Call No Man Your Father

Matthew 23:9

And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

The Same Word, Used Both Ways

The word “father” in this verse is the same Greek word Yahushua uses for a man’s own dad. In Matthew 15:4 and 19:19 He quotes the commandment, “Honour thy father and thy mother.” He would not command a son to honor his father in one chapter and forbid him to call him father in another. So Matthew 23:9 must mean something narrower. The chapter shows what it is.

Three Titles From One Seat

Matthew 23 opens with the scribes and Pharisees sitting in Moses’ seat. They love the best seats, the greetings in the market, and being called “Rabbi.” Then Yahushua names three titles in a row:

Matthew 23:8-10

But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Messiah; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Messiah.

Rabbi, father, and master belong together. All three are titles of rank for men who rule over religious teaching. “Father” here is not a family word. It is a title for a man who sits in the seat.

Where Yahushua Drew the Line

Matthew 15 shows the two kinds of father side by side. The Pharisees complained that the disciples broke “the tradition of the elders.” Yahushua answered:

Matthew 15:3-6

Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother… But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift… And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.

The father in the home is protected by the Law. The religious fathers, the elders who made the tradition, are the ones who cancelled that Law. Yahushua stood with the father in the home against the fathers in the seat.

The Father in Heaven

Yahuah claims the title of Father for Himself, and He asks for the honor that goes with it:

Malachi 1:6

A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith Yahuah of hosts.

Malachi uses the same pair Yahushua used: father and master. Yahuah is the Father and the Master of His people. When a man on earth takes those titles in religion, he takes honor that belongs to Yahuah. That is why Yahushua said “upon the earth” and “in heaven.” There is one Father in the things of Yahuah, and He is not a man.

Where the Titles Stand Today

The Roman church calls its priests “Father” and its leader “Pope,” which means father. It even calls him “Holy Father,” the name Yahushua used for Yahuah alone (John 17:11). Protestant churches do the same in other words. Their ministers are called “Reverend,” a word the King James Bible uses only once, for Yahuah’s own name (Psalm 111:9). Both sides lean on the “Church Fathers” and their creeds, and the Trinity itself came down from those fathers, not from Scripture.

A son may call his dad father and honor him, just as the Law says. What Yahushua forbade is giving any man the seat that belongs to Yahuah. His answer for men who want the title is simple: “he that is greatest among you shall be your servant” (Matthew 23:11).

The Last Word

Revelation shows where every religious title ends. The twenty-four elders take off their crowns and cast them before the throne (Revelation 4:10). In that day no man keeps a title. All honor goes to the One who sits on the throne.