The Outstanding Junia
Apostle or not, she’s still noteworthy.
As the most overshadowed and overlooked Biblical woman, Junia is sometimes called Junias (a masculinized variant of Junia) and referred to as a man in some versions. However in many other versions, including the ESV, she is referred to as Junia.
The Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry asserted that Junia could not hold any position of authority as a woman and that, even in the early church, Junia’s gender was debated. However, in an academic journal, John Thorley asserted that Junia was clearly a woman and that the name “Junias” only appeared after 1881. Not only that, the position of “apostle” carried a sense of weight and authority in the early church that it does not carry today. Although women’s status was largely limited during Paul’s time, women could rise in status with sufficient wealth, intelligence, and/or social connections. The fact that “Junia" was changed to “Junias" in 1881 suggests that her female identity was erased to appease more traditional people or that scholars in 1881 did not think that it was possible for a woman to be an apostle.
Not only is Junia’s gender debated, but her status as an apostle is also debated. Most versions use variations of “noteworthy among the apostles”, which doesn’t lend itself to much clarity to Junia’s actual status in the church. To compound the confusion, the Greek word en can mean “in”, “by”, “with”, “at”, or “among”. The word Apostolos itself is used to refer to the Twelve who were with Jesus and other prominent Biblical teachers as well. One may argue that the word itself means “those who are sent", which would indicate that Junia was a missionary rather than an apostle on the same level as Paul or one of the Twelve. However, the word apostolos is only used to refer to the Twelve and other prominent Bible teachers, which makes this position look more like a “compromise" than an actual examination of Junia’s position in the church. This effectively leaves two options: Either Junia was an apostle or she wasn’t.
The debate over Junia’s apostleship still has no clear conclusion since it is hinged on one ambiguous preposition. However, in 1522, Martin Luther considered Junia a “famous apostle” and references to Junia as separate from the apostles seem to appear later. This could be due to any number of factors from new understandings of the word en to deliberate, but subtle alterations that would ultimately obscure Junia’s apostleship or lack thereof.
The debate over Junia’s apostleship will influence the way gender roles are interpreted in the Bible. If Junia was an apostle, then her position as such spells trouble for proponents of more traditional gender roles. Having a Biblical woman in a position of authority upsets the idea that women need to stay subservient to men. These ideals might hold water if she were not an apostle, but rather famous among them. However, the fact that Junia and Andronicus were imprisoned alongside Paul is not debated. This indicates that, if women must suffer alongside men as equals, they also need to triumph alongside men as equals.
