Different women in the New Testament Church
The New Testament writers mention many women in the first church. Many we know little about, but others are clearly in roles of leadership and influence. Luke mentions women in his writings, others are mentioned in Paul’s letters. Here is a list:
Luk 1:5-7 Elizabeth, wife of Zechariah, a priest, mother of John the Baptist
Luk 1:27 Mary, mother of Jesus, wife of Joseph
Luk 2:36-38 prophet Anna, daughter of Phanuel, speaking about baby Jesus
Luk 8:1-3 Women disciples: Mary Magdalene, Joanna wife of Chuza, Susanna, many others
Jhn 19:25 Women at the cross: Jesus’ mother Mary, Mary’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalene
Mth 28:1, Mrk 16:1, Luk 24:10 Women at the tomb: Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, Mary the mother of James, Salome, Joanna
Acts 1:14 Women in the church of Jerusalem: Mary mother of Jesus, other women
Acts 2:17-18 daughters, female slaves will prophesy by the spirit
Acts 5:1 Sapphira
Acts 6:1 Hebrew and Hellenist widows
Acts 9:36 Tabitha=Dorcas
Acts 12:12-13 Mary mother of John Mark, maid Rhoda
Acts 16:14 Lydia of Thyatira, purple cloth trader, converts in Philippi
Acts 17:12 Greek women of high standing believed
Acts 17:34 Damaris in Athens
Acts 18:1-2 Priscilla
Acts 21:9 Phillip’s 4 unmarried prophet daughters
Rom 16:1-2 Phoebe, deaconess of Cenchrea
Rom 16:6 Mary, who has worked very hard among you.
Rom 16:7-8 Junia(s), fellow Jew, fellow apostle (of note), fellow prisoner
Rom 16:12 those workers in the LORD Tryphaena and Tryphosa.
Rom 16:13 Persis, who has worked hard in the LORD
Rom 16:13 Rufus’ mother, a mother to Paul also
Rom 16: 15 Julia, Nereus’ sister
1 Cor 1:11 Chloe, house church leader and informer of Paul
Php 4:2 Euodia, Synthyche, struggled beside Paul in the work for the gospel
Col 4:15 Nympha, house church leader
1 Tim 2:12 a specific woman who is teaching wrongly, needs to stop, be taught
2 Tim 1:5 Timothy’s grandmother Loid, mother Eunice
2 Tim 4:21 Claudia in Rome
Phm 1 sister Apphia
Tabitha-Dorcas – a servant too kind to let die
- When the church spreads to Judeah, Samaria and beyond due to persecution in Jerusalem, churches spring up in various places, like Lydda and Joppa, a port city of Judeah.
- When Peter visits nearby Lydda and heals a man bedridden for eight years, believers from Joppa call on him, because one of their women, named Tabitha or Dorcas (both meaning gazelle), just died.
- The church people seriously request Peter and the widows cry, showing them the many garments she had sewed while still alive. Peter prays for her and she comes back to life.
- This woman was clearly known and well liked for her good deeds and acts of charity (Acts 9:36), among them sewing clothes, presumably for the needy (Acts 9:39).
- This is also visible in the care the believers take for her body (Acts 9:37) and their urgent call to Peter at Lydda (Acts 9:38), hoping against hope.
- God hears their and Peter’s prayer.
Chloe – a leader in the Corinthian church Paul trusted
- Chloe is mentioned only in one verse (1 Cor 1:11), Paul says about her: “For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters.”
- Chloe is a Greek name, meaning ‘green’.
- She is not mentioned in Acts nor among the early believers Paul lists (1 Cor 1:14-17) but she must have been an early enough convert for her to know Paul.
- She is only mentioned in this one verse, but it is a very important comment by Paul.
- “Chloe’s people” literally means “those of Chloe”, “those of the house of Chloe” (Strong’s number G3588), which is a normal way to refer to a house church.
- Other examples of house churches and their leaders mentioned:
- Rom 16:5 those of Prisca and Aquila.
- Rom 16:10 those of Aristobulus
- Rom 16:11 those of Narcissus
- Rom 16:14 those of Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes.
- In all these cases we refer to the person mentioned not only as host but also as leader of that house church.
- It is therefore likely that Chloe was a leader of a house church in Corinth.
We need the context of the Corinthian church in order to fully understand who Chloe is and what Paul’s comment about her means:
- Paul, together with the couple Aquila and Pricilla and his co-workers Silas and Timothy started the Corinthian church during the second missionary journey (Acts 18:1-18).
- Paul spends about 18 months in Corinth (50-52 AD), preaching, teaching, partially working as a tent maker.
