What does Paul say about Junia?
I recently received a question from a face book follower. She stated in her bible study she has several Protestants. One of them asked her why the Catholic Church supports an all-male priesthood when Junia is listed as an apostle by Paul in Romans 16:7. The Catholic's question to me was, what are we to make of this?
The first thing we always must do is make a positive statement about the person's question. "Thank you for the question" or "That's a really interesting question" or "I love this question" are good examples. Do this even if the question was asked in a negative manner. A kind word turns away wrath.
Next, we always look at the verse(s) being presented, and the context around them. The context may be as much as the whole book, or the chapter depending. This is another reason why we must read Scripture daily so we already have a feel for the context. Many "proof texts" fall apart when read in context, or just read at all. This can be one of those examples depending on the translation being used but I'll get to that in a bit.
Romans 16:7 in the NAB says, "Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives and my fellow prisoners; they are prominent among the apostles and they were in Christ before me." Junia, by the way, is a woman's name. This is one of those verses that, on the surface, looks like it is saying that Junia, a woman, is a prominent apostle. Also the context isn't much help as it is in one of those sections where Paul does his "shout outs": Greet so-and-so for me; say 'hi' to that guy and this gal for me, etc.
But there are many other things to consider with this verse. First, the name "Junia" in Greek is ᾿Ιουνιαν. The name is either male or female depending on the location of an accent mark. If the accent mark is in one place, the name is male, if it is in another, the name is female. In the earliest copies of Romans we have, there are no accent marks at all. So we are not sure if "Junia" is male (Junias) or female (Junia). To be fair, many historians and most of Church History believe Junia to be a female.
Does this mean that Paul is saying she was an ordained apostle? Not necessarily. Several other translations translate Rom 16:7 to say that Andronicus and Junia were "well known to the Apostles." The Greek allows for both "well known among the Apostles" or "well known to the Apostles." So it is entirely possible that Andronicus and Junia were a husband and wife team of evangelists who had become well known to the Apostles.
But even if the proper translation was saying that Andronicus and Junia were well known apostles, and if we say, for the sake of argument, that Junia is a woman, is this saying that Junia was an ordained apostle? Again, not necessarily. The word apostle means "sent." Many time it means "sent with the authority of the one sending." Hence Jesus is our One True Apostle (Heb 3:1) because He is sent by the Father (Jn 20:21 and others) with the Authority of the Father (Mt 28:18). Jesus then sends the Apostles with His authority(Jn 20:21 and Mt 28:18).
Other times it just means one who was sent: Mary Magdalene has traditionally been called "the apostle to the Apostles" because Jesus sent her to tell the Apostles (Mk 16:7) but no one - not even those in favor of women's ordination - have typically used this as saying she was ordained.
The bottom line is it is reasonably debatable whether or not "Junia" was a woman or a man, whether or not he / she was actually an apostle or just "well known to" the Apostles and it is debatable whether or not the apostleship spoke of here is an ordained apostleship or not. But there is one more argument that seems to clear it up: the voice of History.
Not once in Church History is Junia considered an ordained apostle. If Romans 16:7 was truly Paul saying that a woman can be ordained, then we would see it in Church History. Or shouldn't we, at least, expect ONE OTHER EXAMPLE of a woman being ordained in all of Church History?
We don't. This is not to say that woman are somehow inferior to men. To somehow believe that because the priesthood is "male only" is somehow chauvinistic is to apply a modern sensibility - or actually modern LACK of sensibility - to the issue.
Does the Catholic Church teach that men are superior to women? Absolutely not.
Does the Catholic Church believe that men and women are different? Absolutely. We have EQUAL dignity and worth. BUT WE HAVE DIFFERENT ROLES.
So what possible role could a woman have that balances what some believe to be a disparity between them and the all-male priesthood?
The all-female mother-hood. Lest we forget: The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
Looking at my 7 month pregnant wife, I actually think God may have decided on the all-male priesthood to try to make men feel somewhat important.
Most of my information came from these three sources: What does Paul mean when he refers to Junia as an apostle?; Apostles who weren't part of the Twelve; and Junia among the Apostles.
Follow up information here: Women and the Priesthood
Fidei Defensor
Explaining the Catholic Faith, and teaching others to explain, the Catholic Faith with kindness and respect.
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