Apostle Junia: To Make Disciples with a Carrot or a Stick?
- Elaine R Kelly
- Jun 28
- 8 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Christian martyrs are honoured for their loyalty to God, despite threats and violence. And we honour those who died defending their faith.
Jesus tells all Christians to (1) go and make disciples, (2) baptize them, and (3) teach them (Matthew 28:19-20). What's the best way to make disciples?
Two Ways to Try to Make Disciples
1) The stick, like a hammer, means destroying idols and pagan temples, disrespecting indigenous religions, and changing national laws to force conversion and uniformity. The stick is seen today in any nation that requires residents to conform to the government's religious views. The church, especially when united with the power of the state, has a history of using the stick.
When Constantine was a Christian, Jews were persecuted and Christians given preference.
When the Catholic Church was powerful in Western Europe, it decided who was a heretic, a capital offence.
The stick was famously used during the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition.
During the colonial period, Christian powers used the stick against indigenous religions.
2) The carrot means treating others as you would like to be treated, loving others as you love yourself, planting seeds, and leaving it up to God to grow faith in people. It means accepting plurality. The gospel accounts show Jesus offering healing and hope, freedom and love. Jesus made disciples with the carrot.
What about Junia?
In writing my historical fiction about Junia, I needed to decide whether she would use the stick or the carrot on her first apostolic journey.
Orthodox records seem to honour her for using the stick. Records state that Junia and Andronicus preached the gospel, did miracles, drove out demons, healed the sick, destroyed idols, closed pagan temples, and were eventually martyred.
Junia is named in Romans 16:7 as an apostle in Christ earlier than Paul. He used his Hebrew name (Saul) in Judea and his Latin name (Paul) in Gentile areas. The Latin name Junia may refer to the same person as the Hebrew name Joanna, the Galilean disciple and patron. Today's scholars largely agree with our church fathers in acknowledging that Junia was a female. I discuss Junia as a female apostle here. That article reviews some of the places she may have gone on her fictional journey to Colossae, Laodicea, Hierapolis, Philadelphia, Sardis, and Smyrna.
This photo depicts Joanna, wife of Chuza, as Junia in one of over 100 life-sized statues in the 2024 Good Friday Catholic procession of Baliwag, Philippines. She is carrying a censer, a metal container used by altar servers for burning incense during liturgy. In her other hand is a black cloth, which appears to be a maniple, a symbol of her liturgical authority to serve the Eucharist.
The Historic Record of the Church: The Stick in Evangelism
The church has a long history of honouring those who died for their faith. Being killed for your religious beliefs is the definition of being a martyr.
Is it possible that some Christians were killed because they used the stick? They were disrespectful, divisive, and hateful. They arrived at new cultures, smashed their idols, and insulted all that the people called holy. They asserted power and authority that brought about their death. Perhaps past Christians thought that demolishing worship places and holy objects of other religions was a good way to spread God's word. Perhaps Christians understood that martyrdom was a goal deserving a crown, and took action to earn that crown.
Did Junia and Andronicus use the stick? Their accomplishments are preserved by the Orthodox Church:
"[they] preached the Gospel throughout the whole of Pannonia. With St Junia, he was successful in bringing many to Christ and in demolishing many temples of idolatry. Both of them had the grace of wonder-working, by which they drove out demons and healed every sort of sickness and disease. They both suffered for Christ, and thus received a twofold crown: of apostleship and of martyrdom."
Were they faithful and innocent, minding their own business? Were martyrs guilty of breaking the law? Did early apostles go to prison or death because they broke the law of the land by destroying symbols of the nation's religion? Do I dare ask if martyrs acted to bring it upon themselves? Were they guilty as charged? Did they do something intentionally to cause their death, thinking it would mean they would receive an eternal crown? Were they imitating Paul?
Did Paul use the stick? Did he go to prison because others unfairly punished his freedom of religion--or because he forced his ideas on people who did not want to be converted? Paul knew the Jews in Jerusalem were planning to arrest him and went knowing and showing he was willing to die for the name of Jesus (Acts 21:10-14). Were these accusations against Paul true:
“Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man [Paul] who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” (Acts 21:28)
“We have found [Paul] to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect and even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized him. (Acts 24:5-6)
Did early European colonizers follow Paul's example, bringing Christianity as hope for the indigenous peoples? Or did they follow Paul's example of forcing ideas on people or societies that didn't want a new religion preached? Were colonizers motivated to spread Christianity as a means of gaining power over indigenous peoples?
Did the Roman Empire use the stick? Emperor Nero used the state to promote the Imperial Cult and persecute Christians. Emperor Constantine united Christianity and the state and persecuted Jews and pagan religions.
Is there a risk today that government and Christianity may join forces and persecute people with a stick instead of showing love and offering salvation, freedom, and love?
