Junia

From BibleWiki

We meet Junia in Rom 16:7: "Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me."

To be an apostle is something great. But to be outstanding among the apostles—just think what a wonderful song of praise that is! They were outstanding on the basis of their works and virtuous actions. Indeed, how great the wisdom of this woman must have been that she was even deemed worthy of the title of apostle. - John Chrysostom

We can assume that the apostles Junia and Andronicus had great authority in the early Christian community. They were probably missionaries and church founders. Their apostleship had begun with a vision of the resurrected Christ and the charge to become apostles of Christ. Their conversion goes back to the time of Stephen so they had links to the earliest church in Jerusalem. True apostles were the ones - some 500 and the original 12 - who saw Jesus in his 'forty days' of ascension.

It is probably safe to assume that Junia had some association with Christ prior to his resurrection. She is believed to have been a Palestinian Christian. Junia and Andronicus may have been among the seventy-two Galilean missonaries mentioned in Lk 10:1ff. One could also speculate that Junia and her husband were among those persecuted in Jerusalem by Paul before his conversion to Christianity. It is, therefore, also possible that their involvement in his life was an aspect of his conversion. Paul states that they had been imprisoned together although there are no specific details. Paul was imprisoned many times for his preaching. They were certainly in Rome when Paul wrote the Letter to the Romans which was delivered by Phoebe.

Most modern debate on Junia centres around whether questions of gender, and whether Junia and Andronicus were truly apostles or just well liked by them. Until the 13th Century religious scholars generally referred to Junia as a woman and viewed her as a well respected apostle.