The New Testament affirms women as coworkers with Paul.

A member in our older adult Sunday school class expressed surprise that women traveled with Jesus and the “twelve,” although this is recorded prominently several times in the Gospels (Luke 8:1-3; Matthew 27:55-56; Mark 15:40-41; Luke 23:49, 55).

“I must have missed that,” she said. Her comment is not surprising, however, since the role of women in the New Testament as active participants in ministry often has been ignored, especially in the teaching received by people in our age group in our early years. Too often this is still the case.

Preaching: Rachel Gerber, First Mennonite, Denver Photo: Laura Amstutz, EMS

Much of the teaching in our churches has been based on Paul’s responses to the issue in his letters to the early churches. I find it helpful to look also at the roles of the women he regarded as “coworkers” in these churches.

Several are mentioned in his greetings to the church at Rome (Romans 16:1-16). First he introduces Phoebe: “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae, so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well” (Romans 16:1-2).

Possibly Phoebe delivered the letter from Paul to the church at Rome. Her home city of Cenchreae was a Greek seaport on the Gulf of Aegina, seven miles east of Corinth. The trip by sea from Cenchreae to Rome took one to two weeks. The time of departure was never certain, as the ship would not sail until the weather was favorable, with winds from the right direction. Even then, the sailing date could be delayed by a bad omen. This could be anything from a raven landing on the ship’s mast and croaking to the captain to having a dream about a black goat. When, at last, word came that the ship was ready to sail, Phoebe would have gone down the mole to board. On the way she could have seen a temple, aware that a sheep or a bull was being sacrificed to the gods in an effort to ensure a safe journey, another indication of how dangerous these voyages could be.

Since ships were built for hauling cargo and not equipped specifically for passengers, Phoebe would have had to take along food as well as necessities for cooking and sleeping. One wonders who might have traveled with her, since Paul mentions no husband or other companion. He spoke of her as a leader of the church at Cenchreae and gave no indication of any other person in charge there. In his introduction of her, he used two titles—”diakonos” and “prostatis”—to describe her role in the Cenchreae church.

The Greek word “diakonos” basically means “servant” and in Paul’s usage refers to one who serves the church in a leadership capacity. When used to describe the roles of Paul, Tychicus, Epaphras and Timothy, “diakonos” has been translated as “minister” and “deacon” as well as “servant,” while in Phoebe’s case the same word has been translated as “servant” or sometimes “deaconess” in earlier versions of the Bible; current versions, the NRSV and TNIV, use “deacon.” “Deaconess” is a mistranslation, since the gender of the Greek word is masculine, not feminine.

Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza in her book In Memory of Her, writes that the designation “diakonoi” refers in both the New Testament and in secular writing of the time to teaching and preaching.

Fiorenza also points out that the second word Paul uses to describe Phoebe, “prostatis,” translated in the NRSV as “benefactor,” in its noun form is not found anywhere else in the New Testament; in other Greek writings it means ruler, leader or protector. She adds that a verb form of the word is used in 1 Thessalonians 5:12 in an appeal to the believers to “respect those who labor among you and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you.” We don’t know precisely what Phoebe did to benefit Paul and others. We do know Paul respected Phoebe as a coworker in the spiritual nurture of the church.

Paul continued with greetings to Prisca (also known as Priscilla) and Aquila, “who work with me in Christ Jesus” (Romans 16:3). Exiled from Rome by an edict expelling Jews ordered by Emperor Claudius around A.D. 49, this married couple traveled to Corinth. This meant being driven from their home, their business, their community and their country. Nevertheless, Luke’s account emphasizes not the difficulties they faced in this commercially bustling and morally corrupt city but setting up their home and business in the interest of spreading the good news of Jesus Christ.

Here they were joined by Paul, a coworker in their tent-making occupation and, even more exciting, a coworker in the gospel. They generously opened their home to him (Acts 18:1-3). For a year and a half they labored together, establishing a core of believers there.

Paul then decided to leave for Syria. Priscilla and Aquila went along as far as Ephesus. On the way they stopped at Cenchreae (Acts 18:18). No doubt Priscilla met a friend and coworker and leader in the church there named Phoebe. Again, at Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila’s home became the center for meetings of the new Christian community.

