ROMANS 16:7 A FEMALE APOSTLE

  Q: Was there really a female apostle?

Until 100 years ago, this name was given as Junia (June): a woman. Even the powerful preacher and

 reputed woman-hater John Chrysostom said, “How great the wisdom of this woman must have 

 that she was even deemed worthy of the title of apostle.”

Although KJV has this translation, other translations call the person Junias, which is a masculine name.

 The problem is that the word occurs in this verse in the accusative form Junian, which can refer to a 

man or a woman. There are now different accent marks to distinguish the two, but the oldest texts did 

not have accent marks. When the scribes did start inserting accent marks, the feminine form was always

 chosen.

In fact, the male name of Junias appears nowhere in Greek or Roman literature while the female name 

Junia has been found over 250 times in Rome alone. But still the male name Junias was chosen for the 

standard Greek text of 1927 (used as the basis of most modern translations). The situation changed 

later on when Junia appeared in the 1998 United Bible Society version.

The only justification for using an otherwise unattested name is the unsupported supposition that it 

might be a contraction of the known male name of Junianus.

It is interesting that one-third of the names listed in Romans 16 are women. One commentator notes,

 “Paul was a pioneer in the recognition of the function of women in Christian service and his attitude 

has been much misunderstood in this sphere.”