- Though there is quite a bit opposition from some Corinthian Jews, a vibrant church is founded.
- Paul, his team mates and also Aquila and Priscilla leave Corinth after one and a half years in order to start new work in Ephesus.
- During Paul’s almost 3 years in Ephesus (53-55 AD) during his third missionary journey, he receives news from the Corinthian church. He answers, writing a letter which is not found in our Bibles but which
- Paul mentions in 1 Cor 5:9. It seems the Corinthians misunderstood this letter, which is why Paul writes some correcting remarks in 1 Corinthians.
- It seems things developed negatively in the Corinthian church after that, and it was Chloe, who (as a concerned person in the church), takes the initiative to inform Paul about what is going on.
- She sends some trustworthy people from her house church to Paul to let him know what is happening (1 Cor 1:11).
- In addition to that, the Corinthian church also sends a delegation (Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus, 1 Cor 16:17), which communicates some official questions the church has.
- Paul’s letter of 1 Corinthians is the answer to both Chloe’s report (concerning which he writes chapter 1-6) and to the church’s questions (concerning which he writes chapters 7-16). The transition is visible in 1 Cor 7:1 “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote”.
- In chapters 1-6 Paul addresses divisions in the church, wrong ideas about knowledge, spirituality and leadership, pride, selfishness, wrong use of the body, sexual immorality and law suits among believers.
- In chapters 7-16 Paul addresses marriage, food offered to idols, rights of gospel workers, appropriate behavior in church service, spiritual gifts and their proper use, Christ’s resurrection and that love should be central.
- It is sobering to realize that all Paul addresses in chapters 1-6 are issues that most people in the Corinthian church didn’t consider a problem, but Chloe obviously found very unhealthy and worrisome – and Paul finds absolutely necessary to address, and address first.
- Think about it! How much courage it would have taken Chloe (not to speak of trouble and expenses) to send people over the ocean to Ephesus to let Paul know what was going on.
- It seems Chloe wasn’t able to influence the Corinthian church to correct these problematic developments, but in stead of giving up or washing her hands in innocence she cares enough to let Paul know.
- Think also how much Paul must have trusted Chloe’s report, her judgment, her observations, her insight into the spiritual state of the Corinthian church in order to write half of his letter based on her report!
- Here we find a woman, an early convert, likely looking after a house church, who – after not being able to address things locally – goes through the trouble of informing the church founder of what is going on. Here we find Paul, so relying on her judgment, so convinced of her insight, so sure of her trustworthiness that he bases half his letter on her words!
Phoebe – a church deaconess and trusted letter carrier
- Paul mentions another woman leader in Rom 16:1-2 “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 bee a benefactor of many and of myself as well.”
- Paul identifies Phoebe as a “deacon” of the church in Cenchrea (near Corinth) or sometimes it is translated “servant” of the church.
- The word is G1249 “diakonos”, which indeed means servant, but it is used for many people and functions in the NT:
- believers, disciples or leaders in general (Mth 20:26, 23:11, Mrk 9:35, 10:43, Jhn 12;26, 2 Cor 3:6)
- apostles (2 Cor 6:4, 11:15, 11:23)
- the government (Rom 13:4)
- Jesus (Rom 15:8, Gal 2:17)
- Paul (1 Cor 3:5, Eph 3:7, Php 1:1, Col 1:23, 1:25)
- Apollos (1 Cor 3:5)
- Tychicus (Eph 6:21, Col 4:7)
- Timothy (Php 1:1, 1 The 3:2, 1 Tim 4:6)
- Epaphras (Col 1:7)
- Phoebe (Rom 16:1)
- church leadership (1 Tim 3:8, 3:12)
- Paul also calls her a saint and as a benefactor, assistant, patroness of many, including himself.
- It becomes clear that Phoebe was the carrier of Paul’s letter to the Roman Church.
- She obviously made that dangerous and long journey of about 4 weeks to benefit Paul and Paul asks the church in Rome to honor her and assiste her with whatever she may need.
- It is a woman then that carries Paul’s longest and most famous epistle from Corinth to Rome.
- It also needs to be mentioned that letter carriers did not just hand over the document they carried silently but they were also were seen as representative of the writer, as a bringer of news, an encourager, one to explain the message further (Col 4:7-8, Php 2:19-24).
- Clearly Paul has great trust in Phoebe and is confident that she not only delivered the document to the addressees, but that he is squarely and ably represented by her to this church, that he doesn’t even know yet.
- Phoebe must have had a good presence, diplomatic skill and wisdom, otherwise Paul would not have sent her on this ‘door-opening-mission’!
- Paul also calls her a saint and as a benefactor, assistant, patroness of many, including himself.
