What if Junia Was a Female Apostle?

“Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives who were in prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.” Romans 16:7

There has been a scholarly debate whether Junia was a man or a woman. Most manuscripts give the name Junia (which is a female name) while some manuscripts give the name Junias (a male name). The reason, as I can understand it, for the confusion is the fact that Paul identifies Andronicus and Junia as “Prominent among the Apostles…in Christ before I was.” I could see that it would be hard for many in the first or second century to name a woman as a “Prominent Apostle” – so the gloss would be to add an “S”, to change the name from a woman to a man. After all, how could a woman be named as an Apostle?

We do know of several women who are among the prominent disciples or apostles or workers within the early Christian church. Aquila and Priscilla are named as early converts of Paul’s. They were tent makers, well-to-do, without children and most likely middle-aged. Junia’s relationship with Andronicus is somewhat ambiguous, but it is generally supposed that they were husband and wife. It is also possible they could have been siblings or simply a team of evangelists. What is important is that Junia is referred to in her own right, not as an attachment to someone else. This means that she earned her title and position on her own merit, rather than it being simply a natural derivation from her husband’s status. Paul refers to Priscilla as another of his “fellow workers in Christ Jesus”. Phebe is also mentioned by Paul as a servant or deaconess of the church.

When we think of women who may have been Apostles or workers for Christ in the early church, we must contend with the Patriarchal society in which the early church developed. There may have been many women who served in the role of Apostle, but their names have been redacted from the canon by men. However, many of our own churches today still struggle to allow women equal status to serve in leadership roles. It is my opinion that without women serving the church of Jesus Christ, many churches will lack leadership and will eventually close due to a lack of people willing to serve the Gospel.

Pastor Dave

What if Lot’s Wife Didn’t Look Back?

The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground. He said, “Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the square.” But he urged them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.” Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” But they replied, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came here as an alien, and he would play the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near the door to break it down. But the men inside reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they were unable to find the door. When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city.” But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city. When they had brought them outside, they said, “Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed.” And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords; your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. Look, that city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” He said to him, “Very well, I grant you this favor too, and will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” Therefore the city was called Zoar. The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” Genesis 19:1-11, 15-26

How paradoxical can your story be if you do not even get a name – and your story is one of the most famous stories in the Old Testament? Hebrew stories give Lot’s wife the name of “Ado” or “Edith” – but the Christian scriptures leave her nameless. Lot of course is known for being the cousin of Abraham. It is Abraham who pleads with his Angelic visitors to consider saving the people of Sodom and Gomorrah if there be found among them at least ten righteous men. In the end, of course, all of the men of Sodom were considered to be too depraved to be saved. So, as Lot, his nameless wife, and their family were escaping the city, the Angelic visitors told them not to look back – but to keep their eyes focused away from the destruction. And of course, Lot’s wife does look back, and she is turned into a pillar of salt. It is a story that many can recount – yet she remains nameless.
But what if she hadn’t looked back, and been turned into a pillar of salt? If you continue to read the story of Lot, he does not stay in the town of Zoar, but leaves that small town and lives in a cave. His two daughters conceive a plan to trick their father, Lot, into giving them sons:
Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the world. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father” (Genesis 19:31-32)

By tricking him, they each bear a son: one is the ancestor of the Moabites, the other the ancestor of the Ammonites.
Many times the stories in the Old Testament are difficult to understand. Their cultural rituals and responsibilities are often obscure – but this is what makes it fun to study, and to learn more.

Pastor Dave