 Was Junius a female apostle? Well, there are many that want to make the claim that that Junius is a female and was an apostle But if we look at the scriptures, we're gonna find that that is not the case I know that there are those that want to put her or him Because and I say that that way because we're not even sure if it's a male or a female as a matter of fact There's a good chance that it was not now. There's also a chance that it was a woman So there's no way to really know for sure. Well, look at that in just a second But there's this move to make women to have more prominence in the roles of Certain offices that were not allowed for women as far as we can tell according to the scriptures Such as being a pastor such as being an elder such as being a deacon and in this case being an apostle Now before we get there again It would be difficult as a matter of fact Contradictory for there to be such a role there for a woman Knowing what apostles were for what they did and the power they brought Remember these are the ones that brought scripture They are the ones that we have literally their writings because they were breathed out by the Holy Spirit through them We have them as they taught and led and so it would kind of be contradictory to go against what Paul also said earlier in First Timothy 2 12 he says but I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man But to remain quiet now This is not just in the church service because he says for it is it was Adam Who was first created and then Eve and it was not Adam who was to see but the woman being deceiving So he's not even speaking of just that culture but just in general But the term is or the point is to teach over a man or to have authority over a man And so that was Paul's point and so to come back in and stay differently That would seem quite a contradiction not even seem it is a contradict So let's go to Romans 16 7 and let's pull up the passage. He says in this remember this at the very end He's stating greet Andronicus and junior now the question is is this a husband and wife team? Are these just two different people that part is hard to understand and this term? Junior the question is is junior a woman or a man because dependent upon is Paul writing and spelling or trying to say her name or his name or whoever this person's name is is he Using the Greek name or the Roman name and it's likely that he may have probably been trying to use the Roman name Remember what Paul is trying to say who he's writing to his audience and so forth So it's likely that it's a Roman name now Can't take can't say for sure, but it was Roman name within is more than likely a male's name But here's the other point when we look at this and I want to show you something I want to move the English over and I want to go to the to the Greek I'm gonna look at two particular passages. I won't look at Sinaiticus and I want to look at There's a variant that's also here in the Greek over to the ink to the Greek side This is looking out of the in a 28 and if we see now if you look at the top at the very top There's a little dash a little Mark right above that the eye the e well in that case It would refer to the the accent would be on the e would make it and a female's name However, if we look over here at Sinaiticus the accent is over the alpha And so if the actions at the end this would make this a male's name when so there's a difference We don't know but something that would also Need to be fleshed out is We're gonna talk about this in a little bit There's going to be a textual variant that's also here that that shows up in a couple of different Manuscript we'll talk about this in just a little bit, but This little accent at the top could indicate It's a male or female, but the problem is there's some difference here the accent here on the right side is above the Yoda the accent on the left side is above the alpha above the alpha would make it a Male's name above the Yoda would make it a female's name, but again It's not really known now this whole argument about where the accent is over the Yoda or the alpha Which part of the word is the accent on is difficult because this accenting was not there initially This accenting took place about seven centuries eight centuries later So in the initial writings they weren't there so that would make it even difficult But let's go ahead and leave this whole argument as to whether it's a male or female's name And let's look at the the main point as to whether this person was actually an apostle or not Says greet Andronicus and Junia my countrymen and my fellow prisoners who are of note among the apostles Who also were in Christ Jesus before me now the question is is he saying that they are Among the apostles mean they are part of the apostles or just known to the apostles They are separate from or are they a part up now There are other pastors that we can look at to kind of get some indication, but even still those are not as clear But they evident seem to point that that they're not saying that they were part of the apostles But outside of the apostles one of the key ways to determine if this is mentioning Someone who is a part of the group or outside of the group It really depends on if we know of the parties in other words If we're addressing someone and the and the and the construct of this is similar if the parties are unknown Well, then that would seem to indicate that that this is inclusive But if the parties are known then it would seem to make them separate in this case the parties are known We know who the apostles are and we are we know the names and Junicus and Junia and so that would seem also to indicate that this is that they are separate from the apostle I'm giving example to make a distinction if we go to First Peter 212 and you'll see kind of the same construct here if you go to Let's let's read it keep yourselves or keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles Well, this among this and Toys ethnic Fnason This is and Toys the exact same words that's used with it. No, is that is that a hundred percent? No But clearly here this is