Church as Spiritual Family Pt. 2 Don't Call Anyone "father"? Matthew 23:8-12

The Church is a spiritual family with spiritual brothers and sisters. But what about spiritual parents? Every family needs a loving father and mother. Some may object to the idea of Church leadership being spiritual parents based on Matthew 23:8-12.

However, a thoughtful exegesis, with analysis of the New Testament Greek language, of Matthew 23 reveals that Jesus was using hyperbole to elucidate a spiritual truth that his disciples were not to behave like the hypocritical and pretentious Pharisees.  If we were to take Jesus' words as completely wooden and concretely literal, without recognizing the pharisaical context of all of chapter 23 and the hyperbolic nature of the admonition, then we could not call our biological fathers- "Father".  Neither could we call our teachers- "Teacher", and neither could we call anyone "doctor" because "doctor is a Latin word meaning "teacher".  Clearly, this is not what Jesus had in mind.

Remember, Paul repeatedly called Timothy his "son" and "my child" (1 Tim. 1:2, 2 Tim. 1:2,).  Paul called both Titus and Onesimus his "child" (Tit. 1:4, Phm. 10). Peter called "John Mark his "son" (1 Pet. 5:13). John and Paul called their readers "my little children" (Gal. 4:19, 1 Jn. 2:1).  Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers: "for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.” (1 Cor. 4:14–15). 

Today, Evangelical Protestant scholars call the successors of the Apostles "The Ante-Nicene Fathers". These same Evangelical Protestant scholars call the ancient Church monastics "The Desert Fathers".  In fact, the ancient Church widely accepted and used the affectionate title of "Father"/"Abba" for their bishops/overseers and elders/priests. Thus, the attribution of "Father/Abba" best described the role of these ancient servant leaders. They understood no injunction by Jesus, or the Apostles, with the designation of "Father" when referring to their bishops and elders/priests as spiritual "fathers".

Lastly, calling a pastor "father" needs to be understood as an endearing designation for someone who is a pastoral servant leader and a loving spiritual mentor, rather than a designation for someone with ecclesiastical control and power.

With that said, no matter how you refer to a pastoral leader, the Church is in dire need of spiritual "fathers" and "mothers" for this spiritually orphaned generation.