In his recent Patheos article Fr. Longenecker uses the faulty New American Bible translation of 1Cor. 9:5, which is about the same as the King James and all Protestant Bibles: “Do we not have the right to take along a Christian wife, as do the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Kephas?” In his article, Fr. Longenecker is making an argument for the ordination of married men in the Latin rite where they are needed. See his article here.
The Douay has it: “Have we not power to carry about a woman, a sister, as well as the rest of the apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?” These were the holy women who ministered to the apostles in their missionary work. The Douay English is a literally faithful translation of Saint Jerome’s Latin Vulgate. Saint Jerome translates γυναῖκα as “mulier”, Latin for “woman.” Saint Jerome knew Greek as it was the language of his education, which was begun at Trier. Greek was a language of education in his time and, of course, Latin was the common language of Italy, Gaul, North Africa, etc. He did not have to study Greek, as he did Hebrew. He used the language all the time even as he did Latin. I think Jerome would know what the Greek text meant far better than some modern scholar who was not raised in Greek. Moreover, the Council of Trent “canonized” the Latin Vulgate declaring it all but inspired.
The first meaning given in the Greek/English dictionary for γυναῖκα in the inspired text is “woman” not wife. It can mean wife, but the first meaning is woman. As we have it in many verses in scripture, γυναῖκα (from γυναi) is translated as “woman.” Jesus addresses His mother from the Cross as γυναῖ, “woman”: “Woman behold thy son.”
Furthermore, if we keep with the erroneous translation of “wife”, rather than “woman” then we would have St. Paul affirming that he has the right to take along a wife when we know that this Apostle had no wife (1Cor. 7:7). Therefore, in context, the word γυναῖκα would have to be translated as “woman.”
That being said, whether or not Peter’s wife was living or not at the time he was called by Christ is not known. All that is known is that his mother-in-law was living.
