A
Relational Discussion Forum Dedicated to Apostles
Are Women Apostles Recognised?
Scripturally are women recognized as Apostles?
An excerpt from “From Enmity to Equality.” With footnotes by Dr Kluane Spake.
Scripturally we do not know that all of these women were “recognized as apostles,” but historically we know that they did types of apostolic work and had huge apostolic influence.
According to both biblical and extra-biblical sources, the involvement of women continued in great success for the first several centuries of the early church. Remember also how Paul and Barnabas had to leave Antioch because the Judaizing Christians won the strength of the “women of standing.” The influential power of women at this time is readily apparent.[i]
Romans 16:6 says, “Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you” (NIV). Romans 16:12-13, “Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who worked hard, greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.” The verb “work very hard” (16:6, 12) is a term used for ministerial co-laborship.[ii] These women are presented in the same identical terms as his male collaborators, Timothy, Apollos, Epaphras, and Titus, etc.
These women were called “disciples” (Acts 10:36); Tabatha was so helpful in Joppa that Peter rushed to her side and raised her from the dead—this was the first miracle of this type performed by an apostle.
lydia:
Paul's famous night vision depicted a man of Macedonia pleading with Paul to come help. Acts 16:10 says, “Immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.” Luke joined Paul and they set a straight course for Macedonia and soon sat down at the riverside to talk with the women who met them there (vs. 13). Her household became followers of “the new way.” A vision concerning Lydia opened up a whole new nation to the Gospel.
å God gave Paul a special vision (of a man from Macedonia) to get Gentile women saved!
As a wealthy and influential businesswoman and seller of purple, Lydia lived in Philippi. It’s not mentioned if she even had a husband, but she was probably a widow woman of position, having a commercial work and overseeing a large household with servants. Philippians 4:3 mentions that Paul wanted his companion (Luke?) to help the women who labored with him in the gospel – and this could refer to Lydia.
phoebe:
Romans 16 mentions Phoebe as, “A deacon of the church at Cenchreae.” Her name means bright or radiant. Paul expressly includes himself among those to whom she ministered, calling her an overseer (prostatis). She was more than just a regular church member. No other person is called a prostatis in the NT, but later Apostolic fathers used this word in the masculine form (Prostates) to designate the bishop presiding over the Eucharist.
Paul commended Phoebe to the church at Rome, asking them to receive her (most likely she carried with her the book of Romans). The identity of the author of Hebrews has long been debated, and some scholars believe it could be possible that Phoebe wrote Hebrews (most scholars are fairly certain that Paul didn’t write it). Some reason that because the author's name isn’t evident, there exists a strong probability that early theologians removed the name.
An examination of the literal Strongs translation of Romans 16:1 follows:
I commend Strong's Information: 4921 ROMANIZED-sunistao … to introduce (favorably), or (figuratively) to exhibit; intransitively, to … approve, commend...
to you 467 ROMANIZED-antapodidomi… to requite (good or evil): --recompense, render, repay.
(Phoebe | 3588 | the | 79 | sister | 2257 | of us, | 5607 | being)
a servant 1249 ROMANIZED-diakonos …an attendant, i.e. (genitive case) a waiter; specially, a Christian teacher and pastor (technically, a deacon or deaconess): --deacon, minister, and servant.
(of the) congregation 1577 ROMANIZED-ekklesia, a calling out, i.e. (concretely) a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation.[iii] (1722 | in | 2747 | Cenchrea,)
Yet, the Living Letters edition poorly translates this verse, “A dear Christian woman from the town of Cenchrea.” What a departure from the literal meaning! Whereas, this same word (diakonos) is translated concerning Timothy, “A worthy pastor!” How can she be dismissed in many translations as a “good friend, or a help?” One could legitimately translate Paul's statement about Phoebe, “For she has been appointed, actually by my own action, an officer presiding over many.”[iv] Paul sent the Roman church instructions to welcome and assist her, thereby concurring with her position in the church's business.[v]
· Chrysostom mentions Phoebe along with Prisca, “These were noble women, hindered in no way by their sex...and this is as might be expected for in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female.”
