WRONG. Jesus was telling them not to elevate rabbis and teachers to the level of the heavenly Father. Your eisegesis is glaring.
No, He wasn't. The Rabbis were not insisting that they be elevated to the level of the Heavenly Father Himself! They would have readily recognized this to blasphemy. Jesus was merely telling the disciples not to elevate
themselves above other men because they have One Father in Heaven, and because He found the fact that the Pharisees loved to be greeting with titles of respect by other men to be very displeasing to Him.
What bearing in your opinion do verses 1-7 have on verses 8-10, and what is the point of verse 11?
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries[a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Your Bible twisting is offensive... In this verse, Jesus was discouraging His followers from elevating the scribes and Pharisees to the titles of “fathers” and “rabbis” because they were hypocrites.
No. The passage says Jesus told them, “But
YOU are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for
you have one Teacher, and
you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for
you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are
YOU to be called instructors, for
you have one Instructor, the Messiah."
Matt. 23:8 – in this teaching, Jesus also says not to call anyone teacher or rabbi as well. But don’t Protestants call their teachers “teacher?” What about this commandment of Jesus? When Protestants say “call no man father,” they must also argue that we cannot call any man teacher either.
The word καθηγητὴς in verse 10 is used as
title, just as are the words "Rabbi" and "father" in the previous verses. And yes, your point is valid here. According to the passage, neither protestants nor Catholics should elevate leaders through the use of titles, nor elevate themselves in comparison with one another. This is what Paul was saying in 1 Corinthians 3:5-7 and 1 Corinthians 3:21-23.
Judges 17:10; 18:19 – priesthood and fatherhood have always been identified together. Fatherhood literally means “communicating one’s nature,” and just as biological fathers communicate their nature to their children, so do spiritual fathers communicate the nature of God to us, their children, through (hopefully) teaching and example.
Yes, here is an example of using the terms "father" and "son" in a spiritual sense. But the text does not say, "Come dwell with me, and I will address you with the title 'father'." He simply asked him to
be as a spiritual father to him. Different thing.
Eph. 3:14-15 – every family in heaven and on earth is named from the “Father.” We are fathers in the Father.
Acts 7:2; 22:1,
1 John 2:13 – elders of the Church are called “fathers.” Therefore, we should ask the question, “Why don’t Protestants call their pastors “father?”
1 Cor. 4:15 – Paul writes, “I became your father in Christ Jesus.”
1 Cor. 4:17 – Paul calls Bishop Timothy a beloved and faithful “child” in the Lord.
2 Cor. 12:14 – Paul describes his role as parent over his “children” the Corinthians.
Phil. 2:22 – Paul calls Timothy’s service to him as a son serves a “father.”
1 Thess. 2:11- Paul compares the Church elders’ ministry to the people like a father with his children.
1 Tim. 1:2,18; 2 Tim. 1:2-3 – Paul calls Timothy his true “child” in the faith and his son.
Titus 1:4 – Paul calls Titus his true “child” in a common faith. Priests are our spiritual fathers in the family of God.
Philemon 10 – Paul says he has become the “father” of Onesimus.
Heb. 12:7,9 – emphasizes our earthly “fathers.” But these are not just biological but also spiritual (the priests of the Church).
1 Peter 5:13 – Peter refers to himself as father by calling Mark his “son.”
1 John 2:1,13,14 – John calls the elders of the Church “fathers.”
1 John 2:1,18,28; 3:18; 5:21; 3 John 4 – John calls members of the Church “children.”
We call our priests "Father" because it's biblical and have been doing it since the time of Paul.
Most of your passages above either use the word "father" as an analogy or in the sense of "ancestor." This is not the same thing as referring to people by titles to give them greater honor in the sight of men than others, which is Christ's whole focus of the teaching.
