Call No Man Father... Part III of III

In the last two posts (post one here, and post two here), I discussed how one cannot look at Matthew 23:9 in a literalistic fashion. I described how the Old Testament used the terms 'condemned' by Christ, how Peter John and Paul all used these terms to refer to their spiritual fatherhood, and how Fundamentalists themselves use the words that are, supposedly, condemned by Christ. In this post, we'll look closer at what the verse is saying as opposed to stating that priests should not be called Father.

Jesus was criticizing Jewish leaders who love "the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues, and salutations in the market places, and being called ‘rabbi’ by men" (going back to Matthew 23:6–7). What Christ is responding to the Pharisees’ proud hearts and their desire and search for marks of status and prestige. Christ was employing a common Rabbinic teaching device... hyperbole (an exaggeration to make a point). He was using hyperbole to show the scribes and Pharisees how sinful and proud they were for not looking humbly to G-d as the source of all authority, fatherhood, and teaching. In juxtaposition to what Christ was telling them, the Pharisees were setting themselves up as the ultimate authorities, father figures, and teachers.

Some people might be surprised that Christ employed hyperbole. This surprise is unfounded. For example, it was used when Christ declared, "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell" (Matthew 5:29, cf. 18:9; Mark 9:47). Certainly Christ did not intend this to be applied literally, else all Christians would be blind and armless! (cf. 1 John 1:8; 1 Timothy 1:15). Since one can show that Jesus is using hyperbole when He says not to call anyone our father (as shown in the last post) we must look closely and read His words carefully. All of this must be done with sensitivity to the existance of hyperbole if we want to understand what He is saying. Jesus is not telling us to call men Fathers who in actuallity are such (either literally or spiritually, the latter of which will be discussed in the next post). To refer to such people as Father is simply to acknowledge the Truth. He is warning people against inaccurately attributing fatherhood to those who are not.

Some people have a spiritual fatherhood (as discussed in the last post), which means that they can be referred to as our spiritual fathers. What shouldn't be done is to confuse their form of spiritual fatherhood with the fatherhood of G-d (from which the fatherhood of paternal and spiritual fatherhood flows from). In the end, G-d is our ultimate protector, provider, and instructor. Therefore, it is incorrect to view any one, other than G-d, as having these ultimate roles.

The issue that this verse deals with in our contemporary world, and that Christ dealt with in His own time and society, is that some people have been tempted to view religious leaders, who are mortals, as if they were the ultimate source of spiritual protection, nourishment, and instruction. This happened too during Jesus' time, when famous Jewish leaders were highly exalted by their disciples. It was this elevation of a simple mortal to G-d's role that Jesus is condemning when He warns against attributing the terms, as a result of surpation of the role, of master, father, and/or teacher. He is not forbidding the use of honorifics or recognizing that the person has a role as a spiritual father, protector, or teacher.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3