculative male name “Junias,” since the translators assumed a woman could not have been an apostle.[i] Yet New Testament translations listed Junia as a woman until at least the 13th century.[ii]
In Greek New Testament composite texts (which comprise the Greek New Testament used to translate the NT today), Junia was a woman until Eberhard Nestle changed her name to “Junias” in his 1927 edition of the Greek New Testament.[iii]
The ESV takes a different tack and translates the phrase “outstanding among the apostles” as “outstanding to the apostles (Rom. 16:7, ESV).”[iv] Yet “…the name Junias is not attested among the thousands of Greek names preserved from antiquity…whereas the name Junia is well attested,” which means there would need to be overwhelming reasons for using Junias instead of Junia in this passage.[v]
The Greek most naturally reads as meaning Andronicus and Junia were apostles.[vi] Plus, Paul never cites the judgment of other apostles on such issues.[vii]
Some translators attempt to minimize Junia’s contribution to gospel advancement, yet the first generation of Christians understood the expression about her and Andronicus (likely her husband) meant “prominent apostles.”[viii]
Paul offers no one else in Romans 16 a comparable standing to these two, probably instrumental in the Roman Christian community’s founding or early growth and undoubtedly leaders of great significance in that congregation.[ix]
Apostolic ministry generally included being commissioned and sent out, exercising signs and wonders, teaching, giving council, enduring great suffering, and demonstrating Christlike humility and a servant’s heart.[x
Junia took great risks for the gospel, and Rome considered her a threat. She was “… a Christ-experiencing, Christ-representing, church-establishing, probably miracle working, missionizing woman who preached the gospel and taught the church.”[xi]
When I grow up, I want to be like her.
***
This post is an excerpt from my book available on Amazon now, Prophesying Daughters: How Prophetic Ministry and Women in Leadership Strengthen the Church.
[i] Richard Bauckham explains that “…the name Junias is not attested among the thousands of Greek names preserved from antiquity…whereas the name Junia is well attested.” Therefore, there would need to be overwhelming reasons for using Junias instead of Junia in this passage. Richard Bauckham, Gospel Women: Studies of the Named Women in the Gospels (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002), 168-169.
[ii] Scot McKnight, The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 236.
[iii] McKnight, 238.
[iv] The unfortunate Andronicus is thrown under the bus and demoted to non-apostle status due to his association with Junia.
[v] Bauckham, 168-169.
[vi] Craig Keener, Paul Women and Wives: Marriage and Women’s Ministry in the Letters of Paul (Peabody, MS: Hendrickson Publishers, 1992),242.
[vii] Keener, Paul, Women and Wives, 242.
[viii] McKnight, 180. Keener explains they would have had to be either brother and sister or husband and wife to avoid scandal due to traveling together (Paul, Women and Wives, 242).
[ix] Bauckman, 181.
[x] Sam Storms, Understanding Spiritual Gifts, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020), 313.
[xi] McKnight, 244.
Photo by Mimzy/ Pixabay.com
Photo by Mimzy/ Pixabay.com
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