Many Christians honour Charlie Kirk as a martyr for Christ. It is unfortunate that he was violently killed in America in September 2025. He spoke clearly about his Christian faith and apparently was killed for his religious beliefs. I looked up his record. He stirred up hate and division and made a lot of enemies. He condemned foreigners and advocated for their deportation. He spoke against LGBTQ+ and against their rights. He was a political activist who sought to limit women's freedoms, such as the right to choose and the right to vote. He advocated the end of freedom of religion and unite Christianity with the state to pass laws to enforce beliefs like his. He used the hammer to promote his beliefs and paid the ultimate price.
Jesus's Way: The Carrot in Evangelism
Today, many Christians understand that destroying the holy objects of other religions is not the best way to make disciples for Jesus. In fact, it makes people close their ears to the Christian message. Christian nationalism fails to win hearts for Christ. It turns people away from God.
If we look to Jesus as our example, he did not demolish Roman idols or fight to enforce Christianity by Roman national law. Jesus called out hypocrisy when he saw it, but he did not burn items that Pharisees called holy.
Jesus attracted people by showing them love, healing their illnesses, and bringing hope. He overturned hierarchies, challenged the religious powers, and uplifted the weak. He showed them God's love.
While Jesus was sinless before God, he may have been guilty of breaking the legalistic practices, working on the Sabbath, and blaspheming. Jesus did call himself equal to God (while religious authorities did not believe he was God). Jesus made many disciples by using the carrot:
The parable of the sower shows that some seed will fall on good soil while other falls on the path, the rocks, or is choked out by weeds. In a similar way, some people are just not interested or receptive to hearing the Christian message. Jesus knew and accepted that. We can imitate Jesus by accepting a plurality of beliefs.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." Jesus announced that some are not hungry for a new religion; some are not thirsty for righteousness. Jesus blessed those ready to hear about Christianity. Jesus came not to condemn the world but to save it (John 3:17-10, John 12:47, Luke 19:10).
"Come to me, all who are thirsty". Jesus left it up to the listener to decide whether they wanted the living water Jesus offered. They were free to decide whether to come and drink. Like Jesus, we offer God's living water; we don't put a hose into someone's mouth and force water in! No one wants to be proselytized.
"If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" (Revelations 3:20). Jesus begs to come into our lives and give new life, but ultimately, lovingly, leaves the choice to us.
Jesus modelled using a carrot to make disciples. Loving means letting each other make their own choice. Let each person work out their own faith. Peace comes from accepting plurality, not forcing uniformity.
Conclusion
If we want to go and make disciples, is the carrot or the stick more effective?
Jesus shows us to spread the seed of God's word far and wide - and leave it up to God whether the seed takes root. This is not something that can be forced by smashing idols, disrespecting other religions, or making Christianity a national religion.
Jesus showed us how to invite people to drink of the living water to find freedom, joy, and an abundant life. If Christians offer limitations, restrictions, guilt, and a meagre life, they are not offering Jesus. If Christians offer exclusion and division, they are not offering God's love.
In my novel, I wanted to show Junia's urgent call to evangelize as well as her exploration of various means of evangelism. Should Junia smash idols like the old-fashioned martyrs the church has honoured? Or should Junia show God's love and allow her listeners to take down their idols when they are ready? Should she follow man or Jesus? How can she listen and show respect for others while advocating for her belief in Christ? I portray Junia gaining insights as she goes on her first mission journey, growing in her understanding of the best way to make disciples.
Find out about the various ways Junia finds to make disciples in my upcoming historical fiction: Finding Her Voice, from Broken to Bold: Acts of Early Female Apostles: A Novel.
Elaine Ricker Kelly Author is empowering women with historical fiction about women in the Bible and early church and Christian blogs about women in leadership, church history and doctrine. Her books include:
Forgotten Followers from Broken to Bold, Book 1, A Novel (2022)
The Sword: A Fun Way to Engage in Healthy Debate on What the Bible Says About a Woman's Role (2023)
Because She Was Called from Broken to Bold, Book 2, A Novel of the Early Church (2024)
Walk with Mara on Her Healing Journey: 21 Steps to Emotional Resilience (2024)
Finding Her Voice from Broken to Bold, Book 3, Acts of Early Female Apostles: A Novel (coming October 2025)
Sources:
"May 17th - Holy Apostles Andronicus and Junia", Holy Ascension of Christ Orthodox Church, Accessed May 7, 2025, https://www.holyascensionofchrist.org/post/may-17th-holy-apostles-andronicus-and-junia
“Apostle Andronicus of the Seventy and his fellow-laborer, Junia”, The Orthodox Church in America, Accessed May 7, 2025, https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2022/05/17/101405-apostle-andronicus-of-the-seventy-and-his-fellow-laborer-junia..
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