Junia (She/Her)
Addressing the Fight to Make Her a Man
I got roasted online a few weeks ago.
Like… roasted.
I posted something meant to encourage women who feel like their options in church are limited to casseroles and hospitality. My point was if your gift is casseroles, COOK girl! And if your gift is leadership, LEAD girl! The point was follow your gifts and don’t feel like you have to fit in a pigeon hole, because when you actually read Scripture, women are doing everything.
Scholarly as I am (said no one), I listed a few examples.
And I included Junia.
As an apostle.
And wow.
The comments came fast and hot.
Not thoughtful disagreement.
Not curiosity.
Vitriol.
About a gender and name.
About whether Junia was a woman.
Now, I’ve heard the argument. I’ve studied it. I know that some claim Junia was actually a man—“Junias.” But even a basic glance at the scholarship shows that’s just not true anymore. The evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of Junia being a woman.1 That’s not fringe. That’s consensus.
And yet…
There it was in my comments.
Anger. Certainty. Pushback that felt way out of proportion.
So let me just say this clearly:
Junia.
Pronouns: she/her.
Why Is This Such a Big Deal?
That’s the question, right?
Why does this matter so much?
Why does a single woman being named an apostle create this level of reaction?
Let me introduce a word I’ve been working with:
Misogyneutics.
What Is Misogyneutics?
Let’s break it down.
Misogyny is the desire to control and contain women—to keep them in their “proper” place: at home, following men, not getting too big for their britches.
Hermeneutics, as Jeannine K. Brown defines it, is, “The study of the activity of interpretation; specifically how texts communicate, how meaning is derived from texts and/or their authors, and what it is that people do when they interpret a text.”2
So what happens when those two collide?
Misogyneutics:
The study and practice of interpretation where texts—separated from authorial intent and context—are read through a lens of misogyny, resulting in interpretations that reinforce and justify the subordination of women.
Its quieter cousin? Patriarchalneutics who often isn’t trying to cause harm. He’s enveloped in the patriarchal culture of the church and has not had the opportunity (or the time) to examine the interpretations he inherited.
But misogyneutics?
Misogyneutics is out for blood. Women’s blood, in particular.
A person engaging in gracious hermeneutics comes to the text with humility:
aware that the biblical world is not our world, aware of their own assumptions, open to correction, committed to community, and seeking what the author meant and what the original audience heard.
They let the text shape them.
A person engaging in misogyneutics comes to the text already knowing the answer:
Men lead.
Women follow.
So they go looking for verses to support it.
They are not interested in context, language, history, or scholarship that complicates things.
Because in their minds?
The interpretation is already finished.
And because Scripture is without error…
their interpretation quietly becomes untouchable too.
Which leads to this:
Women—go home.
Step out of leadership.
This is not your place.
And This Is How Junia Became a Man
Junia didn’t start as a problem.
Paul just says:
“Greet Andronicus and Junia… They are outstanding among the apostles.” (Romans 16:7)
No disclaimer.
No controversy.
Just a woman… named… as an apostle.
But later?
That became an issue.
So, Junia became Junias and “among the apostles” became “well known to” to cover their tracks.
Not because the text demanded it.
But because the system did.
What Do We Even Mean by “Apostle”?
Part of the problem is that we’ve loaded the word apostle with way more rigidity than Paul did.
When Paul talks about apostles, he’s not describing a closed, all-male executive board.3
He’s describing people who:
encountered the risen Christ
were called and sent by Jesus
carried the gospel into the world
endured suffering, mission, and ministry
That’s how Paul defends his own apostleship:
“Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” (1 Cor. 9:1)
Apostleship is about:
calling + sending + witness
Not gender.
Not hierarchy.
Not control.
And here’s where it gets interesting.
The Catholic Church—not exactly known for being reckless with titles—has, in recent decades, formally referred to Mary Magdalene as:
“Apostle to the Apostles.”4
Why?
Because she witnessed the risen Christ and was sent to preach (yeah, I said it) the resurrection to the other disciples.
Sound familiar?
So Why Does This Word Get So Tight Around Women?
Because titles carry power.
And misogyneutics is deeply interested in protecting a very specific power structure.
So what happens?
Titles get guarded.
Apostle → must be male
Elder → must be male
Deacon → must be male
Even when the text itself pushes back.
Because Romans 16 is sitting right there:
Junia → apostle (Romans 16:7)
Phoebe → deacon (Romans 16:1)
Priscilla → teaching Apollos (Acts 18:26)
Paul is handing out recognition like:
Look at these women. They are doing the work.
But Here’s the Twist
Paul’s favorite title for himself isn’t apostle.
It’s servant (Romans 1:1).
So while we’re busy building systems around titles, authority, and who gets to lead…
Paul is over here saying:
“I’m a servant.”
So What Happened in My Comments Section?
I don’t think people were trying to be cruel.
(I included this statement to sound like a gracious woman. IRL, I 100% think people were trying to be cruel and if Insta included addresses, me and my BFF would have spent the night driving around slashing peoples tires. But, I digress.)
I do think they were trying to be faithful to what they have been taught from the pulpit.
But sometimes…
We defend what we’ve been taught…
more than we examine what the text is communicating from 2000 years ago.
And when something like Junia shows up—clear, inconvenient, and hard to explain away—it exposes the gap between the authority of Scripture
and our imperfect interpretation of it.
Final Word
Junia doesn’t need me to defend her, the burden of proof is on misogyneutics to come up with a new argument, or, gasp, get over the fact that God gifted women as leaders too.
Paul already named her.
The early church recognized her.
The question is whether we’re willing to see what’s been there all along.
So again, just to be clear:
Junia.
Apostle.
Pronouns: She/her
See Eldon Jay Epp, Junia: The First Woman Apostle (Fortress Press, 2005); and Amy Peeler in Vindicating the Vixens (2017), documenting the overwhelming evidence for Junia as a female name in antiquity.
Jeannine K. Brown, Scripture as Communication (Baker Academic, 2021).
See 1 Cor. 9:1; Gal. 1:1, 15–17; 1 Cor. 15:7–10 for Paul’s description of apostleship.
In 2016, Pope Francis elevated Mary Magdalene’s liturgical memorial, affirming her traditional title “Apostle to the Apostles.”