Matthew 23:9 - And call none your father upon earth; for one is your father, who is in heaven.[10] Neither be ye called masters; for one is your master, Christ.
Protestant Christian Understanding: Pope means Father or Papa. Christ said to call no man on earth Father. Thus, the Catholic Faith violates this command by having Priests (Fathers) and the Pope.
Catholic Christian Understanding: This verse speaks to ATTITUDE, not to TITLES. Jesus is again preaching to his apostles to be humble and evangelize with all humility, asking them not to run around and dictate saying "I am the Father! You better listen to me!," or in that similar manner of tyranny. Christ is not saying that there are not officers in the Church and that those officers cannot have titles, like Pope or Father. Proof of this is found in Romans 12 and 1st Corinthians 12 where Paul talks about the different members of the Church and the different roles they play. He says, "God has given some to be Apostles , some to be teachers ….etc" He gives titles that God gave people. In the exact same passage Christ also says call no man teacher, which also refers to STYLE not the specific title.
If we take this verse literally and go by the rational of the above objection, then Protestants are not biblical when they call Bill Graham, "doctor" or Doctor Jerry Fallwell because "doctor" is the Latin word for teacher. Therefore calling anyone teacher is unbiblical and against what Christ taught. But the reality is, all of this is incorrect and a complete twisting of scripture.
This passage is referring to the Christ's teachings on the "style of leadership" and to not be prideful. If you look at the context of the entire Matthew 23 chapter, it is talking about the pride of the Pharisees and instructing not to imitate them.
Also, if we take this verse literally then we should not be calling our dads "dad" or "father" because Jesus specifically says, "Call NO MAN father." But we all call our father's father and saying when we do so is against God would be taking this verse completely out of context and infusing meaning that was never intended to be there.
On the contrary, it is important to note in the Old Testament, God said to call Abraham Father, provided you have the faith he has. In this message, Jesus is condemning the attitude that we are a law to ourselves and denying the Father in heaven the way He intended us to love him, not for us to decide how we should love Him as our own final authority. Ephesians 3:14 talks about the usage of Father where there is derivative fatherhood, with God as the ULTIMATE father. Jesus also said call no man Master as well, so does that mean that we all are accountable to God, the Ultimate Master, for calling men masters of their trade? Absolutely not.
Jesus was condemning the attitude of any single person thinking of taking on the role of the ultimate being when it comes to faith, almost thinking of oneself as replacing God.
As a counter thought, what about the statues of Lincoln in DC who we also call the FATHER of the country? That would violate this verse as well if we take this understanding and apply it literally. The point is, Jesus was not literally saying call no man Father as a title. And if He was, then we are all in violation, Catholics and Protestants alike, of doing the opposite of what Christ was supposedly saying. Furthermore, where does it stop or who does it apply to, because it seems it only applies to Catholics and not anyone else. All Protestants call their pastors "doctor" and founding fathers of the country "fathers".
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