"Faith is ... the certainty of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1)
livingwithfaith.org
  • HOME
  • ARTICLES
  • E-BOOKS
  • BLOG
  • ABOUT

What Does “Call No Man Father” Mean –  and Did Paul Contradict this Teaching?

6/20/2020

 
Picture
​In his first letter to the church at Corinth, the apostle Paul wrote: “Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15). It has sometimes been claimed that in saying this Paul contradicts the plain teaching of Jesus: “And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven” (Matthew 23:9).

Clearly, the teaching of Jesus is not against calling anyone’s human father by that name, but against using the term as a religious title –  as we see by looking at the context where he tells his disciples they are not to be called “Rabbi” (Matthew 23:8), “Father” (Matthew 23:9), or “Teacher” (Matthew 23:10). These were all elevated religious titles in Jesus’ time, and he continued by stressing that his disciples were to be servants rather than elevating themselves above others (Mathew 23:11-12).

So where does this place Paul’s comment? Was he not putting himself in a position inciting the Corinthians to call him “father”?    The answer is – not at all.  Just as the author of the book of Hebrews speaks of our human fathers (Hebrews 12:7, 9), the apostle John understood that there was nothing wrong with addressing human fathers by that name (1 John 2:13; etc.), and the apostle James knew that it was not wrong to refer to Abraham as his father (James 2:21).

What Paul says to the Corinthians is that he was fulfilling the role of a spiritual father to them. He addressed the Corinthians as  “my dear children” (1 Corinthians 4:14).  Two verses after telling them “I became your father through the gospel,” Paul speaks of his assistant Timothy in the same way: “For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love” (vs. 17).

Paul was certainly not telling the Corinthians that they should use the religious title “father” in their relationship with him, but rather he simply tells them how he feels he relates to them spiritually. Just as Jesus, after forbidding the use of father as a religious title, went on to say “The greatest among you will be your servant” (Matthew 23:11), so Paul frankly tells the Corinthians “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants” (1 Corinthians 3:5), and “This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ” (1 Corinthians 4:1).

It was clearly the furthest thing from Paul’s intention to set himself up and to encourage or incite the use of elevated titles for himself or other apostles.  As a true pastor, Paul guided and admonished his Corinthian congregation with a father’s concern and love and was moved to express his fatherly feelings to them in what he wrote.

In 1 Corinthians 4:15 Paul is not talking about the Corinthians calling him “father” – he was simply using a clear and apt analogy about his role as a spiritual parent to his flock. This is an identical situation to that which we find in the book of Ephesians where Paul is hardly inciting the Ephesians to call him “teacher” when he writes “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self” (Ephesians 4:22).  

Comments are closed.

    BLOG

    Follow @livingbelief

    RSS Feed

    For a smart browser-bookmark showing new blog postings, click on the RSS Feed icon.  

    Author :

    Unless otherwise stated, blog posts are written by R. Herbert, Ph.D.,  who writes for a number of Christian venues – including our sister site: TacticalChristianity.org
    ​
    For more about us, see our About Page.

    Categories :

    All
    Behind The Stories
    Bible Study
    Biblical Concepts
    Books Of The Bible
    Christianity & Culture
    Christian Living
    Dealing With Doubt
    Discipleship
    Encouragement
    Faith Hall Of Fame
    Faith & Trust
    Faith & Works
    Family
    Fellowship
    Forgiveness
    Giving
    God
    Gratitude
    History & The Bible
    Hope
    Knowledge & Wisdom
    Love
    Persecution
    Prayer
    Relationships
    Scripture In Question
    Spiritual Growth
    The Christian Calling
    The Christian Faith
    The Life Of Jesus
    Truth
    Works Of Faith

    Archives :

    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    Community :

    Picture
    - Charter Member -
© 2014 – 2022 LivingWithFaith.org