used as a distinction. So among the Gentiles Now, this is Peter making a distinction between them and the Gentiles They as the believers in this case particularly likely the Jewish believers Compared to the Gentile unbelievers now one of the surest ways to make sure that we can know that someone is a part of A group is if we use the word home or if we use the word egg let's look at an example we use the word egg which is second Timothy 3 6 he says from Among them are those who entered the household and Captivate weak women, but look at the notice the word here egg to tone So egg out of or from so this is part of the whole group. We don't have that there. It would be clear And as a matter of fact, it's a good way to make sure that you definitely know that this is a part of the group We see egg out of or from meaning that it's a part of in some ways shape from a fashion Well, we don't have that here in Roman 167 now None of what I'm saying is is completely conclusive to say that if this is absent then this of thing must be true If the word egg is not used then this must mean that there are that they're not part of it because there are examples Where the where the end toys is also used, but you are part of that happens on occasions Well, but most often it's used to separate the two now going back to this passion I don't want to get too nerdy. I don't want to get too caught up in the weeds But let's go back to it notice something here It says who are of note among the Apostles now the word that's used for of note Is this where this highlight on your screen is this word epistem way, which is of note well-known famous Now the question is are these two people famous as Apostles? well known as Apostles are they well known to the Apostles Well, because we have this word they're well known and toys Apostle is that has to that That seemingly has to convey that they were just well known to the Apostles among the Apostles And that's why you would write this way remember. This is a greeting. This is not for something to be Taken as some sort of hard hailed doctrine something to teach that it must be absolutely known Or else you wouldn't find this at the end of Romans as kind of a final greeting That should be understood as well But then also I mentioned before that there is a there's a variant if you most notice at the bottom There's just in p46 the word to's or the is missing if this word belongs And grant we're not sure but p46 has it contained there if that's the case then this is clearly Demonstrating that they are not Apostles themselves By the way, if they actually were Apostles if if andronica's and junior male or female are well-known to the Apostles or Well-known as Apostles if they're well known as Apostles the problem comes up. Why don't we know them? Why don't we see people talk about them? They're not spoken of in scriptures and that they're not well spoken of And I couldn't find any but maybe they are but they're not they're certainly not well spoken of amongst the early church So why is junior and andronica's not well known? In scripture or in any early patristic writings if they're well known Well, it's not that they're well known of the Apostles because again, who are the well-known Apostles? We already know Paul obviously Peter John We know who the well-known Apostles are there are other Apostles who we know are Apostles who we don't know very much about Bartholomew that is we don't know very much about them And so you would use this if they're among the Apostles that are well known Peter Paul John Those would be those who would say that would fit this category if they are well known to the Apostles Well, then that's the reason why They seem to be obscured but to be obscure but not well known That's a contradict. That's a contradiction. And so it just seems It just seems impossible to make this to be a woman and then also to be an apostle and for that reason guys There's just no reason no basis to make them to be an apostle Why would Paul have to tell someone to treat them as Apostles? Where in scriptures are the Apostles having to fight for their right to be called a treat as apostle Paul? Himself does so to some degree But that's because there's some Jews who didn't think that he should be a apostle But he's demonstrating and he shows so with power His teaching his following who are his who are the evidence of his apostleship the Gentiles. Oh, by the way, other Apostles validate his apostleship such as Peter and we see this attested to an ax We don't see this being attested to anywhere else. We don't see his calling. They're calling Andronicus or Junia We don't see that so neither of these two are Apostles There's no basis for you see this because there's just this desire for people to put women in positions that they should not be in in the scriptures Or taking positions that the Bible forecloses on women. And so guys Don't let people convince you that Junia is a female apostle Junia If it's a woman, she was not a female apostle Junia if it was a male still not a female apostle Now what I'll also do is Dr. Dan was also given some some work to this And I'll put a link to an article that he writes in regards this and he comes to the same clue as a matter of fact The overwhelming majority of scholars the overwhelming majority of theologians, especially those who are Greek grammarians Come to the same conclusion Junia one is not an apostle to probably not even a male But irrespective of that still refer back to number one, which is that that person is not an apostle So I'll give a link to that as well. You can you can go and read that. It's a It's kind of a hard read You have to know a little bit of Greek or at least try to follow him a little bit But you'll see his final conclusion and there's other folks that have given work to it So I'll leave that link as well But guys remember if it's not clearly stated in the scripture is something that we should follow And this is clearly not stated. It's too debatable for any for anyone to make a defense that women can be apostles Certainly that Junia wasn't possible. Junia was not an apostle