ἘΠΙΣΗΜΟΙ ἘΝ ΤΟΙΣ ἈΠΟΣΤΟΛΟΙΣ In Rom 16:7 As “Well Known To The Apostles”: Further Defense And New Evidence -- By: Michael Burer

Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 58:4 (Dec 2015)
Article: ἘΠΙΣΗΜΟΙ ἘΝ ΤΟΙΣ ἈΠΟΣΤΟΛΟΙΣ In Rom 16:7 As “Well Known To The Apostles”: Further Defense And New Evidence
Author: Michael Burer


ἘΠΙΣΗΜΟΙ ἘΝ ΤΟΙΣ ἈΠΟΣΤΟΛΟΙΣ In Rom 16:7
As “Well Known To The Apostles”:
Further Defense And New Evidence

Michael Burer*

* Michael Burer is associate professor of NT at Dallas Theological Seminary, 3909 Swiss Ave., Dallas, TX 75204.

I. Introduction

In 2001 Daniel B. Wallace and I published an article on the person of Junia in Rom 16:7.1 There we argued that the more likely meaning of the adjective ἐπίσημος with the prepositional phrase ἐν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις is “well known to the apostles” instead of the more commonly accepted “notable among the apostles.” In other words, we argued that Paul identifies Junia as an exceptional person in the opinion of the apostles, not that he recognizes her as an outstanding apostle.2 Three substantive rejoinders to our work were soon published by Richard Bauckham, Eldon Jay Epp, and Linda L. Belleville.3 In the present article I respond to the objections raised in these rejoinders and offer new evidence to prove that our original hypothesis still stands as a reasonable interpretation of Paul’s statement. In short, this article demonstrates three things. (1) The argument and evidence from our original article withstands critique. (2) Seventy-one new texts demonstrate that Paul could have readily used ἐπίσημος plus the genitive to show that Andronicus and Junia were “notable among the apostles.” (3) Thirty-six new texts, all but one of which parallel Rom 16:7 exactly in grammatical structure, provide further evidence that Paul intended ἐπίσημοι ἐν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις to mean that Andronicus and Junia were “well known to the apostles.”

II. Restatement Of Central Thesis

Our central argument viewed the adjective and the prepositional phrase as a semantic unit. “The thesis of this article is that the expression ἐπίσημοι ἐν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις is more naturally taken with an exclusive force rather than an inclusive one.”4 By exclusive we meant that the person described by the adjective was not considered part of the group referred to by the prepositional phrase; this is the interpretation we advanced for

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