- It becomes clear that Phoebe was the carrier of Paul’s letter to the Roman Church.
- She obviously made that dangerous and long journey of about 4 weeks to benefit Paul and Paul asks the church in Rome to honor her and assiste her with whatever she may need.
- It is a woman then that carries Paul’s longest and most famous epistle from Corinth to Rome.
- It also needs to be mentioned that letter carriers did not just hand over the document they carried silently but they were also were seen as representative of the writer, as a bringer of news, an encourager, one to explain the message further (Col 4:7-8, Php 2:19-24).
- Clearly Paul has great trust in Phoebe and is confident that she not only delivered the document to the addressees, but that he is squarely and ably represented by her to this church, that he doesn’t even know yet.
- Phoebe must have had a good presence, diplomatic skill and wisdom, otherwise Paul would not have sent her on this ‘door-opening-mission’!
Priscilla – a teacher and leader of the first church
- Paul first meets the couple Aquila and Prisca when he arrives at Corinth during his second missionary journey (Acts 18:1-2).
- The husband Aquila (whose Latin name means ‘eagle’) is a Jew from Pontus, his wife Prisca or Priscilla (meaning ‘ancient’) has a Latin name, but it is not clear whether she is Jewish, a Gentile proselyte to Judaism, or a Gentile convert to Christ.
- It is also now known whether they became believers in Rome, or whether Paul wins them to Christ.
- An approximate timeline of the movements and ministry locations of this very active couple can be made:
- bf 49 AD They are in Rome
- 49 AD They have to leave Rome due to Emperor Claudius’ edict
- 50-52 AD They move to Corinth, where they meet, live and work with Paul. Aquila, like Paul, is a tent maker by profession
- 52 AD They move to Ephesus, where they are left by and later rejoined by Paul (Acts 18:18).
- 53-54 AD Prisca further trains Apollos (Acts 18:24-28)
- 55 AD When Paul writes 1 Corinthians, they are with him in Ephesus (1 Cor 16:19)
- 56 AD They are back in Rome where they are leading a house church (Rom 16:3-5).
- 64 AD? When Paul writes to Timothy, he sends greetings to Aquila & Priscilla (2 Tim 4:19). Likely Timothy is in Ephesus. If so, then the couple is back in Ephesus as well.
- It is also interesting to notice the sequence of their names mentioned:
- Acts 18:2 “Aquila with Priscilla”
- Acts 18:18 “Priscilla and Aquila”
- Acts 18:26 “Aquila and Priscilla”
- 1 Cor 16:19 “Aquila and Priscilla”
- Rom 16:3 “Pricilla and Aquila”
- 2 Tim 4:19 “Prisca and Aquila”
- This power couple are involved in church planting, pioneering, teaching, discipling, church leadership, teacher’s training etc.
- Exactly half the verses have Aquila’s name first, half have her name first.
- This shows that Priscilla is not just ‘tagging along’ – though that would already be a major feat with all the locations, churches, hosting etc – she is a leader in her own right and it is likely, that where her name comes first, she was the leader or face of their ministry.
Nympha – a house church leader
- In Colossians Paul says “Give my greetings to Nympha and the church in her house” (Col 4:15).
- Often when a woman’s name appears like that, we call her the ‘host’ of the church, but if a man’s name appears we call him the ‘leader’ of the church. This separation has no basis in the text.
- Paul mentions here Nympha’s church beside the church in Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis.
- Maybe it was a chuch in a nearby city of a house church in any of these cities.
Andronicus & Junias – an apostle couple whom Paul honors
- When Paul is in Corinth in 56 AD towards the end of his third missionary journey, he writes a letter to the Roman church, trying to prepare them for his coming visit and hoping to enlist them as supporters for his pioneer mission to Spain (Rom 15:19-29).
- Paul has never been to Rome before, but in the last chapter (Rom 16) he greets no less than 27 people in the Roman church by name and many others by mention.
- Among them he mentions and honors two people: “Greet Andronicus and Junia(s), my relatives (kinsfolk), who were in prison with me, they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was” (Rom 16:6-7).
- Junia is a female name (most usages), it is likely that Andronicus and Junia are a husband-wife team.
- It seems they were fellow Jews, fellow apostles and even fellow prisoners of Paul, though their names do not appear in Acts and it is not clear, when (before 56 AD) Paul was imprisoned with them.
- They seem to be early converts, because Paul says they were “in Christ before I was”, so roughly before 34 AD.
- It is noteworthy that Paul counts them both not only as apostles, but as apostles of note, as prominent and honored among the apostles.
- We have here another example (besides Aquila and Pricilla) of a powerful husband-wife ministry team. There were female apostles!