Matthew 23:9: "And do not call anyone on earth `father’, for you
have one Father, and He is in heaven." (N.I.V.)
Some object to Catholics referring to priests as "father" because they think
the above passage from Scripture says not to. In Matthew 23:1-12, Jesus is
condemning the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He is saying that they desire the titles of
respect for their own purposes, not for the glory of God; which is certainly wrong. He is
not categorically condemning the use of titles of respect, but rather the misuse of them
for one’s self interests.
If you disagree, then I ask you the following questions:
1) What do you call your male parent?
2) The passage in question also says not to call anyone teacher. Have you ever called
anyone teacher?
3) In searching the New Testament, I came across numerous examples of New Testament
authors calling human beings fathers. How do you explain this?
Here is a truncated list of some examples:
Matthew Chapter 1 – Men are called "father" so many times
that I quit counting.
Romans 4:1-18 – St. Paul calls Abraham our father no less than eight
times. In fact, the name Abraham means "father of the multitude."
Romans 9:10 – Isaac is called our father
1 Corinthians 4:15 – St. Paul calls himself a father to the
Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 10:1
Galatians 1:14
Ephesians 5:31 and 6:4
Philippians 2:22 – St. Paul calls himself a father to Timothy
Colossians 3:21
1 Thessalonians. 2:11
1 Timothy 5:1
2 Timothy 1:3
Hebrews 1:1, 3:9 and 12:9
I could continue multiplying verses, but I think I’ve already become redundant.
The point again is that our earthly "fathers" in the faith are not an end in
themselves – like gurus – but that they are representations (albeit sometimes
poor ones) of our heavenly Father; as St. Paul says in Ephesians 3:14-15
"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the
whole family in heaven and earth is named." The
Catholic practice is, and always has been, the same as the early Church (Catholic Church)
that St. Paul is called "father" in those passages because he is a spiritual
father. Priests are called "father" because they, like St. Paul, are spiritual
fathers.
