Father, Rabbi, Master?

There are only three usages within the Word , for the word Father.

#1 - literal father
#2 - father by way of adoption
#3 - father in law

If any organization asks that a leader - overseerer - elder - bishop etc, be called father, they are in error to what the Word of God says !

God is our Father, and Christ is our Master.

Love IN Christ - Hervey

Call themselves your father? What, were you immaculately concieved?

Jesus gave that instruction to his discipiles. The titles applied to the Pharisees.

He doesn't mean no one is to teach or lead. Or that children aren't to have fathers.

But if you are no ones teacher and no ones boss, you are off to a good start.

Hooray!! Dave & I are in agreement over something!

I think you're getting too literal here, guys. Look for the symbols and the contrasts. Jesus didn't really want us to hate our fathers, as he stated elsewhere, did he? Of course not. It's rhetoric for making a point and keeping things in perspective!

David:

Look at the scriptures and you will notice that a literal father is called a father. And there is nothing wrong with calling your literal father, your father.

Matthew 23:9 is not talking about your literal father, nor your adoptive father. Jesus was talking about calling someone who claims in some way to be spiritual, in calling this person -- father. WE are to only call God our spiritual father -- "only" !

L I C - Hervey

What can we say to a man who wants us to call him 'father' against the explicit instruction of Jesus?

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If any organization asks that a leader - overseerer - elder - bishop etc, be called father, they are in error to what the Word of God says !

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Poor Paul. He was so ignorant of God's plain instructions, he not only called religious leaders "father" (Acts 21:40, Acts 22:1), he called himself a "father" to his converts (1 Corinthians 4:14-15, 1 Timothy 1:2, Philemon 10). I guess he should have been reading The Fundamentals instead of the Old Testament.