· Origen of Alexandria commented on Phoebe:
“This text teaches with the authority of the Apostle that even women are instituted deacons in the Church. This is the function that was exercised in the church of Cenchreae by Phoebe, who was the object of high praise and recommendation by Paul...And thus this text teaches at the same time two things: that there are, as we have already said, women deacons in the church, and that women, who by their good works deserve to be praised by the apostle, ought to be accepted in the diaconate.”[vi]
DEACONS Lightfoot notes how Irenaeus labeled the seven in Acts 6 as “deacons.” Eusibius even records how the Roman Church limited its diaconate to seven, preserving the memory of Stephen. By the third century Rome had forty-six elders but only seven deacons, and this tradition persisted through the fifth century. In the early fourth century the Greek Council of Neocaesarea ruled that any given city could boast only seven deacons (again viewing Acts 6 as the model).[vii]
This affirmation of feminine deacons isn’t only in Rom. 16:1, where Phoebe of Cenchreae is commended by Paul,[viii] but also in I Tim. 3:11, “Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.”[ix] Here the best exegesis of this reference would be “Likewise, women deacons (gynaikas hosautos) must be reverent.”
Women deacons were to be honored as figures of the Holy Spirit according to the Didascalia,[x] which recorded that the deaconesses assisted in the baptisms, anointed people with oil and gave instructions in purity and holiness. They could give communion to sick and to those unable to come to the general meetings. They could be sent with messages outside the city limits. Ancient documents from the Council of Chalcedon recorded requirements for the ordination of deaconesses.[xi] The ordination service of deaconesses is recorded in the Apostolic Constitutions (VIII. 19-20).[xii]
· Historical records from 112 AD, show that Roman governor Pliny the Younger detailed his effort to interrogate the Bithynian leaders who were two slave women called “ministrae.” Pliny states that these two ministrae, or deaconesses, were the leaders of that Christian community (Epistles 10.96,8).[xiii]
priscilla and aquilla:
Apparently, Priscilla and Aquilla were in ministry before Paul met them on his second journey to Rome (49/50 AD). Needing funds, Paul joined this couple in making tents and they became partners with him in ministering the gospel.
Often we find Paul recognizing women as friends and co-workers in the Gospel. Noticeably, Paul refers to neither Prisca nor Junia as “wives.” Paul greets this couple of Priscilla and Aquilla because of “their work for the gospel.” Romans 16:3, “Greet Priscilla and Aquilla, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me (NIV).” Paul doesn’t differentiate between Priscilla and her husband Aquilla; rather, he calls them both by the name sunergous (Strongs #4904 meaning fellow worker with him).[xiv] Later in 16:21, Paul calls Timothy by the same name. In Phil.2:4 Paul calls all apostles who were his co-workers, among whom was Luke, by this same word.[xv]
Paul later referred to this couple as his, “helpers in Christ Jesus… who have for my life laid down their own necks” (Rom. 16:4). Paul probably wrote some of his Epistles from their home at Ephesus. Priscilla and Aquilla instructed Appolos, who was already “mighty in the scriptures” (Acts 18:24), into a more excellent way.
Paul mentions the name of Priscilla (Prisca) before her husband, which was against the common practice of the time. (The King James Version actually reverses the Greek order by placing Aquilla before Priscilla, but in the Greek text Priscilla is the first noted, as also in Acts 18:26.)
junia:
Paul said that Andronicus and Junia were notable among the apostles (Acts 2:47) and that they came before him…(Rom.16:7) to lay the foundation of the churches at Rome. The earliest tradition taught that Junia was a female apostle. Chrysostom wrote about Junia saying, “Indeed, to be an apostle at all is a great thing; but to be even amongst those of note; just consider what a great encomium that is...Oh, how great is the devotion of this woman, that she should even be counted worthy for the appellation (classification or delegation) of apostles.”[xvi]
Despite his bias against women, even Jerome concurred that Junia was a female apostle (Liber Interpretationis Hebraicorum Nominum 72,15). The identity of Junia as a woman apostle was not questioned until the Middle Ages when translators tried to change the gender of the name to the masculine “Junias.” The name Junia was a very common woman’s name, but the name Junias was unknown in antiquity (and girls weren’t named boy names and vise-versa, like today). Debate about Junia being rendered Junias continued particularly during the end of the thirteenth century where there arose desperate efforts to avoid saying that a woman could be listed “among the apostles.”
euodia and syntyche:
These women mentioned in Phil.4:2-3 apparently were women of influence in the Philippian church as well as co-workers with Paul, who now seemed to be in strife. He urgently pleads for them to reconcile as reasonable and responsible women. “Help them” he tells his loyal yoke-fellows, because they “have shared my struggle (the word here is synathleo which implies a struggling together, translated as “labored” KJV, or “contended at my side” NIV) in the cause of the gospel...and their names are written in the book of life.” Paul says these women labored with him in the gospel, not under him. Word Biblical commentary says that this metaphor means, “to fight together side by side with.”
the elect lady:
John wrote his second letter to the elder, the elect or chosen lady, and to her children, whom he loves in truth. Kuria, the word translated “lady,” is the feminine form of “Lord or Master.” Clement of Alexandria agreed[xvii] that John called her the woman “chosen to be in charge.” This term “elect lady” can also be a metaphor for the church (Luke 18:7, Rom. 8:33, etc.), but is best understood as the person in authority over a large congregation. This particular woman had children in the congregation.
thecla:
Thecla was said to have left home on the eve of her wedding to follow Paul. Ancient articles described their life like a Christianized adventure story, as she and Paul endured mutual persecution and peril. “The Acts of Paul” contains her first century accounts, which probably were greatly embellished.
