Who Was Junia in the Bible?
In the first century, a woman named Junia was a Christian. She is known from Paul the Apostle’s letter to the Romans. Her name means “joanna.” This article explores the significance of Junia’s name and her role in the early church. Junias was an influential woman in the early church.
Joanna
If you’ve ever wondered if Joanna was Junia in the Bible, you’re not alone. Biblical scholars have long debated the identity of Junia. But recent scholarship has found that Junia was a prominent woman leader in the early church. Her story is a reminder of the ongoing struggle for women’s equality. She was also a patron saint of women who have been gaslighted.
Although there is no consensus on this question, one theory is that Joanna was the wife of Chuza, a steward of Herod Antipas. This would have given Joanna a working knowledge of Latin and Roman customs. In fact, it is possible that she changed her name from her Hebraic name to the Latin one. In any case, the Greek New Testament renders the name “Joanna” as “Iounia.”
Another theory is that Junia was a female apostle. She is mentioned in Acts 2:10, where she meets Paul and other apostles in Jerusalem. The Bible also mentions Roman visitors. It is possible that she may have been a convert on Pentecost, and then took her new faith with her. If so, she was a pioneering figure for women in the early Christian church.
Joanna was an obscure woman in the Bible, but she was an ardent follower of Jesus. By embracing Jesus and his teachings, she broke the strict social divisions of the day. After her conversion, she traveled with Jesus and served him, even financially supporting his ministry. Her behavior was considered scandalous under first-century Judaism, and she was subsequently hated by Herod.
Although Junia was not a Christian, her name was mentioned in the gospels. It is said that she healed Jesus and supported his disciples. In addition, she is also recorded as a witness to his resurrection. Another version claims that she was married to Andronicus, a Jewish man who became a follower of Christ before Paul. In either case, she is a saint of both the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox faiths.
Roman name Junia
Although there is no firm evidence to support that the Roman name Junia was a woman, early Christian writers understood it as such. Ancient texts also support Junia’s gender, but the Greek translation of the Bible by the United Bible Societies (UBS) is markedly male. This likely reflects resistance to the idea of a female apostle. Bruce M. Metzger discusses this anomaly in his article, Junia: A Woman in the Bible.
Junia’s explicit title as an apostle is a unique feature. Many Bible scholars and church leaders have sought to turn the apostle’s name into a man. However, these attempts are based on faulty historical evidence. Junia’s explicit title as an apostle may be a bit unusual, but women who were apostolic were not uncommon in biblical times.
The biblical record also mentions Junia as an early convert to Christianity. She probably lived in Jerusalem during the time of Pentecost. She probably spent some time with Paul, preaching and leading groups of believers. Then, she would have been a member of the early church and probably became acquainted with many of the apostles.
Early twentieth-century translations of the Bible treat Junia as a woman, but they do not include a footnote to indicate which sex Junia was. In the New American Bible (NASB), the name Junia is represented as a woman, and the New Revised Standard Version (ESV) uses the Greek name Julia as a woman. This reversal of the RSV weakens any arguments against women’s ministry.
Junia is a woman’s name and is mentioned as an apostle in Romans 16:7. It appears in all the Greek and Latin manuscripts.
Meaning of her name
The meaning of Junia’s name in the Bible has long been contested. While it is generally accepted that Junia was a woman, patriarchal bias has claimed that her name should be masculine. This is not entirely true, however, because the word iounian in Greek can mean either male or female. Furthermore, Paul’s letters to the church did not use accent marks, and the earliest Greek NT manuscripts do not contain accents. Throughout the thirteenth century, the gender of the name began to shift. In Luke 8:1-3, for example, Junia and Andronicus were referred to as ‘those honorable men.’
The name Junia is derived from the Latin word junia, meaning ‘youthful’. Her name is also associated with a woman who lived counter-culturally. Although she was not able to go to school, Junia was nonetheless a prominent apostle in the early Christian church. In fact, Paul even praised her faith and accomplishments. In addition, Jesus praised her for sitting at His feet like a male student, showing that women and men are equal.
The name Junia is found in the Bible in three different versions. The NIV emphasizes Junia’s role as an apostle. The early church did not have strict rules about women holding positions of authority. As a result, the name Junia is sometimes spelled Junias. This means that she was recognized as a woman throughout the first thousand years of church history.
Another argument for Junia’s gender is that the name was shortened in ancient Greek. However, a Greek-derived form of Junias is iounian, which has an acute at the penultima.
Her influence on the early church
Junia was one of the earliest Christians, suffering for her ministry and her faith. Later, the apostle Paul described her as a powerful apostle. Junia’s influence on the early church is often debated. In fact, she was the only apostle to mention a woman, a surprising fact considering that the apostle John Chrysostome regarded women as untrustworthy and second-class citizens.
Although there is debate over whether or not Junia was a female apostle, we do know that she helped establish churches in her home and partnered with her husband Andronicus to mentor new believers. The debate largely revolves around the phrase “they are known among the apostles.” It can be translated several ways, including “well known” or “outstanding” in different ways.
Paul held Junia in high regard and wanted the other 26 Christians in Rome to be welcomed by them. In fact, Paul mentions ten women in Romans 16:16, where he commends most of them for their work in ministry. If you’d like to know more about these women and their impact on the early church, check out this annotated list.
Another important footnote about Junia traces her name to a man named Giles of Rome, also known as Aegidus Romanus. In Romans 16:7, Giles referred to Junia and Andronicus as “honorable men” by mistake. Giles assumed that Paul was referring to men, but Paul mentions Junia as an apostle.
In Romans 16:7, Junia is also referred to as “episemoi en tois apostolois,” which means “highly esteemed among the apostles.” However, the modern presupposition is that she was prejudiced by the Pope’s position on women in the church. Pope Boniface VIII disapproved of the influence of women, so Giles’s “politically correct” mistranslation of Junia seems to stem from this prejudice. Despite this, she set the trend for later women to follow suit.