The Women Apostles

Mary Magdelene was the first female apostle and in Romans Paul identitfies another in Junia. An excellent article discusses this spiritual or actual "kinswoman" of Paul ,<article>. It will be noted that many of the same arguments used to claim "prophetess" was merely the wife of a prophet or otherwise somehow less than a "real" prophet, are used in this argument as well. An apostle was defined as one who had seen the Lord and received a commission or was sent out on a special task. In the garden, Mary was sent by the Lord to tell the others of what she had seen. Since Jesus had included women in his teachings and had intentionally included women in his ministry, it should not be surprising that he did so. Nor, should it be surprising that women would be deacons and apostles and bishops in the new church.