Though not in Scripture, strong historical narrative evidence considers Thecla to have been an apostle and associate of Paul. Indeed, her renowned life and ministry in Asia Minor left many stories.[xviii] While some reported escapades may be exaggerated, great amounts of actual evidence of her labor remain. Thecla settled in a cave near Selleucia, where she taught and healed people.
I have visited her still existing cave became a gigantic complex that included churches, a monastery, convent, and hospital.
Thecla, like many other women of her time, rejected womanhood by assuming the male style of dress and a celibate lifestyle. By forfeiting motherhood and confining her expressions to dictated guidelines, she gained the freedom of men’s roles.[xix]
Although not agreeing with all the accounts, Tertullian remarked, “The part of the narrative dealing with Thecla was largely circulated and survives in numerous copies. She was reported to be a convert of Paul's, belonging to the district of Iconium and Pisidian Antioch.” She became the type of the female apostle, teacher, preacher and baptizer.[xx]
Gregory described Thecla's center, and carefully detailed his visit to her facility in Egeria in 399 AD. In 1973 Joan Morris, a British scholar, studied historical records and published the work titled “Against Nature and God.” Morris explains how both in the Eastern and the Western Church, women often ruled over communities comprised of both sexes. Morris informs us of a fourth century deaconess named Marthana who served in Selleucia near the shrine of Saint Thecla. From a document titled, “Egeria's Travels” Egeria describes what he found:
Round the holy church there is a tremendous number of cells for men and women. And that was where I found one of my dearest friends, a holy deaconess called Marthana. I had come to know her in Jerusalem when she was up there on pilgrimage. She was the superior of some cells of apotactites or virgins...I stayed there, visiting all the holy monks and apotactites, the men as well as the women.[xxi]
In 1902, Germans excavated the center, which apparently had been in active use for over 1,000 years under strong female leadership.[xxii] A few remains of this incredible structure stand today as a monument to her achievement.[xxiii] One must ask, how many other structures still stand from that era?
God's friend and yours -- Dr. Kluane Spake A servant of the Lord, called to be an apostle.An excerpt from “From Enmity to Equality.” With footnotes by Dr Kluane Spake.Available here - http://www.kluane.org/books.html
Footnotes
[i] Ruether, Rosemary Radford, "Feminist Theology," (Harper and Row), pg.143.
[ii] Elwell, Ellis Enterprises Compactdisc. Women in the Church..
[iii] Ellis Enterprises Literal Translation, Comp.disc. Rom. 16.
[iv] Kroeger, Catherine, lecture (Brewster, Massachusetts 02631).
[v] Roman women functioned as magistrates, presidents of games, rulers of synagogues, etc.
[vi] Bristow, ibid. pg. 57.
[vii] Elwell, Ellis Enterprises, Compactdisc, deacon.
[viii] Paul calls her a "deacon or minister " not a "deaconess."
[ix] 1 Tim.3:11 NKJ.
[x] Tucker, Ruth, "Early-Church Women and Heresy," Christian History, Issue 17.
[xi] Kroeger, Catherine, lecture deacon.
[xii] Elwell, Ellis Enterprises Comp. disc. ordination.
[xiii] Kroeger, Catherine lecture (Brewster, Massachusetts 02631).
[xiv] In the Priscilla Church in Rome, Pricilla is depicted as a virgin and Aquilla’s name is deleted. Author visited site.
[xv] Zodhiates, Spiros Th.D. "The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible," AMG Publishers, 1984 notes 1 Tim.
[xvi] Kroeger, Catherine Rome lecture for information on Junia.
[xvii] Spencer, page 111.
[xviii] Elwell, Ellis Enterprises, Compactdisc, ordination.
[xix] Rhoodie, Eschel, "Discrimination Against Women," (McFarlan and Company Inc. 1989) pg. 410.
[xx] Ramsay, "Church in the Roman Empire," pg. 375.
[xxi] Howe, E. Margaret, "Women and Church Leadership," (Zondervan Publishing, Grand Rapids Michigan) pg. 39.
[xxii] Kroeger, Catherine, ibid. pg 9.