Junia an Apostle or Junia considered prominent by the Apostles?

Eric S. Weiss eweiss at gte.net
Tue Apr 4 21:38:19 EDT 2000


I guess everyone can read Chrysostom's statements for themselves, but it 
seems to me that he is saying that Paul fared WORSE than a prisoner, and 
though he says Paul wasn't a prisoner, yet he says that Paul was fettered - 
and that is a form of captivity/imprisonment, is it not? He, though, seems 
to mean that Paul was captive to all the perils and dangers of which his 
mission made him subject, and that by calling these his "fellow-prisoners" 
he was, in Chrysostom's mind, saying that they shared in trials similar to 
his. Or at least that's how I read it. So if Paul was using 
"fellow-prisoner" metaphorically, he was, in Chrysostom's mind, implying 
that these were worthy of being called his "fellows" in these things.

So I don't think that Chrysostom is exactly wrong in this regard in his use 
of "fellow-prisoner" - and hence his designation of Junias as being a 
notable apostle is still, I think, a valid consideration when determining 
if that is what the Greek means.

On 04/04/00, ""Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard at ont.com>" wrote:
> Dear Eric,
>      You write:
> 
> I think Chrysostom is being flowery/poetic. As I reread it, Chrysostom
> seems to be saying that if they were just prisoners, Paul maybe would have
> referred to them just as "prisoners"; but since Paul uses the word
> for"fellow-prisoners," he might mean that they also "fellowed" with him in
> like dangers, too. But that's just my guess.
> 
> Eric, you are being kind to John Chrysostom, but we have to go by what he
> wrote (that you gave me):
> 
> And where was Paul a prisoner, that he should call them "my
> fellow-prisoners?" A prisoner indeed he had not been, but he had suffered
> things worse than prisoners, in being not an alien only to his country and
> his family, but in wrestling with famine and continual death, and thousands
> of other things.
> 
> Chrysostom says that Paul had not been a prisoner in such a way that
> Andronicus and Junia could be his fellow-prisoners (Rom 16:7). In fact, he
> says that Paul had not been a prisoner.
> 
> 					Yours,
> 					Harold Holmyard



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