WOMEN APOSTLES.

“How ready is the man to go

Whom God hath never sent!

How timorous, diffident and slow

His chosen instrument.”

                                         – Charles Wesley.

“Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect

by your tradition.”

                                                                          – Jesus.

     IT is assumed that there were but twelve apostles, and that the apostolical office expired with them. Nothing can be plainer than that the New Testament teaches the contrary. “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” – 1 Cor.12:28.

     This language implies, not a temporary provision, but a permanent arrangement.

While the twelve are spoken of in the Gospel, byway of preeminence, as the apostles, yet other apostles are mentioned in the New Testament.

     Thus Matthias, who was chosen to succeed Judas, is called an apostle (Acts 1:26); so are Paul and Barnabas (Acts 14:14); and so is Epaphroditus (Phil.2:25), messenger in our version, but apostle in the original; the brethren to whom Paul refers in 2 Cor. 8:23; and Andronicus and Junia, Rom. 16:7. All these in the original are called apostles.

     So strong are the prejudices of even our most candid commentators that they resort to every expedient known to criticism in order so to explain this striking text (Rom. 16:7) that it will not prove that a woman was an apostle. It seems impossible to them that a woman was an apostle in the apostolic church: and they therefore feel obliged to explain away the plain declaration of Paul that Junia was an apostle.

     1. They raise the question whether Junia was a woman.

     Adam Clarke says: “Junia may probably be the name of a woman.”

Dean Alford, who is usually so fair, says: “Ιουνιά\,may be fem. from Ιουνια (junia), in which case she is probably the wife of Andronicus, – or masc, from Ιουνιάς (Junianus contr. Junias).”

     It is very significant that neither Dean Alford nor Dr. Clarke gives any reason for the doubt they suggest whether Junia was a woman. They generally abound in reasons for their opinions.

     But that Junia was a woman there is not the slightest reason to doubt.

     (1.) We have four different editions of the Greek Testament, including the text from which the Revised version was made, and they all have Ιουνίαν ,Junia.

     (2.) If in any of the manuscripts this word was written with the circumflex accent, showing that it might be a contraction, some of the sharp-eyed critics would have noticed it.

     (3.) Chrysostom asserts positively that Junia was a woman.

     2. Dr. Clarke expresses a doubt whether Junia was an apostle. He says: “of note among the apostles.” Whether this intimates that they were noted apostles or only highly respected by the apostles, is not absolutely clear; but the latter appears to me the most probable.

     “They were not only well known to St. Paul, but also to the rest of the apostles.”

     Considering the prejudices of the age in which he lived, this doubt is a great concession.

     But that Junia was an apostle will be evident to all

     1. Dean Alford says: “Two renderings are given:(1.) ‘of note among the apostles!’ so that they themselves are counted among the apostles; thus the Greek ff. In support of this view he refers to Chrysostom, Calvin, Est, Wolf, Tholuck, Kolln, Olshausen and others.

     “Or (2.) ‘noted among the apostles,’ i.e. well known and spoken of by the apostles. Thus Beza Grotius, Koppe, Reiche, Meyer, Fritz DeW. But, as Thol. remarks, had this latter been the meaning, we should have expected some expression like διάπασων Τών εκκλησιων. 2 Cor. 8:18, throughout all the churches.

     “I may besides remark, that for Paul to speak of any persons as celebrated among the apostles, in sense(2), would imply that he had more frequent intercourse with the other apostles than we know that he had; and would besides be improbable on any supposition. The whole question seems to have sprung up in modern times from the idea that οϊαποστολοι must mean the Twelve only. If the wider sense found in Acts 14:4, 14. 2 Cor. 8:23. 1 Thess 2:6 (compare i:1)be taken, there need be no doubt concerning the meaning.”

     Dean Alford, then, has no doubt that Junia was an apostle.

     Luther, in his German Bible, translates this clause as follows: “welche sind beruhmte Apostele.” who are renowned apostles.

     Chrysostom also makes the meaning clear beyond the shadow of a doubt. He was a man of great learning; the Greek was his native language; he was born A. D. 347, at Antioch. In his comments on this verse he says:

     “Who are of note among the apostles. And indeed to be apostles at all is a great thing. But to be even amongst these of note, just consider what a great encomium this is! But they were of note owing to their works, to their achievements. Oh! how great is the devotion of this woman, that she should be counted worthy of the appellation of apostle! But even here does not stop, but adds another encomium besides, and says, who were also in Christ before me.”

     Thus, Chrysostom plainly declares, 1. That Junia was a woman. 2. That she was an apostle.

     Olshausen, in his comment on Rom. 16:7, says: “Junia appears to have been the wife of Andronicus.

     “The title of apostle is of course to be taken herein the wider sense of the word.” By “wider” he means not confined to the Twelve.

     It is without dispute that the apostles are the highest order of the ministry. God has placed them in the highest rank.

     Nowhere is it said in the New Testament that this order of the ministry became extinct with the first generation of Christians. God has set them in His church. No matter what arrangements men make, God raises up apostles from time to time. LUTHER was an apostle, sent by God to lead on the great Reformation.

     JOHN WESLEY was an apostle.

     ELIZABETH FRY was an apostle, sent by God to offer salvation to the hardest criminals; and to set in motion reformatory influences that will never cease to operate.

     WILLIAM TAYLOR is as truly an apostle as St. Paul was.

     Since, then, we find that, at the very beginning of the Christian church, a woman was an apostle, we should not, on account of her sex, exclude woman from any position in the church to which God may call her, and for which she possesses, in the judgment of those whose duty it is to decide in such matters, a sample qualifications as are required of men who aspire to the same position.

     It is high time that the tyranny of sex was overthrown. And the Church of Jesus Christ should lead the way in treating all human beings with absolute impartiality.

     Paul says he was ordained both a preacher and an apostle. – 1 Tim. 2:7; and so we may conclude that Junia was ordained.

     God only can make apostles. But if he sends a woman out to do the work of an apostle, and she does it faithfully, why should we hesitate to give the Scriptural name to the office, to fill which she is called and qualified of God?

“What could I other than I did?

Could I a singing bird forbid?

Deny the wind stirred leaf? Rebuke

The music of the forest brook?”

                                     – Whittier.

     God gives lights that they may shine; and the church should cease its efforts to put out these lights, or to so wall them in as to limit to a small number those whom they may enlighten.