Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 23:9
And call no [man] your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
And call no man your Father … – This does not, of course, forbid us to apply the term to our real father. Religion requires all proper honor to be shown to Him, Exo 20:12; Mat 15:4; Eph 6:1-3. But the word father also denotes authority, eminence, superiority, a right to command, and a claim to particular respect. In this sense it is used here. In this sense it belongs eminently to God, and it is not right to give it to people. Christian brethren are equal. Only God has supreme authority. He only has a right to give laws; to declare doctrines that shall bind the conscience; to punish disobedience. The Jewish teachers affected that title because they seem to have supposed that a teacher formed the man, or gave him real life, and sought, therefore, to be called father. Christ taught them that the source of all life and truth was God, and they ought not to seek or receive a title which properly belongs to him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. Call no man your FATHER] Our Lord probably alludes to the AB, or father of the Sanhedrin, who was the next after the nasi, or president. See on Mt 20:21. By which he gives his disciples to understand that he would have no SECOND, after himself, established in his Church, of which he alone was the head; and that perfect equality must subsist among them.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
9. And call no man your father uponthe earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven, c.Toconstrue these injunctions into a condemnation of every title bywhich Church rulers may be distinguished from the flock which theyrule, is virtually to condemn that rule itself and accordingly thesame persons do bothbut against the whole strain of the NewTestament and sound Christian judgment. But when we have guardedourselves against these extremes, let us see to it that we retain thefull spirit of this warning against that itch for ecclesiasticalsuperiority which has been the bane and the scandal of Christ’sministers in every age. (On the use of the word “Christ”here, see on Mt 1:1).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And call no man your father upon the earth,…. Not but that children may, and should call their natural parents, fathers; and such who have been instrumental in the conversion of souls, may be rightly called by them their spiritual fathers; as servants and scholars also, may call those that are over them, and instruct them, their masters: our Lord does not mean, by any of these expressions, to set aside all names and titles, of natural and civil distinction among men, but only to reject all such names and titles, as are used to signify an authoritative power over men’s consciences, in matters of faith and obedience; in which, God and Christ are only to be attended to. Christ’s sense is, that he would have his disciples not fond of any titles of honour at all; and much less assume an authority over men, as if they were to depend on them, as the founders of the Christian religion, the authors of its doctrines and ordinances; and to take that honour to themselves, which did not belong to them; nor even choose to be called by such names, as would lead people to entertain too high an opinion of them, and take off of their dependence on God the Father, and himself, as these titles the Scribes and Pharisees loved to be called by, did: and who were called not only by the name of Rabbi, but Abba, “Father”, also: hence we read of Abba Saul, or “Father” Saul n; Abba Jose ben Jochanan, a man of Jerusalem o, Abba Chanan p, Abba Chelphetha, a man of the village of Hananiah q; Abba Gorion r, and others; and this name was
, “a name of honour, even as Rabbi” s, and of great authority: the wise men are said to be , “the fathers of all” t, to whom all gave heed, and upon whom all depended, as so many oracles. There is a whole treatise in their Misna, called Pirke Abot, which contains some of the oracles, and peculiar sayings of these “fathers”, the Misnic doctors, and which are preferred to the writings of Moses, and the prophets. In this sense, and upon this score, our Lord inveighs against them, and cautions his disciples against giving or taking all such titles, in such sense. “For one is your Father, which is in heaven”; who is so, both by creation and adoption, and is possessed of all paternal authority; and is to be honoured and obeyed by all; from whom all wisdom and knowledge is derived, and who has the care and government of all in heaven and in earth.
