Call No Man "Father"?

Fatherhood in Scripture

No one would forbid a girl to say she loves her father. Banning earthly fatherhood would empty God's Fatherhood of meaning, since the analogy would have no earthly counterpart. And the Bible uses "father" beyond biological fathers, as a sign of respect for a special relationship:

• Joseph says God made him "a father to Pharaoh" (Genesis 45:8).
• Job was a father to the poor (Job 29:16).
• God makes Eliakim, steward of David's house, a father to Jerusalem (Isaiah 22:20-21).
• Elisha cries "My father!" to Elijah (2 Kings 2:12), and the king of Israel calls Elisha father (2 Kings 6:21).

Did the New Testament change this?

No. First, the command does not apply to one's own father or ancestors: Stephen speaks of "our father Abraham" (Acts 7:2) and Paul of "our father Isaac" (Romans 9:10). Second, the New Testament uses "father" for men who are not biological fathers many times. Third, the context shows Jesus did not mean it literally. In the same passage he says not to be called "rabbi" (teacher) or "master" (Matthew 23:8-10). Yet Christ commissioned men to teach (Matthew 28:19-20), Paul calls himself a teacher (1 Timothy 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:11), and the Church has an office of teacher (1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11). Fundamentalists say "doctor," the Latin for teacher, and "Mister," a form of "master." Taken literally, Matthew 23 would condemn them too.

What Jesus meant

Jesus was rebuking leaders who loved places of honor and being called "rabbi" (Matthew 23:6-7). He used hyperbole, as when he said to pluck out an eye that causes sin (Matthew 5:29; cf. 18:9; Mark 9:47); otherwise all Christians would be blind amputees (cf. 1 John 1:8; 1 Timothy 1:15). He is not forbidding us to call real fathers, physical or spiritual, "father." He warns against attributing to anyone a fatherhood that belongs to God, who is our supreme protector, provider and teacher, and against the "cult of personality" around religious leaders, as with the famous rabbis Hillel and Shammai.

The apostles show the way

• Paul calls Timothy his child (1 Corinthians 4:17; 1 Timothy 1:2; 2 Timothy 1:2) and son (1 Timothy 1:18; 2 Timothy 2:1; Philippians 2:22), Titus his child (Titus 1:4), and Onesimus the child whose father he became (Philemon 10).
• Paul tells the Corinthians that though they have many guides, they do not have many fathers, for he became their father in Christ through the gospel (1 Corinthians 4:14-15).
• Peter calls Mark his son (1 Peter 5:13).
• Paul calls whole churches his children (2 Corinthians 12:14; Galatians 4:19), as does John (1 John 2:1; 3 John 4), who also addresses men as "fathers" (1 John 2:13-14).

Since the Bible so often speaks of spiritual fatherhood, Catholics follow the apostles' custom in calling priests "father." To refuse is to fail to honor God's gift of the spiritual fatherhood of the priesthood.