A good son helps clarify what the Son really meant about calling men "father."
The scenario:
It's Saturday evening. You and a few of your Catholic friends are at a local Fundamentalist church attending a formal debate between a priest, Father Tom Flynn, and the minister, Pastor Doug Simmons. As the evening progresses, you notice Pastor Simmons never refers to Father Flynn as "father," calling him instead, "Mr. Flynn." This strikes you as odd.
At the mid-point of the debate, there's a 15-minute break. Hurriedly, you make your way toward Pastor Simmons, where a group is gathering, talking about the first hour. As you approach, you raise your voice above the chatter of the crowd and ask, almost without thinking: "Pastor Simmons? I noticed you never refer to Father Flynn as 'father.' Can you give me a reason why?"
The crowd quiets a little as he immediately responds, "Certainly. Matthew 23:9 tells us quite clearly, 'Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.' I obey Jesus Christ, rather than the false doctrines and precepts of men."
Your response:
Though you feel a bit nervous to find yourself engaged in an impromptu debate with an experienced debater, you ask, "What if I can demonstrate to you from the Bible that it is entirely proper to call men 'father' on the earth? Would you then call Father Flynn 'father' for the rest of the debate?"
"Sure," Pastor Simmons confidently responds.
"Good luck trying," you overhear one bystander say to another.
Step One:
"I think we all agree we must never take Scripture out of context," you begin. "Jehovah's Witnesses are a classic example of this. They will quote 1 Timothy 2:5 as proof against the Divinity of Christ: 'For there is one God; and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.' They claim this text proves Jesus is not God. We all know, as Christians, this is not the case (John 1:1, 8:58, 20:28, Hebrews 1:8, Titus 2:13). We must be sure never to build a doctrine on one single verse, without acknowledging its context or other Biblical evidence. And I hate to say it, Pastor Simmons, but I believe this is what you're doing with Matthew 23:9."
Step Two:
Now you ask them to turn in their Bibles to Ephesians 6:2-4: " 'Honor your father and mother, that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.' Wouldn't you say your father is someone on this earth? But Jesus said 'call no man your father on earth.' Jesus did not say 'call no man father on earth except your biological father.' Is this a contradiction?" you ask.
"Of course not," Pastor Simmons responds. "As you said, we must consider the context of any given passage of Scripture. Clearly, in Matthew 23, Jesus is speaking in the context of calling religious leaders 'father.' "
You reply, "So you're saying that when Jesus said 'call no man your father on earth,' He didn't mean that in an absolute and all-encompassing way? We have an exception when it comes to our biological fathers. Is that correct?"
"That is correct," Pastor Simmons declares assuredly. "We just can't refer to religious leaders as 'fathers.' "
Step Three:
Now you step up the challenge. "What if I can show you that it is Biblical to call religious leaders 'father'? Would you then call Father Flynn 'father'?"
"Absolutely," Pastor Simmons grins.
"Then listen to the very words of Our Lord in Luke 16:24: 'And he [the rich man] called out, Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.' Would you say Abraham is a religious leader, Pastor?"
Silence.
You continue: "Not only does Jesus refer to Abraham as 'father,' but St. James does likewise in James 2:21, as does St. Paul, calling Abraham 'father' seven times in Romans 4:1-18. Are we to believe Jesus, St. James and St. Paul are contradicting Matthew 23:9?"
At this point, Pastor Simmons is visibly frustrated as he responds, "It's okay to refer to someone who has gone before us in the faith as 'father.' They are our 'fathers' in the faith. But this is a far cry from giving our leaders today the title of 'father,' which, according to Matthew 23:9, is reserved to God alone."
Step Four:
As the surrounding crowd listens intently, you summarize the mini-debate thus far. "What began as a Scripture text 'clearly' prohibiting calling any man 'father' has now become a text with two exceptions so far. So now you're saying it's okay to call our dads 'father.' We can even call our spiritual forefathers 'father,' as we see with Abraham in Scripture. But you still claim we cannot refer to our living spiritual leaders as 'father.' What if I can demonstrate to you it is in fact Biblical to call our living spiritual leaders 'father'? Would you then refer to Father Flynn as 'father'?"
Receiving no response this time, and seeing you are quickly running out of time, you proceed. "Twice in 1 John 2:13-14, St. John calls the leaders of the Church to which he is writing 'fathers': '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 overcome 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.'
"In Acts 7:1-2, St. Stephen, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as shown in Acts 7:55, calls both Abraham and the elders of Jerusalem 'father': 'And the high priest said, "Is this so?" And Stephen said: 'Brethren and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham.'
"And in 1 Corinthians 4:14-15, St. Paul refers to himself as 'father': 'I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.' Time does not allow me to quote to you 1 Thessalonians 2:11, John 4:12, Acts 4:25 and Romans 9:10. All of these verses refer to men, whether alive at the time or not, as 'father.' "
Step Five:
Now you're almost out of time, so you rush to make your final points quickly. "In Matthew 23:8, one verse earlier than the text in question, it says to call no man 'teacher.' And yet, we know there are many who are called 'teacher' in the New Testament, for instance in James 3:1 and Ephesians 4:11.
"The real key to understanding Matthew 23," you explain, "is found in a proper understanding of the nature of the Body of Christ. The Douay Rheims translation of Ephesians 3:14-15 expresses it well. 'For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom all paternity [Greek: paternia, English: fatherhood] in heaven and earth is named.' God the Father is our one, true Father. All other fatherhood, be it biological or spiritual, participates in His unique Fatherhood and represents it to us. Our biological and spiritual fathers neither take away nor add to this one unique Fatherhood. Rather, they establish it on earth.
"The context of Matthew 23 shows that it's addressing the sin of pride among the scribes and Pharisees. They loved to be called 'teacher' and 'father.' But in their pride, they pointed to themselves rather than to God the Father, from Whom they received true fatherhood, and in Whom their fatherhood subsisted. Outside of God the Father, there are no fathers at all in the true sense of the term."
Conclusion:
The moderator of the debate now summons the audience back to their seats for the second half. As the small crowd disperses, you remind Pastor Simmons to remember what Scripture says about the nature of Christ. "There are texts that say Christ is man and there are texts that say He is God. We don't throw out either. Both are true. Analogously, Jesus says we are not to call any man 'father,' yet Christ Himself, St. Stephen, St. James and St. Paul all refer to men as 'father.' "
Your final comment to him is this: "Don't throw out any of these texts! Our fathers in heaven, Abraham, David and Jacob for example, and our fathers on earth, religious leaders and dads, participate in the one, unique Fatherhood of God. They don't add to it, but neither do they detract from it. They represent and establish that Fatherhood on earth."
As the debate resumes, you notice a significant change. Pastor Simmons is not quite the man he was before the break. Several times, when referring to Father Flynn by name, he hesitates in calling him "Mister." It's obvious the wheels are turning in his head.
You sit back in your chair, and can't help smiling to yourself. "Here I am," you think, "an average Catholic just dabbling in apologetics, yet the Lord used me to help a Protestant minister and some of his flock rethink what once seemed so certain. I can't wait to call Dad and tell him all about it."
Tim Staples can be reached at Catholic Answers
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