There are several
interpretations that one can observe from simply reading this section of
Scripture. First, it could just simply mean that using the word father in
reference to anyone other than God is a sin. Second, our earthly male
parent has no status whatsoever and because of this, should not be called "father". Lastly,
Jesus could simply mean that the true status and glory implied by the word
father only applies to our Father in Heaven so we should not seek this
glory for ourselves. The last interpretation is the most reasonable
because it considers this text in its context with the surrounding
verses.
The problem with the first interpretation is that even Jesus Himself uses the
word father in reference to a person"s male parent, "Anyone who loves his father more
than me is not worthy of me"
(Mat. 10:37, NIV) and, "honor your father"
(Ex. 20:12; Deut.5:16;
Mat. 15:4, 34; Mk.7:10). Mischewski states, "If we take the "call no
man your father upon the earth" verse absolutely literally, we are of course
forbidden to apply the title even to our biological fathers, which would make
the analogy of God as our divine Father meaningless" (Mischewski 2001). In
addition, this interpretation lacks the presence of other Scriptural support.
The problem with the second interpretation is that Jesus tells us we are to give honor our earthly fathers (Mat. 15:4, 34; Mk.7:10). In 1 Kings 3:3 we read that, "Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the statutes of his father David..."; In fact, Mischewski notes that,";In the book of Genesis, Joseph had a fatherly relationship, given by God, with the king of Egypt" with reference to Genesis 45:8, "It was not you who sent me here, but God; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt" (Mischewski 2001). With this insight, we must decline this interpretation as well because of its lack of Scriptural backing.
After disproving the earlier interpretations, a question arises that asks, "Why then does Jesus go so far as to say we are to call no one on earth "father?"" As Cook explains, "The scribes had abused the quasi-parental authority which they enjoyed by substituting their own teaching in the place of God"s" (Cook 1878, 128). Said in another way, the Pharisees took advantage of their position of status and along with it, the reverence that belonged only to God the Father by using their own teaching instead of God"s Word. Charles Ellicott gives us an interesting prospective about the word "father" in this context, "What was meant was to warn men against so recognizing, in any case, the fatherhood of men as to forget the Fatherhood of God" (Ellicott 1959, 141).
It can be seen in the text surrounding this passage exactly how the Pharisees were displaying a strong desire for special titles that didn"t belong to them. One meaning of the word father that really ties in with the apparent attitude of the priests is that of, "A revered superior" (Bryant 1967, 173). Jesus makes it very clear in the previous verses that, "Everything they do is done for men to see..." (Mat. 23:5). From this sort of perspective of the Pharisees, Argyle says, "What is forbidden is not the desire to show respect to a brother, but the desire to have respect shown to oneself. It is pride which is forbidden…" (Argyle 1963, 172).
Clifford Allen notes two problems that he feels Jesus Himself saw among the Pharisees, "…claiming what belongs to God alone or His Christ and the denial of the basic principle that service is the measure of greatness" (Allen 1969, 211). Allen also mentions that the greetings in theMiddle East were extremely different from that of the Western world, because they were neither hasty nor informal. In light of this, it could be seen that the Pharisees could have easily set themselves up to appear as "macho teachers" before those they taught, on the other hand, they also had the chance to give all of the glory to God.
In the following verses we become even more aware of how much value the Pharisees had bestowed upon these titles because Jesus condemned the usage of such words by the statements such as, "you are not to be called "Rabbi"…" or even teacher. Ellicott uses the words of who he calls "a better scribe" named Shemaiah, to justify Jesus" words about His disciples being called "Rabbis", "Men should love the work, but hate the Rabbi-ship" (Ellicott 1959, 140). The Pharisees definitely loved the attention this name provided them, as even Jesus Himself says, "The greatest among you will be your servant" (Matthew23:11).
With all of this about the Pharisees and how Jesus was instructing His disciples to be different than them, we must also note the implications this teaching of Jesus had. Mischewski provides us with some help here, "Any fatherhood that we see exercised here on earth should be an attempt to image our Father in heaven, rather than being up itself as the ultimate "father figure" standard as Jesus' opponents here seemed to be doing" (Mischewski 2000). From this quote, we can see that any earthly fatherhood that is to be established on earth must be an attempt to mirror the image of our Father in Heaven. In fact, the earthly tabernacle that the Jews were to build on earth was to be a replica of the one in Heaven (Heb. 8:5). After all, who sets the highest level for fatherhood then God the Father Himself?
Another implication of this interpretation is the idea of being a spiritual father to others in the faith. This can be found in Paul"s letter to the Corinthians, "I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel" (1 Cor.4:14, 15). There are dozens of scripture passages in the New Testament that center on this idea of being a spiritual father to young believers (see Acts 7:2, 22:1; Rom. 4:11, 16, 17; 1 Tim. 1:2, and others for examples).
As mentioned earlier, we must make sure that we do not seek the titles that belong to God alone because now we have Jesus Himself who has warned us, and can now testify against us on this, that the glory must directed God the Father.
From even these implications we can see that Jesus did desire for this section of Scripture to be taken literally, but that we should consider how the Pharisees took that which belonged to God (the glory of the titles) and put it upon themselves. Jesus was teaching this as an example to disciples about how they should not live, but instead they should be servants of those they minister to so that they may be the greatest (Mat.23:11). As Ellicott states what seems to be apossible two-fold meaning in this verse, "either as in Mark 9:35 the law of retribution the man who seeks to be the greatest shall be the servant of all, or they point out other law, of which our Lord"s own life was the highest illustration" (Ellicott 1959, 141).
Essentially, Jesus was
commanding His disciples to be humble before God and man especially in their
ministry and to be careful to give the glory to God (Titus 3:8). Jesus was
using the example of the Pharisees lives to say, "Hey, if you don"t keep
yourselves humble before your Father your Father will reject you just like He
rejected the Pharisees." Because of Jesus" deep love for His disciples He said all He could to
keep them traveling along the straight and narrow. In this way, Jesus
was emphasizing how they are to be humble before God the Father in all
that they do. Today, Jesus is telling us the same thing in this passage,
if only we would listen and apply His teaching in our lives.
REFERENCE LIST
Allen, Clifford. 1969. The Broadman Bible Commentary: General Articles
Matthew-Mark.Vol 8. Nashville,TN: Broadman Press.
Argyle, A. W. 1963. TheCambridgeBible Commentary on the English Bible:
The Gospel According to Matthew.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity
Press.
Bryant,AltonT. 1967. The New Compact Bible Dictionary.Grand Rapids,MI:
Zondervan Publishing House.
Cook, F. C., ed. 1878. Holy Bible with Commentary: New Testament. Vol. 1.
London: William Clowes and Sons.
Ellicott, Charles. 1959. Ellicott"s Commentary on the Whole Bible: A Verse by Verse Explanation. Vol 6. Grand Rapids,MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
Mischewski, Dean. 2001. "Call No Man Father." Catholicism Article. (Summer)
[journal-online]. Available from http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/misc-hedj/ct_nomanfather.html. Internet. Accessed14 February 2002.