Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 15:2 (Spring 2001)
Article: A Case Study In Translators’ Bias: Could A Woman Have Been An Apostle—Even “Prominent Among The Apostles”?
Author: Clayton Croy

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A Case Study In Translators’ Bias:
Could A Woman Have Been An Apostle—Even “Prominent Among The Apostles”?

Clayton Croy

N. Clayton Croy is an assistant professor of New Testament at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, and a United Methodist layperson. He has been a member of CBE for several years.

In chapter 16 of his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul offers greetings to friends and ministry associates. Several women are mentioned among Paul’s coworkers: Phoebe (v. 1), Prisca (v. 3), Mary (v. 6), Tryphaena and Tryphosa (v. 12), the mother of Rufus (v. 13), Julia (v. 15), and the sister of Nereus (v. 15). An interesting textual variation occurs in verse 7 that has bearing on the range of offices held by Paul’s female coworkers. The NRSV translates verse 7, “Greet Andronicus and Junia . . . they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.” The name Junia here denotes a woman. But a superscript letter in the NRSV refers the reader to a note that says, “Or Junias; other ancient authorities read Julia.” The NIV, in contrast, translates, “Greet Andronicus and Junias.” This translation construes both names as those of men, and no explanatory note is appended. What is the cause of the discrepancy here? How can the original Greek be so ambiguous that translators are unsure of what the name is and whether it denotes a man or a woman?

The editors of the NRSV have done well to alert readers by means of their note to both a textual question and an interpretive one. The textual question concerns what Paul originally wrote. Among the many Greek manuscripts that underlie our English translations of Romans 16:7, only two have the name Julia. A few other manuscripts in languages other than Greek also have this name. Textual scholars rightly regard this as meager support for the reading of Julia. The confusion of the Greek letter for “n” with the Greek letter for “l” was an easy error for ancient scribes, and especially so given the fact that the earliest manuscripts were written in capital letters, with no spaces between the words.

The textual question can be answered with little doubt: Paul originally wrote the letters IOUNIAN. (Transliterated into English, this would be “Junian.” The name has a final “n” because it is in the accusat...

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