Was Jesus the First Feminist?

A Biblical and Historically Grounded Christian 

In recent years, it has become common to hear the claim that Jesus was the first feminist. The statement is usually meant as a compliment—an attempt to show that Jesus cared deeply about women, challenged injustice, and treated women with dignity in a world that often did not.

While the impulse behind the claim is understandable, it is not historically or theologically accurate. Jesus cannot be placed into a modern ideological category—especially one that developed nearly two thousand years after His life on earth.

This page explores why the claim exists, where it falls short, and what Scripture actually shows about Jesus and womanhood.

 

 

Why People Call Jesus “the First Feminist”

To understand the claim, we must first understand the cultural setting of the first century.

In the ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman world, women were often:

 

  • Excluded from formal religious education

  • Legally dependent on male relatives

  • Socially defined by marriage, fertility, or family status

  • Rarely accepted as authoritative witnesses

Against this backdrop, Jesus’ interactions with women were radical.

 

 

Biblical Examples of Jesus Honoring Women

 

 

  • Jesus taught women as disciples
    “Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:39–42)

  • Jesus spoke publicly with women, including marginalized women
    “The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.’” (John 4:7–26)

  • Jesus affirmed women’s faith and agency
    “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” (Luke 8:48)

  • Women were the first witnesses of the resurrection
    “Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” (Matthew 28:5–10)

 

These actions were astonishing in their historical context. Jesus consistently treated women as morally responsible, spiritually capable, and deeply valued.

 

 

Why the Label “Feminist” Does Not Fit Jesus

Despite surface similarities, feminism and the mission of Jesus are fundamentally different.

Feminism Is a Modern Ideology

Feminism emerged centuries after Christ and is shaped by political theory, social activism, and philosophical movements. While there are many strands, feminism generally focuses on:

 

  • Power structures and social hierarchies

  • Equality defined as sameness

  • Autonomy and self-definition

  • Liberation from traditional roles and institutions

 

 

Jesus did not come to promote a political ideology or social movement.

 

“My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36)

His mission was spiritual restoration, not social revolution.

 

 

Jesus Did Not Erase God’s Design

Scripture affirms that men and women are equal in worth, yet distinct in design.

“So God created man in his own image… male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

Jesus upheld this created order. He did not redefine womanhood, reject marriage, or portray authority itself as oppression.

Instead, He confronted sin, abuse, and hypocrisy—while affirming God’s good design for men and women.

 

What Jesus Actually Did for Women

He Restored Dignity, Not Ideology

Jesus addressed women first and foremost as image-bearers of God.

Their worth was not based on:

 

  • Marital status

  • Sexual history

  • Fertility

  • Social standing

This echoes Scripture:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek… male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

Equality in Christ does not erase distinctions—it affirms equal worth before God.

 

He Protected Without Patronizing

Jesus defended women against injustice and religious abuse, yet never portrayed them as helpless victims.

 

“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone.” (John 8:7)

 

He called women to repentance, faith, courage, obedience, and discipleship—the same call given to men.

 

 

He Elevated Without Rewriting Creation

 

Rather than overthrowing God’s order, Jesus redeemed it.

 

“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female?” (Matthew 19:4)

 

Jesus restored relationships between men and women by addressing sin, pride, and domination—not by abolishing distinctions.

 

 

 

 

A More Accurate Way to Say It

 

 

Instead of saying “Jesus was the first feminist,” a more biblically faithful statement would be:

 

Jesus restored womanhood to its God-given dignity.

 

Or:

 

Jesus elevated women in a broken world without rejecting God’s design for men and women.

 

This honors Jesus as Lord rather than reshaping Him to fit modern frameworks.

 

 

 

 

Why This Distinction Matters Today

 

 

Reframing Jesus through modern ideologies—even well-intentioned ones—distorts the gospel.

 

It risks:

 

  • Projecting modern values onto Scripture
  • Reducing Jesus to a social reformer
  • Replacing redemption with activism
  • Turning the gospel into a political message rather than a call to repentance and new life

 

 

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

 

Jesus did not come to make women like men, or men irrelevant. He came to make all things new.

 

In closing...

 

Jesus honored women in ways that were revolutionary for His time—and remain transformative today. But He was not the first feminist.

 

He is:

 

  • Redeemer (Isaiah 54:5)
  • Restorer (Joel 2:25)
  • Savior (Luke 19:10)
  • Lord (Philippians 2:9–11)

 

 

Women are not liberated by ideology—but made whole by truth.

 

 

 

This page is intended to equip Christian women with clarity, confidence, and biblical discernment when engaging cultural conversations about feminism and faith.