Junia: An Apostle before Paul

Following a survey of scholarship on Junia (Rom 16:7) since the publication of Junia: The First Woman Apostle by Eldon Jay Epp in 2005, the article provides new evidence that Junia was indeed an apostle by considering Paul’s attitudes toward apostleship—both others’ and his own. This contextual evidence has been mostly ignored in Junia studies, which have either focused narrowly on philological details or more broadly on leadership in early Christianity. Instead, I consider Paul’s reactions to apostolic evaluation and his emphasis on Junia’s being “in Christ before me” as firm evidence for Junia’s prominent apostleship.