Did You Know There is a Female Apostle in the Bible?

Romans 16 is one of those chapters in the Bible that most of us skim through when we are doing our daily Bible reading. It’s a list of people who lived in Rome in the First Century. Many of their names are difficult to pronounce, and frankly, it’s hard to figure out how it has any bearing on my life today.

However, tucked inside one of these innocuous little verses is a powerful reality that the church needs to be aware of. Romans 16:7 says:

“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.”

Right off the bat, we recognize that these were two fairly important people. They were Jews who had been persecuted for their faith, so much so, that they had been imprisoned for being Christians. Second, they were “outstanding among” or “of note” among the apostles. In order to be outstanding among a group, you have to belong to the group. I can’t say you were one of the most outstanding NFL players this year, if in fact, you were never in the NFL! So, Andronicus and Junia were not just Apostles, they were outstanding among this select group called apostles.

Let me clarify one thing, before you get carried away. When many people think of the Apostles, they think of the 12 disciples who followed Jesus, and then they include Paul as well. Us Bible geeks call them the 12 plus 1. The truth is the Bible names a number of others as Apostles as well. In Acts 14:14 Barnabas is called an apostle. In Galatians 1:19, the Lord’s brother, James, is also called an apostle. Look it up, if you don’t believe me, but it’s true. There are over 20 people in the New Testament called apostles. I’m not suggesting they were part of the elite group of 12. I’m just saying there were others with the title “apostle.”

Adronicus and Junia are called apostles in Romans 16:7, but that’s not the shocking part of the verse. The incredible revelation is that Junia is a woman’s name!

Now here is where things get interesting. You may not know this, but there has been a huge debate in the church for the past 100 years or so, about the roles and ministries women can have in the church. Due to several apparently restrictive verses, many teachers have concluded that women cannot have leadership roles in the church. But …., when we come to Romans 16:7 we have a huge problem, because Junia is clearly a woman’s name. The debate has become so sharp that a number of our Bible translations have even changed the name to “Junias” which is a masculine name. One translation wisely avoided changing her name, instead they changed the expression to, “They were well known to the apostles,” which changes the meaning entirely!

“The overwhelming evidence from the ancient manuscripts and from the history of the church is that Junia was a woman who was also an apostle!”

However, just a few verses later we have another name, Julia (Rom. 16:15). Julia was a very popular Roman name, and in Greek (and English) there is only one letter different from Junia to Julia. No one questions whether Julia is a woman’s name, but lots of people question Junia. Why? Because she is identified as an apostle, and some people have concluded that just can’t be.

In his book, Junia: The First Woman Apostle, Eldon Jay Epp lays out a thorough and detailed case from the original languages that Junia must be a woman. He states, “To put the point sharply: there is no Greek manuscript extant that unambiguously identifies Andronicus’ partner as a male.” (p. XI) Epp then lists a number of church theologians from the first 1,000 years of the church who all recognized Junia as a woman. Chrysostom was the clearest, “Indeed, how great the wisdom of this woman must have been that she was even deemed worthy of the title of apostle.” (In ep. ad Romanos 31.2; PG 60.669-670). According to Epp, from the 1500s to the early 1900s only one Greek manuscript out of 39 available rendered the name as masculine. 

The overwhelming evidence from the ancient manuscripts and from the history of the church is that Junia was a woman who was also an apostle! The church needs to come to grips with the truth that women are just as capable as men to serve in any area of church ministry. The Bible confirms this, if we would just set aside our preconceived notions and accept what it says as true.

I don’t know what you think, but that’s what I believe!