What did we get when we got Jesus? Salvation, yes. Forgiveness of sin, absolutely. What about wisdom and the freedom to use it? What else is ours?

Last time we talked about our original catchphrase, “free the saints” and what that means to us. From time to time we reevaluate why we do what we do, and make space for God to change our direction. One of those times is when we landed on “what Jesus do you know?” What do we mean by that?

When we founded Oneness Ministries, we used the catchphrase “free the saints.” It was a hashtag on all our social media, and a slogan on our website. It hasn’t been used much in a while, but we think it’s time to bring it back. Let’s flesh out what it means and why it’s so important to us.

Lydia and Priscilla – they were anything but hidden in the early days of the church. These women were well known among believers. They were students of Paul, and valuable partners with him in fostering the growing church.

For a series about Hidden Women, the story of Junia reveals her as the opposite of that. Her life shows she was determined, bold, fearless and well known through her ministry. Paul refers to her as an apostle, and someone he greatly admired. She was tireless in spreading the gospel, likely by planting churches, and caused enough of a ruckus to be thrown into prison for a time.

What do we mean by hidden women? There were many women mentioned in the New Testament that were deeply involved in the early church. Even those that are named tend to be easily forgotten. Some because they are mentioned in passing, and some because it’s difficult to find teachings about them if you don’t know where to look.

Judas Thaddeus was one of the original twelve disciples of Jesus Christ, a pioneer of the gospel who worked quietly to establish the early church. Thaddeus is often neglected by the church because Scripture does not mention him a lot nor is much written about him. Yet this quiet, gentle soul spent most of his ministry in obscurity observing the more outspoken apostles. Thaddeus nonetheless became a bold outspoken witness for the gospel Jesus Christ.

Paul’s letter to Philemon is his shortest and most personal. It contains no doctrinal statements, no warnings about false teachers, and no mention of apostolic titles. The reason for writing was extraordinary. We look to author Paul Ellis for insight into this quiet voice.