1 Cor 9,5: The Women of the Apostles 359 “labored in the Lord” (Rom 16,12) (37). Euodia and Syntyche, although they are in need of reconciliation with each other, have “fought at Paul’s side in the gospel”. Clearly they are fellow workers in the mission (Phil 4,2-3). None of this is controversial, but the question certainly arises: “Does the existence of missionary couples and partners in the Pauline epistles illuminate 1 Cor 9,5”? The ambiguity exists because Paul does not explicitly define the role of the women whom he mentions in that verse. That ambiguity has helped create the different interpretive trajectories associated with the verse. Some of the women might have been more involved in the mission than others. Carolyn Osiek and Margaret MacDonald make a telling comment on the history of interpretation: “The text should probably be taken as an acknowledgment of the importance of missionary partnerships to the success of the movement, rather than simply as a reference to a ‘domestic’ supporter of the husband’s missionary work as has traditionally be assumed from the patristic era to the modern day” (38). VIII. Semantics 1. ajdelfov" and ajdelfhv For additional illumination one needs to examine the semantics of Paul’s unusual expression, “sister woman” (ajdelfh;n gunai'ka). First, some negative results. In the TLG, I have been unable to find the expression elsewhere in a text in which both words describe the same woman, and I have had the same experience with “brother man/person” (using ajnhvr and a[nqrwpo"). The only exception is a formulation in the vocative in Acts that the NAB translates as “countrymen” in an occurrence in which Paul addresses fellow Jews (Acts 23,1; a[ndre" ajdelfoiv) (39). Peter uses it for fellow Christians in Acts 1,16. It gives little help since one can simply put a comma between the two words (“men, brothers”) and need not translate with (37) On such missionary partnerships see M.R. D’ANGELO, “Women Partners in the New Testament”, JFSR 6 (1990) 65-86. (38) C. OSIEK and M.Y. MACDONALD with J.H. TULLOCH, A Woman’s Place. House Churches in Earliest Christianity (Minneapolis, MN 2006) 27. (39) This appears frequently in Acts (1,16; 2,29.37; 7,2.26; 13,15.26.38; 15,7.13; 22,1; 23,1.6; 28,17). C. LAPIDE, Commentaria in omnes divi Pauli epistola. Comm. in I ep. ad Cor. cap. IX (Antwerp 1665) 263 noticed this expression. For ajdelfov" used for people from the same country see BAGD s.v. § 3 (as in Rom 9,3).