Call No Man Father... Part I of III

It seems that there is at least one subject that often comes up when talking with Fundamentalists... why Catholics call their clergy Father when "the Bible clearly says to call no man father". Personally, it seems like a pretty petty argument. If this is one of your main objections, then you're really only worried about semantics and tradition (lower-case t) than actual dogma and matters of faith. Nevertheless, for some people this is a very serious objection, and one that I must deal with. Let's look at the verse itself: "And call none your father upon earth; for one is your father, who is in heaven" (Matthew 23:9). We'll look at this verse first from a common sense perspective, then from a Biblical point-of-view (what the verse is really saying).

Common sense should tell us that a literal reading of this verse is problematic. Would these same people condemn their young son or daughter for calling them 'Father'? After all, it says call no man Father on Earth. It doesn't say, from just this verse, that it is in a religious context. Furthermore, we must call at least our own paternal father Father. If we forbid it entirely then we rob the address "Father" of its meaning when applied to G-d because there would no longer be any earthly counterpart for the analogy of divine Fatherhood.

But when talking with Fundamentalists, common sense is rarely the only resort. Rather, we must turn to Scripture to help prove our point. Now I'll cut right to the chase, most Fundamentalists will say that Christ is talking about not calling men Father within a religious context. This flies in the face of 3 Old Testament verses! For example, G-d states that He will give a fatherly role to Eliakim (the steward of the house of David) in Isaiah 22:20-21 "In that day I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah . . . and I will clothe him with [a] robe, and will bind [a] girdle on him, and will commit . . . authority to his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah". There's also Elisha crying out to Elijah as Elijah is carried up to Heaven in 2 Kings 2:12: "My father, my father!" (This was certainly a religious name!) And we can't forget that Elisha himself is called a father by the king of Israel 4 chapters later in 2 Kings 6:21.

Some Fundamentalists don't like the Old Testament, however- especially when it contradicts their beliefs. So we can look in the New Testament for examples of people being called Father. There is Acts 7:2, where Stephen refers to "our father Abraham," and Romans 9:10, where Paul speaks of "our father Isaac."

We should also take a closer look at the verse itself. "But you are not to be called ‘rabbi,’ for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called ‘masters,’ for you have one master, the Christ" (Again, Matthew 23:8–10).

Let's look first at the problem that Jesus seems to prohibit the use of the term "teacher". In 1 Timothy 2:7, however, Paul speaks of his commission as a teacher: "For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle . . . a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth." Christ himself appointed some men to be teachers in his Church: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." There's also 2 Timothy 1:11: "For this gospel I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher." He also reminds us that the Church has an office of teacher in 1 Corinthians 12:28: "God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers." Finally, there's the verse in Ephesians 4:11 that reads "his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers". There is no doubt that Paul was not violating Christ’s teaching in Matthew 23 by referring so often to others as "teachers."

Fundamentalists themselves blunder on this point when they call people "doctor" or "Mister" or Mistress (Mrs.). What these fundamentalists fail to realize is that "doctor" is the Latin word for "teacher." "Mister" and "Mistress" ("Mrs.") are forms of the word "master," also mentioned by Jesus as a 'forbidden' term. If Christ's words in Matthew 23 were meant to be taken literally, Fundamentalists would be just as guilty for using the word "teacher" and "doctor" and "mister" as Catholics for saying "father."

The next post will show how Peter, John, and Paul further illustrate that Christ's command to call no man Father does not condemn the Catholic tradition of calling priests Father.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3