A couple months ago, one of my writing classes in college had a debate about whether the Bible should be gender-neutral.  I expected a few of my classmates to truly believe the Bible should be gender-neutral, but I was surprised by just how many of the girls in my class thought this was necessary.  They argued that the Bible was not inclusive enough, and the only way to fix this was to make the Bible gender-neutral. 

Feminist ideology is the norm in Oregon, even among Christians.  (I’ve noticed other areas of the US aren’t as dominated by feminism, and I pray it stays that way!)  It seems to be ingrained into the back of our minds that women are better than men, chivalry is sexist, and the traditions of church leadership are outdated.  Surely Christ would champion female leadership if He were walking the earth today. 

Here’s the deal—we know that Jesus was pro-woman by His actions.  Many of His disciples were women (see Matt. 27:55).  Jesus’ interactions with Mary (Luke 10:38-42), the woman at the well (John 4:7-29), and the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11) give us a clear picture of God’s heart for women.  We don’t need to change the Bible to be more politically correct in order to prove that God loves women.  God created women in His image distinct from men in order to uniquely display His character in ways men can’t. 

(Before I share why I believe Jesus isn’t a feminist, I would like to say that I understand that for some women this is a hard topic.  Many have experienced difficult or abusive relationships with men, and the idea that God has given different roles to men and women can bring up pain.  Please know that sinful, fallen man cannot accurately portray the beautiful, perfect love of your Heavenly Father for you.  Whether your earthly father or other significant men in your life have been godly examples or abusive, every man at some point will fail us because of sin nature.  But God, your perfect Father, will never fail you.  His love, protection, and care for you are immeasurable.  Get to know Him and His heart, and then let Him give you His vision for godly womanhood and manhood.  Can you trust that His design and plan is good?)

Here are three reasons I don’t think Jesus is a feminist:

1: The modern feminist movement wants to remove the traditional gender roles God has designed for us.  From the beginning God established the leadership of men and the helping role of women.  Men and women are equally made in the image of God and equally valuable, but our roles are different.   

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” ¹⁹ Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. ²¹ So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. ²² The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. ²³ The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” Genesis 2:18-23 (NASB, 1995)

Throughout Scripture, there are specific instructions regarding the different roles of men and women (see Titus 2, Eph. 5:22-33, 1 Cor. 14:34, 1 Tim. 2:9-15, 1 Pet. 3:1-6).  Through these passages we see that God calls men to be leaders and women to be helpers, just as He established in creation.  If we’re honest, most of us probably bristle at these passages; our sin nature doesn’t like words like submit.  At the core, we bristle at these passages because our sin nature is one of rebellion, wanting to go our own way instead of trusting that God’s ways are best. 

2: Men and women are meant to display God’s character differently.  God intentionally made women to be nurturing, caring, and loving, and He made men to be protectors and providers.  A healthy balance of both is necessary because each displays God’s character: His protection (Psalm 71:1-5), provision (Gen. 22:14), nurture and care (Isaiah 40:11, Ps. 18:35), and love (Rom. 5:8).

3: God designed marriage to be a picture of Christ’s love for the church. 

²² Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. ²⁴ But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, ²⁶ so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷ that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. ²⁸ So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; ²⁹ for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, ³⁰ because we are members of His body. ³¹ For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. ³² This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. ³³ Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband. Ephesians 5:22-33

When a marriage is lived out according to God’s design, it is a picture of the gospel.  How cool is it that the gospel can be presented simply by following God’s plan for families!  But that means that we have to be okay with God’s design for men and women.  Our sin nature wants to rebel against God’s design; God told Eve that from the beginning her desire would be for her husband but he would rule over her (see Gen. 3:16). Can we trust that God is good? If we believe God is good, and He designed femininity to be a certain way, then should we also trust that God’s design is better than what the world tries to say is best?  

Living according to God’s design is simple (I mean, He did give us an entire book to show us how to live for Him!), but it’s not easy.  Our sin nature would rather us do our own thing.  But praise God that He has given us a Helper, the Holy Spirit, to walk with us and help us grow in righteousness! 

With love,

Kelsey