Dorcas of Joppa: The Only Woman in the New Testament Called a Disciple
Meet Dorcas of Joppa — the only woman in the New Testament explicitly called a disciple. Her story is brief, powerful, and full of surprises. Discover why her life and resurrection still speak today. The Woman the Bible Calls a Disciple She gets eleven verses. No sermon on record. No letters preserved. No famous quote etched into Christian tradition. And yet Dorcas of Joppa holds a distinction that belongs to no other woman in the entire New Testament: she is the only female explicitly called a disciple of Jesus Christ. The Greek word is mathetria — the feminine form of mathetes , the same word used for the Twelve, for the seventy-two, for the crowds who followed Jesus from village to village. Luke, the careful physician and historian who wrote the book of Acts, chose that word deliberately. He didn't call Dorcas a believer, a follower, a sister, or a servant. He called her a disciple. In a culture that rarely granted women theological standing,...