For one thing I never knew that there was even a a woman apostle whose name was Junia. Scholars over the years changed her to Junias as they feel that a woman can’t be counted as an apostle. Yet this wasn’t disputed until the 13th century as commentaries before the 13th century all say that Junia was a woman and when scholars have looked up the name Junias, there are no records showing that Junias was a even a male name in any Greek or Latin literature.
Paul also describes both her and Andronicus who was either her husband or brother as ‘fellow prisoners’ who became Christians before Paul did.
I also noticed that when you look up Romans 16:7 most Bibles have used the spelling Junias expect for the TNIV which as removed the 's' and has taken it back to Junia.
If women are not suppose to teach or have authority over a man why would Paul name a woman as an apostle???
Another interesting woman in the Bible who havent thought much about was Phoebe. Phoebe was a deacon and was not only commended by Paul but was sent to Rome by Paul to carry out some plans which may relate to evangelising and church planting. Also Phoebe is the only woman in Romans 16 where the Greek word prostatis is used. This word is the feminine form of the noun that means ‘leader,’ the one who presides or the one who stands before. The word Prostatis comes from proistemi which means “to rule and care for.” When you look at Jesus definition of a leader as seen in the gospels you an see that a Christian leaders both cares for and leads which fits into what we know about Phoebe as not only was she was a “ruling elder” but she was also described as a deaconess.
Again why would Paul call Phoebe a deconess or a leader if women werent suppose to be in that role? After all Paul is the one who said that "Women must remain silent in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and also told women that he does not permit a woman to have authority over a man in 1 Timothy 2:12. If Paul really meant this as a universal command why would he call Phoebe a deaconess and a leader?
Another interesting fact that I have read before but it was good to be reminded of think and to think about is the translation of the greek word 'head as in 1 Corinthians 11:13 and Ephesians 5:23 as both these passages talk about a man being the ‘head’ of the woman. The issue is that in the English sense the word ‘head’ tends to mean having authority over others. But one has to ask themselves if that what Paul mean when discussing these passages as these passages were written in the first century. In the New Testament Greek, the word head is kephale. Yet Kephale in the new testament Greek era could actually translate to ‘top’, ‘brim’, ‘apex,’ ‘origin ,’ ‘source,’ ‘mouth,’ ‘starting point,’ and the list could go on as altogether there is around 25 different possibilities for the meaning of kephale. But this depends on what lexicon people use as the most comprehensive one covers a period of 1600 years and includes the New Testament Greek. This lexicon does not list Kephale to mean ‘authority over,’ or ‘leader. Neither does a Greek thesaurus which was written in the sixteenth century. The problem is that there is a small lexicon by a man called Warren Bauer who only gives one meaning to the word kephale which is ‘head’ and then he proceeds to list 5 new testament passages and 2 old testament passages that has been translated in the early Greek where this word has also been used. The problem with this theory is that in the Hebrew language for head was ro’sh. This did mean leader or authority as it was used the same way as the English language and was quiet a common meaning at the time in ancient Hebrew. But the way that the English as well as the Hebrew language uses the word ‘head’ it was a common meaning in the New Testament Greek language. Even though Paul was fluent in both Hebrew and Greek, Paul wrote to churches that were Greek speaking and only knew the Greek language. Therefore one can assume that Paul would have used Greek terminology when writing to the people.
Then there is Prisicilla who along with her husband Aquilia guided Apollos in his faith and were counted as apostles as Paul refers to them in Romans 6:3 as “fellow workers in Christ Jesus.” They also had a church that was held in their house. Also it is important to note that Paul always uses Priscilla name first when addressing both her and Aquilia which could indicate that her gifting in teaching was stronger than her husband's. I have heard people say that Prisicilla had a quiet role in guiding Apollos and it wasnt in a church setting. But the fact remains that the pasage doesnt say this and Priscilla and Aquilia held church meetings at their home which was common at the time. So how can we say that she wasnt really teaching Apollos when Paul names her first and has mentioned the importance of her.
I could spend some time in writing about this as this blog has only just touched the basis of some of my findings. But even just the basic of research on this can really make one stop and think about the subject and have we as a church over the years havent given women enough creditbility concerning their ability to teach in the church and to be part of the leadership team?
Just food for thought!
Alvera Mickelsen, “There is Neither Male nor Female in Christ,” in, Women in ministry-four views, eds. Bonnidell Clouse and Robert Clouse Canada: Intervarsity press,1989.
