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Some people suggest that Catholics are committing sin or guilty of idolatry when they address their pastor as “father”. This idea has been taken from the
scripture Mathew 23:9: “Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven.”
Response:
Before proceeding in this discussion it should be understood that it is not just Catholic Christians that refer to their ordained church leaders as “father”. Orthodox Christians and Anglicans/Episcopalians also refer to their leaders as father. For 1500 years of Christianity, Christian ordained leaders were referred to as nothing but
“father”. The concept of not referring to pastors or presbyters as father did not arise until the Protestant Reformation.
To be totally fair, if a person follows the above scripture (Matthew 23:9) literally, that same person must not refer to his/her biological father as “father” and certainly should not participate in “Father’s Day”. Additionally, in the same chapter, many Bible translations state “call no one teacher”. Therefore, the same person must not refer to instructors in school as “teacher”.
Additional Bible references help to add understanding:
Luke 16: 19-31
"There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day.
And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man's table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.
When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried,
and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
And he cried out, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.'
Abraham replied, 'My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.
Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from your side to ours.'
He said, 'Then I beg you, father, send him to my father's house,
for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.'
But Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.'
He said, 'Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
Then Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'"
John 8:56
"Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad."
1 John 2: 13-14
"I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have conquered the evil one.
I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God remains in you, and you have conquered the evil
one".
Acts 7:1-10
"Then the high priest asked, 'Is this so?'
And he replied, 1 "My brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our
father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia, 2 before he had settled in Haran,
and said to him, 'Go forth from your land and (from) your kinsfolk to the land that I will show you.'
So he went forth from the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his
father died, he made him migrate to this land where you now dwell.
Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but he did promise to give it to him and his descendants as a possession, even though he was childless.
And God spoke thus, 'His descendants shall be aliens in a land not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years;
but I will bring judgment on the nation they serve,' God said, 'and after that they will come out and worship me in this place.'
Then he gave him the covenant of circumcision, and so he became the father
of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, as Isaac did Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.
"And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into slavery in Egypt; but God was with him
and rescued him from all his afflictions. He granted him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who put him in charge of Egypt and (of) his entire household.
Then a famine and great affliction struck all Egypt and Canaan, and our ancestors could find no food;
but when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there a first time.
The second time, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh.
Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob, inviting him and his whole clan, seventy-five persons;...."
1 Cor. 4: 14-16
"I am writing you this not to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
Even if you should have countless guides to Christ, yet you do not have many
fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Therefore, I urge you, be imitators of me".
Conclusion
It should be clear that in the Bible biological fathers
and spiritual fathers, other than God, are referred to as
"father". One then reasonably asks, "How should one
interpret Mathew Chapter 23?"
From my point of view, it is always helpful to contemplate
such verses in context.
Hence, below I enclose Matthew chapter 23.
- Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples,
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- saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have taken
their seat on the chair of Moses.
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- Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you,
but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not
practice.
- They tie up heavy burdens (hard to carry) and lay them on
people's shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them.
-
- All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their
phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.
-
- They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in
synagogues,
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- greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation 'Rabbi.'
- As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.' You have but one
teacher, and you are all brothers.
- Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in
heaven.
- Do not be called 'Master'; you have but one master, the Messiah.
- The greatest among you must be your servant.
- Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles
himself will be exalted.
- "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You lock the kingdom of heaven before human beings. You do not
enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter.
- "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when that happens
you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves.
- "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'If one swears by
the temple, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gold of the
temple, one is obligated.'
- Blind fools, which is greater, the gold, or the temple that made
the gold sacred?
- And you say, 'If one swears by the altar, it means nothing, but
if one swears by the gift on the altar, one is obligated.'
- You blind ones, which is greater, the gift, or the altar that
makes the gift sacred?
- One who swears by the altar swears by it and all that is upon it;
- one who swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells
in it;
- one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him
who is seated on it.
- "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay
tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier
things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. (But) these you
should have done, without neglecting the others.
- Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the
camel!
- "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of
plunder and self-indulgence.
- Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the
outside also may be clean.
- "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside,
but inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of filth.
- Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are
filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.
- "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you
hypocrites. You build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the
memorials of the righteous,
- and you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we
would not have joined them in shedding the prophets' blood.'
- Thus you bear witness against yourselves that you are the
children of those who murdered the prophets;
- now fill up what your ancestors measured out!
- You serpents, you brood of vipers, how can you flee from the
judgment of Gehenna?
- Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets and wise men and
scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, some of them you will
scourge in your synagogues and pursue from town to town,
- so that there may come upon you all the righteous blood shed upon
earth, from the righteous blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the
son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the
altar.
- Amen, I say to you, all these things will come upon this
generation.
- "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and
stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your
children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings, but you
were unwilling!
- Behold, your house will be abandoned, desolate.
- I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is
he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
It is noteworthy that Jesus was telling the audience to
"do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you" in
regard to the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees, "but do not
follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice."
He proceeded to be a little more blunt and to the point in
addressing the scribes and Pharisees: "Even so, on the outside you
appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing".
Hence, I propose that spiritual leaders, fathers, and
teachers are properly referred to as "father" or
"teacher" to the extent that they participate in the Fatherhood
of God by living in humility and service to the message and example
of the Word of God.
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