Junia (First Century)
Junia’s story is interesting not only for her ministry and legacy, but for how her legacy was passed on through the generations. Paul hailed Junia as “foremost among the apostles” (Rom. 16:7). She travelled with her husband Andronicus teaching and preaching. The turmoil and riots occasionally provoked by Christian preaching resulted in the couple’s imprisonment which is where they met Paul.[1] His words of greetings in his letter to the Romans reflect his esteem for them: “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).
Junia was recognized as a church leader by Church Father John Chrysostom (c. 347-407) who noted, “How great the wisdom of this woman must have been that she was even deemed worthy of the title of apostle.”[2]Chrysostom’s sermons encouraged the Christian women of Constantinople to imitate Junia and point to Junia’s ongoing legacy of discipleship in the early church.[3]
Junia also became a controversial figure in the church. At some point in history, Junia’s name was translated as a male name instead of female. Investigative journalist Rena Pederson spent months in Italy investigating how Junia got “lost.” She eventually discovered that a thirteenth-century archbishop, Giles of Bourges or Aegidius Romanus (1247–1316), appears to have been the culprit. [4] In Pederson’s words on her discovery:
Giles was the first scholar that can be found who referred to Andronicus and Junia in his commentaries on Romans as “honorable men.” According to Bernadette Brooten, Giles noted that there were two variant readings of the second name in Romans 16:7: Juniam and Juliam. He preferred the reading “Juliam” and assumed it to be a male name since it referred to an apostle. Everyone before Giles had referred to the name as belonging to a woman. For centuries after Giles, the same person was referred to as a man. Then there was a period of confusion over the gender of the name that has continued until now.[5]
It is thought that Giles may have been influenced by his contemporary Pope Boniface VIII (1235–1303) who wanted nuns to be limited to their convents and believed that no woman could rank as an apostle.”[6]
This sort of movement to limit women’s roles in ministry contrasts what we see in Jesus’ ministry. The Gospels frequently note that women accompanied and supported Jesus and his disciples as they went from place to place, providing for them out of their own resources.[7]
These include, Mary Magdalene, Joanna the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and several others who were part of a group of “men and women” who traveled with Jesus and his 12 male disciples, likely an unusual phenomenon in their society at that time (Luke 8:1–3; Mark 15:40–41, Matt. 27:55–56).[8]
Questions have been raised as to how one of these women, Joanna, was able to leave the protected and privileged state in which she lived in Herod’s court.[9] It is possible that her husband had died. It has also been suggested that Joanna was the Jewish name for Junia, in which case we have two more references to the disciple found in the Gospel of Luke who names her with Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and some others at the witnessing of the resurrection on Easter Morning (Luke 24:10). Whether Junia and Joanna are one and the same, or separate, the example they each provide of women following Jesus and serving his church is available for the edification of the church. Another faithful disciple of Jesus and leader in the early church is Priscilla, our example for next week.
[1] Torjesen, Karen Jo. 1995. When Women Were Priests. New York, NY: HarperOne, 33.
[2] Muir, Elizabeth Gillan. 2019. A Women’s History of the Christian Church: Two Thousand Years of Female Leadership. Toronto; Buffalo; London: University of Toronto Press, 2.
[3] Torjesen, When Women Were Priests, 33.
[4] Muir, A Women’s History of the Christian Church, 3.
[5] Pederson, Rena. 2006. The Lost Apostle. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Kindle Locations 1392-1395.
[6] Muir, A Women’s History of the Christian Church, 3.
[7] Muir, A Women’s History of the Christian Church, 13.
[8] Muir, A Women’s History of the Christian Church, 13.
[9] Muir, A Women’s History of the Christian Church, 13.