ANDRONICUS AND JUNIA(S) (Fr. Varghese Paul, S.J.)

In the final chapter 16 of his letter to the Christian Church in Rome Paul has greeted good many people including 24 individuals who are mentioned by their names. Junia (s) and Andronicus are among those persons mentioned by name.

Paul writes, Greetings also to Andronicus and Junias fellow-Jews who were in prison with me; they are well known among the apostles, and they became Christians before I did (Rom 16, 7).

As William Barclay says in his commentary on The Letter to the Romans No doubt behind every one of these names there is a story which is a romance in Christ. None of there stories do we know, but at some of them we can guess.

Compared with others mentioned by name, Paul gives us some details about Andronicus and Junias. Bible scholars are not sure but some think that Junias or Junia or June is a female name.

Anyway Junia(s) is linked with Andronicus. Paul refers to them together as fellow-Jews who were in prison with me. Paul was in prison in different places. But he does not specify when or where they were his fellow prisoners.

Paul Pays to them great tribute saying further that, they are well known among the apostles and they became Christians before I did.

Ronald Brownrigg in Whos Who the New Testament speculates that they must have got converted within five years of the crucifixion of Jesus and connects them with the Church at Jerusalem rather than at Antioch.

It could also mean as Ronald Brownrigg further says, they may well have been associated with the Stephen group of Hellenized Jews who dispersed to found branches of the Church in Antioch, Cypress and elsewhere in the eastern Mediterranean (p.142).

Anyway, from Pauls description of Andronicus and Junias, it is clear that they were well known persons among the apostles at Jerusalem. We can also guess that they have been closely associated with Paul that he greets them in his letter and pay them tribute saying that they were converts much before Paul himself got converted.

Certainly Andronicus and Junias were great missionaries to be acknowledged by Paul a great apostle. (contact the author: यह ईमेल पता spambots से संरक्षित किया जा रहा है. आप जावास्क्रिप्ट यह देखने के सक्षम होना चाहिए. )