John Granger Cook, «1 Cor 9,5: The Women of the Apostles», Vol. 89 (2008) 352-368
The women of the apostles in 1 Cor 9,5 have posed a riddle in the history of interpretation. With few exceptions commentators over the last one hundred years have identified them as wives and dismissed the text in a few lines. Recent research on the role of women in early Christian mission has brought a fresh assessment, concluding that the women were missionary assistants to the apostles. This essay develops an extended argument to solidify the thesis using the history of interpretation, the nature of missionary partnerships in the Pauline epistles, semantics, some important parallels from the Greco-Roman world, and the nature of ancient households.
354 John Granger Cook
II. The Text
The variations in the textual tradition perhaps indicate some of the
interpretive possibilities. There are some interesting alternatives.
gunaika" (women): F, G, ar, b, Tert (8), Pelagius (9), Ps. Cyprian (10),
'
Hilary (11), Sedulius (12), Jerome (13), Helvidius (14), Clement of Alex.1/3
(Paed. 2.1.9.1 [GCS Clemens Al. I; 159,28-30 Stählin – Treu]),
Aphrahaat (15).
mulierem sororem (woman sister): Hubertianus (Brit. Mus. Add.
24142), z* (Harley 1772), and vgcl.
mulierem (woman): Ambrosiaster (16).
sorores mulieres (sisters women): Greek MSS according to
Jerome(17).
sorores (sisters): The Greek according to Sedulius (18).
sororem mulierculam (sister little woman): Biblia Latina (19)
adelfhn gunai'ka (sister woman): other witnesses.
j ;
(8) All occurrences: Cast. 8.3, Mon. 8.4, Pud. 14.11 (CChr.SL 2; 1027,21-22;
1239,21-22; 1307,43 KROYMANN – DEKKERS).
(9) In I Cor 9,5 (A. SOUTER, Pelagius’s Expositions of Thirteen Epistles of St
Paul. I. Introduction / II. Text and Apparatus Criticus [TextsS 9/1-2; Cambridge
1922-1926] II, 175, 5-7).
(10) Ps. Cyprian, Sing. 20 (CSEL 3/3; 196,3-8 HARTEL). G. ZUNTZ (The Text of
the Epistles. A Disquisition upon the Corpus Paulinum [London 1953] 138) refers
to both Cypr-appendix (Ps. Cypr.) and Macrobius in his note. Macrobius (the
bishop) was once suspected of writing Ps. Cypr., De sing. See J.B. BAUER,
“Uxores circumducere (1 Kor 9,5)â€, BZ n. s. 3 (1959) 94-103, esp. 95.
(11) Hilary, Psal. 118, 14.14 (SC 347; 144,12-14 MILHAU).
(12) See the reading sorores below.
(13) uxores in Ep. 22,20 (CSEL 54; 171,5 HILBERG).
(14) Jerome, Helu. (PL 23; 204A). Helvidius read uxores (wives).
(15) Dem. 6.5 (PO I/1; 264,22–265,2 PARISOT).
(16) H. J. VOGELS follows the evidence of the MSS for mulieres here in Ad
Cor. prima 9,5 (CSEL 81/2, 98,4-5). The singular appears in five MSS.
(17) Jerome, Iou. 1,26 (PL 23; 257A); a reading he adopted in Ep. 123.14
(CSEL 56/1; 89,16 HILBERG) and Matth. 27,55 (SC 259; 302, 418 BONNARD).
(18) Collect. in ep. I ad Cor. (VL.AGLB 32; 406,17 FREDE – STANJEK = PL
103; 145C). Sedulius remarks that the Greek text only mentions “sisters†and not
mulieres (women), which he finds in the Latin text.
(19) Biblia Latina cum Glossa Ordinaria. Facsimile Reprint of the Editio
Princeps Adolf Rusch of Strassburg 1480-1481 (intr. by K. FROELICH and M. T.
GIBSON) (Turnhout 1992) IV, 320.
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