n Pirke Abot, c. 2. sect. 8. o T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 53. 2. p Ib. fol. 64. 1. q T. Bab. Bava Metzia, fol. 94. 1. & Bava Bathra. fol. 56. 2. r Massech Sopherim, c. 15. sect. 10. s Juchasiu, fol. 31. 2. & 61. 2. t Maimon. in Misn. Peah, c. 1. sect. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Call no man your father ( ). Jesus meant the full sense of this noble word for our heavenly Father. “Abba was not commonly a mode of address to a living person, but a title of honour for Rabbis and great men of the past” (McNeile). In Gethsemane Jesus said: “Abba, Father” (Mr 14:36). Certainly the ascription of “Father” to pope and priest seems out of harmony with what Jesus here says. He should not be understood to be condemning the title to one’s real earthly father. Jesus often leaves the exceptions to be supplied.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Father [] . Aimed at those who courted the title Abba, or Father. Compare the title Papa – Pope.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
9. And call no man on earth your Father. He claims for God alone the honor of Father, in nearly the same sense as he lately asserted that he himself is the only Master; for this name was not assumed by men for themselves, but was given to them by God. And therefore it is not only lawful to call men on earth fathers, but it would be wicked to deprive them of that honor. Nor is there any importance in the distinction which some have brought forward, that men, by whom children have been begotten, are fathers according to the flesh, but that God alone is the Father of spirits. I readily acknowledge that in this manner God is sometimes distinguished from men, as in Heb 12:5, but as Paul more than once calls himself a spiritual father, (1Co 4:15,) we must see how this agrees with the words of Christ. The true meaning therefore is, that the honor of a father is falsely ascribed to men, when it obscures the glory of God. Now this is done, whenever a mortal man, viewed apart from God, is accounted a father, since all the degrees of relationship depend on God alone through Christ, and are held together in such a manner that, strictly speaking, God alone is the Father of all.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) Call no man your father.This also, under its Hebrew form of Abba, was one of the titles in which the scribes delighted. In its true use it embodied the thought that the relation of scholars and teachers was filial on the one side, paternal on the other; but precisely because it expressed so noble an idea was its merely conventional use full of danger. The history of the ecclesiastical titles of Christendom offers in this respect a singular parallel to that of the titles of Judaism. In Abbot (derived from Abba=Father), in Papa and Pope (which have risen from their application to every priest, till they culminate in the Pontifex summus of the Church of Home), in our Father in God, as applied to Bishops, we find examples of the use of like language, liable to the same abuse. It would, of course, be a slavish literalism to see in our Lords words an absolute prohibition of these and like words in ecclesiastical or civil life. What was meant was to warn men against so recognising, in any case, the fatherhood of men as to forget the Fatherhood of God. Even the teacher and apostle, who is a father to others, needs to remember that he is as a little child in the relation to God. (Comp. St. Pauls claim in 1Co. 4:15.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. Call no man your father Here again we should obviously fall into absurdity by a bare verbal and literal mode of interpretation. Has not the child a right to call his own parent father? Our Lord does not condemn the greetings and appellations which express the cordial, affectionate, and respectful feelings of life. This is the reverse of the Gospel spirit. But under the symbol of the names father, master, and rabbi, he does forbid that submission to men which stands in the way of our submission to our father God, or master Christ, and our Rabbi, the Holy Spirit in his word and influences.
The word pope signifies father. If ever in the history of men the title father has been assumed in express transgression of Christ’s command, it is in his case. Never has the title been used to cover a more despotic or illegitimate authority, or to produce a more abject surrender of body and soul into the hands of ravenous and remorseless men. Yet even in this case the guilt is not in the title but in the spiritual despotism the title expresses.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
Ver. 9. Call no man your father ] i.e. Give no man absolute power over you; be not the servants of men, or slaves to their opinions or mandates, as friars are to their superiors, to argue or debate on whose commands is held high presumption; to search their reasons, proud curiosity; to detract or disobey them, breach of vow equal to sacrilege.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 23:9 . = abba, another title of honour for the Rabbis (Schttgen). The clause is to be translated: a father of you call not upon earth = do not pronounce this sacred name with reference to men. Vide Winer, 64, 4, and cf. Heb 3:13 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
father. This is against those who loved to he so called.
upon. Greek. epi. App-104.
Father. See App-98.
heaven = the heavens. See note on Mat 6:9, Mat 6:10.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mat 23:9. , father) This also was the grand title given by the Jews to their teachers, especially in old age.- , …, do not call, etc.) Let not either your tongue or your mind ascribe infallibility to any man.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
call: 2Ki 2:12, 2Ki 6:21, 2Ki 13:14, Job 32:21, Job 32:22, Act 22:1, 1Co 4:15, 1Ti 5:1, 1Ti 5:2, Heb 12:9
for: Mat 6:8, Mat 6:9, Mat 6:32, Mal 1:6, Rom 8:14-17, 2Co 6:18, 1Jo 3:1
Reciprocal: Jdg 18:19 – a father 2Ki 5:13 – My father Mat 5:16 – your Father Col 4:1 – ye
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
23:9
By the process of elimination we know this verse does not mean our fleshly father for that Is a respect all men are commanded to show. Nor can it mean in the sense of one who leads us to be born into the kingdom, for Paul claimed that relationship to Timothy (1Ti 1:1). The conclusion is clear, then, that this verse means not to call any man father as a religious title or one of authority.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 23:9. Your father upon earth. A natural father is not meant. Nor are titles of respect to the aged forbidden. Stephen (Act 7:2) began his defence: Brethren and fathers, and Paul too calls himself the spiritual father of the Corinthians (1Co 4:15), speaks of Timothy as his son in the faith (1Ti 1:2; comp. Tit 1:4; 1Pe 5:13). It rather forbids honoring any one as an absolute spiritual authority, because this opposes the authority of our Father in heaven. Compare the Papal usage in all its forms of priesthood from the one Father (Papa) claiming infallibility, to the parish priest, or Father, claiming infallibility derived from that source.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 9
Call no man, father. This is to be interpreted on the same principles with the other verses. It forbids only an unreasonable and excessive subserviency to human authority, not a proper reverence for age and honorable standing. See 1 Timothy 5:1.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
23:9 And call no [man] your {i} father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
(i) He attacks a custom of the Jews, for they called the rabbis “our fathers”.