When later Paul left to continue his journey toward Jerusalem, Priscilla and Aquila remained in Ephesus. Here one day in the synagogue, they were delighted to hear a fellow Jew preaching boldly and enthusiastically about Jesus. Though he spoke with great eloquence and knew the Scriptures well, his understanding was limited, as “he knew only the baptism of John.” The couple introduced themselves and learned that his name was Apolos and that he was from Alexandria. Priscilla and Aquila then privately “explained the way of God to him more accurately” (Acts 18:24-26). Here we notice that both were involved in teaching a man who became a leader in the Christian movement and that Priscilla, who is named first, must have taken the lead role. In Acts 18:18, Luke also gave Priscilla’s name first. When Paul wrote to the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 16:19), he included greetings from “Aquila and Prisca,” but when he wrote to the church at Rome, he reversed the order, saying, “Greet Prisca and Aquila” (Romans 16:3). This suggests that Priscilla was “out front” in their shared ministry.
Even today giving a wife’s name before her husband’s is not “normal” usage.

Apparently, after Claudius died in A.D. 54, the edict against Jewish people residing in Rome was lifted, and the couple returned to their home. Paul added that they had been his coworkers in Christ Jesus.

Not only had they given leadership to the house churches established wherever they went but they also had risked their necks for his life, Paul said, “to whom not only I give thanks but also all the churches of the Gentiles.”

Again he greeted “the church in their house.” The importance of house churches during the first 300 years of the church’s existence can hardly be overestimated. Here teaching, worship, evangelism, fellowship and meals took place, providing both facilities and leadership for the growing Christian community.

In addition to Priscilla, Paul mentions several other women in relation to house churches, including Nympha (Colossians 4:15), Apphia (Philemon v. 1-2) and Lydia, a businesswoman (Acts 16:13-15). Through house churches women played a crucial role in bringing converts into the fellowship and sustaining them as a body of believers.

In his letter to the church at Rome, Paul continues his greetings to those who labored as coworkers in the gospel. In his book Slavery, Sabbath, War and Women, Willard Swartley writes that of the 27 individuals Paul greeted by name, 10 were women, including Junia, to whom Paul sent greetings along with Andronicus. Of their witness, Paul writes, “Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives who were in prison with me; they were prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was” (Romans 16:7).

Some translations use “Junias,” a shortened form of the masculine name “Junianus” instead of the feminine “Junia.” According to Bernadette Brooten, who has researched the problem extensively, during the first 1,000 years of the Christian church, Bible commentators accepted the name as the feminine Junia. The King James Version also gives the name as Junia. The 1978 New International Version translated the name Junias, but the 2005 edition of Today’s New International Version changed it to Junia. Similarly, the 1971 Revised Standard Version says, Andronicus and Junias were “men of note among the apostles.” However, the 1989 New Revised Standard Version speaks of Andronicus and Junia as being “prominent among the apostles.” We see in these examples that the translators have come full circle from the early church and the King James Version to again taking the name as the feminine Junia in today’s versions. Likely, this was another Christian couple, like Priscilla and Aquila.

Paul’s criteria for apostleship (in the general sense) were to endure the hardships of traveling about for the cause of Christ to “make disciples of all nations” and to risk imprisonment and even death in this mission. Andronicus and Junia met the test.

Other women who labored with Paul to spread the gospel are also mentioned in the course of his letters. Paul’s passion was that the gospel be preached. We have noted his high regard for those who gave themselves to this task with him.

With this view of their working together under the direction of the Holy Spirit, facing difficulties and dangers, willingly suffering and enduring hardships to make known the gospel of Jesus Christ, we may have a better grasp of Paul’s attitude toward the role of women in the church, even while we continue trying to understand the purpose of restrictive passages in this regard in his letters. We continue to ask whether these particular passages spoke to certain situations or were meant for all times and places, whether they were concessions to the culture of that day or are above any culture and whether their interpretation is subject to the intent of the total gospel message.

Eleanor Niemela Beachy is a member of Hesston (Kan.) Mennonite Church.