People don’t like this verse.  It has been a thorn in the flesh.  Why?  Because a woman was called “an apostle,” one who was sent out.  Not only that, she was said to be “oustanding among the apostles.”  Could this really be about a woman?

Look at how the translators try to deal with this “problem”

Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.” (KJV)

They are outstanding among the apostles (NIV)

In these texts she is listed as an apostle.  This was actually what the early church believed.

Origen of Alexandria (c.185-253)

“Think how great is the devotion of this woman that she should be counted worthy of being called an apostle”

John Chrysostom (c. 347-407)

“To be an apostle is something great. But to be outstanding among the apostles—just think what a wonderful song of praise that is! Indeed, how great the wisdom of this woman must have been that she was even deemed worthy of the title of apostle.”

Even early manuscripts in Latin, Syriac, Coptic and others all affirmed her as a woman and translated the femine name as Junia.  But then history began to be uncomfortable with a woman that was called an apostle.  In medieval times, some manuscripts started changing her name from Junia to Junias, from a feminine name to the masculine name.

Then look how the texts translate her name and role in some of today’s translations:

Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners. They are well known to the apostles,^[d] and they were in Christ before me” (ESV)

who are of note among the apostles (NKVJ)

who are outstanding in the view of the apostles (NASB)

Do you see the differences?  Some say that he was an apostle.  This is what the early church believed.  But because of uncomfortableness, it is translated as if she was not an apostle, but just a well-known women whom the apostles all knew.

It takes on a different meaning.

What we know for certain:

• She was a relative of Paul
• She was in prison for the gospel
• She was well-known/outstanding
• They were in Christ before Paul
• The context in Romans 16 honors women who worked are in the Lord and were called “fellow workers”

Why believe she was a woman and an apostle, one sent out for the gospel?

• Paul calls her an apostle
• In his list, he mentions several women who were “fellow workers in the Lord”
• She was an early church convert which meant she was likely a leader through early adoption of the gospel
• Early church historians believed she was a woman apostle
• Early manuscripts believe she was a woman apostle
• She was in prison for her witness in the gospel
• The early Christian writers were not embarrassed by her being a woman, they even mention her
• The early church were more blown away that she would be counted so high as to be an apostle rather than the fact that she was a woman

It is therefore reasonable to conclude that she was a woman apostle of very high devotion, witness, integrity and calling.   She wasn’t one of the Twelve but neither was Paul.  But the evidence is in her favor that the text is as the early manuscripts and church fathers believed.