father... But not Father

[Rockytopva]

father....

For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. - 1 Corinthians 4:15

But not Father...

Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. - Matthew 23:9

In which the first written father figure outside the actual Father is Job...

16 If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;
21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
32 The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveler.
40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended. - Job 31

And to play the part of a father is to care for those in need as a good father cares for his own. So here on earth we are supposed to play the part of father, knowing that one is our Father, even God.

 

[Vinny37]

....

[father... But not Father: Mt.23:9]

Of course the autographic biblical text lacked miniscule/majuscule distinctions, and our father/Father distinction is artificial yet sometimes useful. Moreover, Job seemed to think some fatherless (31:21: did he mean Godless?). But you raise a good Q.

In earlier years I was somewhat hung up on this text. My human father became my dad. Had I known Greek I might have called my dad father, as long as I didn’t call him pater. Had I known Aramaic, I might have called him pater, as long as I didn’t call him abba. It can be a form of legalism. A father is one, and as Job should act like one.

Yet it seemed strange that Jesus, on the surface reading of v10 having ruled out calling God teacher/guide—(didaskalos/‌klēthēte—Greek texts vary on Mt.23:8, but they’re synonyms anyway), then jumped from spiritual teaching (parenting) to human parenting. And did he allow us to call any woman, mother, or should mum be better? Since in a rabbinic way he called his disciples his children, should they call him their father [under God], or their mother?

Jesus happily called the rabbi, Nicodemus, a spiritual teacher of Israel (Jhn.3:10). Ac.3:13 speaks of genetic fathers. Eph.6:2 would be gutted if generic fatherhood was not acknowledged.

The historical evidence (so Carson’s Matthew (EBC), 2010:1047) shows that the rabbis had their spiritual gurus, fathers in the sense of authoritative teachers, didactic fathers. Some put similar weight on the so-called Church Fathers, but even their teachings must be weighed on biblical scales, and they weren’t always unanimous. It seems to me that Jesus did not switch from spiritual to biological fathers (v9).

He first warned against even the temptation to love revered titles (eg rabbi/teacher: 7,12) between those who are primarily learners (siblings).

PS: he did not deny that God can anoint teachers to teach under Christ (Eph.4:11). Some taught some basics well by lip if not by life (Mt.23:2-3). We still get scandals from big Christian names whose teaching by lip should be heeded.

He then taught that there was one teacher—unnamed (v8—depending on the Greek text). He then dismissed the holy pool of ace authoritative human teachers, which the rabbis, the lesser teachers, dipped into, namely the fathers (v9), for ad fontes God was the heavenly pool they imperfectly dipped into—their father.

PS: it was a bit like when having called Abraham their intermediate father, when pushed they called God their direct spiritual father: Jhn.8:39,41.

He then amplified his earlier words, with messianic authority saying that he himself was the teacher from God (v10), the pure stream from the pure source (Mt.11:27; Jhn.3:13 (NLT)—“No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven”).

 

[LeviR]

father....

For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. - 1 Corinthians 4:15

But not Father...

Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. - Matthew 23:9

In which the first written father figure outside the actual Father is Job...

16 If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;
21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
32 The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveler.
40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended. - Job 31

And to play the part of a father is to care for those in need as a good father cares for his own. So here on earth we are supposed to play the part of father, knowing that one is our Father, even God.

We need vision that looks past the temporal to the eternal.