Drawn not Dragged: Do Not Call Anyone Father?

One question I have been asked more than once is this:

“Does calling a priest ‘Father’ violate Christ’s command in Matthew 23:9?”
The historic answer of the Church is: No.
The reason is remarkably simple. Jesus says: “And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.”
Yet Holy Scripture repeatedly calls men “father.” The Apostle Paul writes: “For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” (1 Corinthians 4:15)
He refers to Timothy as his son in the faith. Stephen speaks of “our father Abraham” (Acts 7:2). The Fifth Commandment commands us to honour our father and mother.
Therefore, Christ cannot be issuing an absolute prohibition against the use of the word itself.
If He were, the rest of Holy Scripture would immediately violate His command.

The remaining question is what Christ meant.
The context tells us.
Matthew 23 is a condemnation of religious pride, self-exaltation, and the abuse of spiritual authority.
The scribes and Pharisees loved titles, honour, chief seats, and public recognition.
Christ warns His followers against seeking status and placing themselves in the position that belongs to God alone.
Nor is “father” the only title mentioned. In the very same passage Jesus also says: “You are not to be called Rabbi” (Matthew 23:8)
And “Neither be called instructors” (Matthew 23:10).
If these words are taken as an absolute prohibition of vocabulary, Christians must also stop using the words teacher, instructor, and rabbi.
Yet Scripture continues to use such terms.

Christ is attacking spiritual arrogance, not vocabulary.
The Apostles clearly understood Him this way because they themselves continued to use fatherly language.
The early Church understood Him this way because spiritual elders were called “Father” from the earliest centuries.
The Desert Fathers, bishops, priests, and monastic elders were addressed as “Father,” not because they replaced God, but because they reflected,
however imperfectly, God’s fatherly care for His people.

While some Reformers rejected the title “Father,” this interpretation was not the historic consensus of the Church East or West.
It represented a departure from an understanding that had prevailed for centuries.
Whether that newer interpretation is correct is precisely the point under discussion.
Historically speaking, however, the burden of proof lies with the innovation rather than the ancient consensus.
The issue ultimately turns on a single question.
If Matthew 23:9 is a literal prohibition on using the word “father” for a spiritual elder,
then the Apostle Paul disobeyed Christ when he called himself a father to the Corinthians.
Since no Christian believes St. Paul was contradicting Christ, the passage must mean something other than a literal ban on the word itself.
That is the hinge upon which the discussion turns.
Once that point is established, the argument largely resolves itself.
So does Holy Scripture forbid calling a priest or spiritual mentor “Father”?
The biblical evidence is quite strong that it does not.
The title “Father” is not contrary to Christ, contrary to Scripture, or contrary to the historic understanding of the Church.

My own mother wrestled with this issue for years. She was a staunch Calvinist Baptist, dispensationalist,
firmly convinced that addressing clergy as “Father” violated Christ’s command.
For many years she insisted on calling me “Rev. Ray” rather than “Fr. Ray.”
Yet over time she began to notice something that troubled her.
If Matthew 23 forbids the title “Father” in every sense, why does the Apostle Paul call himself a spiritual father to the Corinthians?
Why does Scripture speak of “Father Abraham”?
Why does the Fifth Commandment command us to honour our father and mother?
Eventually she concluded that Christ was not forbidding a word
but condemning a prideful attitude that seeks to usurp the place of God.

Near the end of her life, she no longer saw “Father” as a violation of Scripture.
She saw it as a title that could be used rightly or wrongly, just as “teacher” or “pastor” could be used rightly or wrongly.
The danger was never the word itself.
The danger was forgetting that all true fatherhood derives from God.
What struck me most about this change was that it was connected to another observation she often made.
“If every doctrine must come from Scripture alone, where does Scripture teach Scripture alone?”
That is not a Roman Catholic argument. It is not an Anglican argument. It is not an Orthodox argument. It is a logical observation.

Likewise, if Matthew 23 absolutely forbids calling anyone “father,” why does Holy Scripture continue to do so?
That is not an appeal to tradition.
It is an appeal to Scripture interpreting Scripture.
My mother eventually arrived at a principle many Christians have long embraced:
difficult passages must be interpreted in light of the wider witness of Scripture.
The irony is that her final position may actually have been more consistently biblicalthan the strictly literal interpretation she held for most of her life.

For more than seventy years she believed one thing.
Then one day she noticed that St. Paul called himself a father in Christ.
She wrestled with the text.
She reconsidered her assumptions.
And she changed her mind—not because someone appealed to tradition, but because she believed Scripture must be read as a whole.

Interestingly, one of the spiritual writers she greatly admired during her last years was St. Theophan the Recluse.
Born Georgy Govorov in 1815, he became the monk Theophan upon taking monastic vows.
He was later ordained deacon and addressed as Father Deacon Theophan.
Upon ordination to the priesthood he became Father Theophan.
Later he was consecrated bishop and became Bishop Theophan.
Following his retirement into solitude he became known as Theophan the Recluse, and after his canonization, Saint Theophan the Recluse.
She cherished his writings before she accepted the title by which he was known. Perhaps there is a lesson in that as well.

In the end, Christ was not forbidding a word.
He was forbidding pride.
The danger was never the title “Father.”
The danger was forgetting who the true Father is.

Prayer: O Lord Jesus Christ our God, Who breathed upon Your Holy Apostles and granted them the Holy Spirit, and through them
established Your One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, the pillar and ground of the Truth:
Grant us grace to read the Holy Scriptures with humility, reverence, and faithful hearts.
Preserve us from pride, from error, and from trusting in our own understanding above the wisdom You have bestowed upon Your Church.
Keep us from division and confusion.
Strengthen us to hold fast to the Faith once delivered to the Saints.
Illuminate our minds by Your Holy Spirit, that we may rightly understand Your Word and faithfully walk in Your Truth.
Through the prayers of Your Saints and all who have gone before us in the Faith,
keep us steadfast in the communion of Your Church and in the knowledge of Your saving love.
For You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and unto You we ascribe glory,
together with Your Father Who is without beginning, and Your all-holy, good, and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.