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NASB | Matthew 23:9 "Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 23:9 "Do not call anyone on earth [who guides you spiritually] your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. |
Subject: "Call no man father" |
Bible Note: "Do not call anyone on earth your father..." Charis, You have expounded on this subject and related titles favored by other Christian groups for pastors or ministers. The subject grew out of Rabbi Mark's use of the title Rabbi. My own differences with him had nothing to do with the title Rabbi itself. Such titles usually respresent respect for a particular office and the title is given by the members of the various Churches or congregations. I do not have a problem addressing a Protestant pastor as Pastor or Reverend or a Rabbi as Rabbi as a title of courtesy, even though he may not be a pastor or rabbi to me, although they might on occassion provide true pastoral guidance or teaching to me. Perhaps a little word study is in order. In Matt 23 Jesus was beginning to pronounce the "woes" against the Scribes and Pharisees for their hypocracy. They claimed to be fathers (exercising authority) and "teachers" to the people, but instead of providing comfort and spiritual food and teaching to their people they placed "heavy burdens" on them and were "blind guides." Hyperbole and metaphor and I suspect sarcasm if that would not be considered blasphemy are used here by Jesus to point out their hypocracy. Surely at least we all call our own earthy fathers, "Father," without violating the true spirit of this passage. The Decalogue tells us to honor our father and mother The word "father" applied to men is found in many places in the New Testament. Jesus mentions earthly fathers in many of his parables. Jesus also refers to "your father Abraham,"(John 8). St. Paul (Rom 4:12)refers to "our father Abraham." See also Stephen's use of "brothers and fathers" and "father Abraham" in Acts 7:2. More to the point St Paul refers to himself as "father" to the Corinthians in 1 Cor 7:8 and calls Timothy his "beloved and faithful son," ovbviously referring to himself as a spiritual father to Timothy. It is in this sense and in this tradition that Catholics referr to their pastors as "Father" and the bishop of Rome as "Pope" from the Italian Pappa. They are the spititual fathers of the local and universal Church community. They provide spiritual food from the Scriptures and the Eucharist. And like fathers they exercise authority and provide counsel and encouragement to members of their spiritual families to lead good moral lives in Christ. No one confuses them with God any more than we confuse our physical fathers with God. Although we have one High Priest in Jesus, yet we are all called to share in that Royal Priesthood. So it is that although we all have one Father in heaven, yet we have and are (some of us)earthly fathers also in various capacities both physical and spiritual. All these offices come from God and are subsidiary to Him who works through earthly fathers, bith physical and spiritual. The problem comes when people start to confuse themselves with God because of the titles which are given to them, or even worse titles they give to themselves. As Jesus said, "Woe" to them. And He warns the Apostles and us against that pitfall. Emmaus |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Matt 23:9 | Author | ||
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searchingfortruth29 | ||
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Emmaus | ||
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Cyclist | ||
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charis | ||
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prazn | ||
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Aquadisk |