Jesus must have contradicted Himself then…**“Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead.” **What is the Catholic teaching on the meaning of Matt 23:9 ("And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.") given the practice of calling Catholic priests “father”?
This is a sincere question and any feedback based on scripture and/or tradition would be appreciated.
Blessings,
Brian
Take a look at these passages:Mat 1: 1A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:What is the Catholic teaching on the meaning of Matt 23:9 ("And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.") given the practice of calling Catholic priests “father”?
This is a sincere question and any feedback based on scripture and/or tradition would be appreciated.
Blessings,
Brian
**You have to read it in the context in which Jesus is saying it. These verses(Matt.23:8-12), warning against the use of various titles, are addressed to the disciples alone. While only the title "Rabbi’ has been said to be used in addressing the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 23:7), the implication is that Father and "Master’ also were. The prohibition of these titles to the disciples suggests that their use was present in Matthew’s church. The Matthean Jesus forbids not only the titles but the spirit of superiority and pride that is shown by their acceptance. Whoever exalts . . . will be exalted: Luke 14:11.What is the Catholic teaching on the meaning of Matt 23:9 ("And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.") given the practice of calling Catholic priests “father”?
This is a sincere question and any feedback based on scripture and/or tradition would be appreciated.
Blessings,
Brian
St. John ChrysostomHe is not prohibiting the honor given to parents, since He desires that we should honor our parents and especially our spiritual fathers; rather He is inducing us to acknowledge the true Father, namely, God, for He is chiefly and essentially our Father. Fathers in the flesh are not the authors of procreation, but rather, servants and accessories. Showing them what is to be gained by humility, He says that he who is great among you should be your servant and the least. For he who exalts himself, presuming to be something, shall be humbled and abandoned by God.
St. Jeromenot that they should not call, but they may know whom they ought to call Father, in the highest sense. For like as the master is not a master principally; so neither is the father. For He is cause of all, both of the masters, and of the fathers.
It is a difficulty that the Apostle against this command calls himself the teacher of the Gentiles; and that in monasteries in their common conversation, they call one another, Father. It is to be cleared thus. It is one thing to be father or master by nature, another by sufferance. Thus when we call any man our father, we do it to show respect to his age, not as regarding him as the author of our being. We also call men ‘Master,’ from resemblance to a real master; and, not to use tedious repetition, as the One God and One Son, who are by nature, do not preclude us from calling others gods and sons by adoption, so the One Father and One Master, do not preclude us from speaking of other fathers and masters by an abuse of the terms.
Thank you - very helpful (and thanks all for the other replies).Take a look at these passages:Mat 1: 1A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Acts 7: 2To this he replied: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran.
Rom 4 16Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
I Cor 4: 15Even 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.
Now, obviously the term “father” can be applied to both physical fatherhood and spiritual fatherhood.I n the OT God Himself gave Abram the new name of Abraham which means “father of many nations.” What was Jesus condemning? 1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
4They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5"Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteriesa] wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’ **
8"But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’** for you have one Teacher, the Christ.**(“http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mat 23;&version=31;#fen-NIV-23927b”)] 11The greatest among you will be your servant. 12For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Jesus was condemning the abuse of the titles of “teacher”, “rabbi” and “father” (not just “father”). These titles draw their meaning from God the Father and Teacher of us all. The Pharisees wanted these titles to look impressive and superior in the eyes of others. If you keep reading Mat 23 the Pharisees were corrupt hypocrites, exploiting terms like “father” to boost their pride. This is what Jesus was condemning.
**That might be, but early on protestants used ‘elder’, ‘brother’, ‘sister’, ‘pastor’, ‘minister’, ‘vicar’, ‘reverend’.BTW, wasn’t “Father” a common term for all religious pastors in the U.S. until an “infestation” of Irish calling their priests “father” brought a halt to other faiths using this term?
I seem to recall Karl Keating putting forth this argument.
I’ll try and find the story. According to my memory, the practice died out in the late 19th century.**That might be, but early on protestants used ‘elder’, ‘brother’, ‘sister’, ‘pastor’, ‘minister’, ‘vicar’, ‘reverend’.
As far as what I know of protestant history here in the U.S., the term ‘Father’ was not a common term for nonCatholic religious pastors in the U.S.**