Hi,

I was attacked today by a Protestant about how call Priests "Father". He brought up that passage that says call no man Father but God the Father. How can I (and him) understand that this is not a Biblical contradiction? Thanks for equipping me for battle guys here in school~

-- Andrew Staupe (stau0085@umn.edu), April 21, 2004

Answers

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-- The Bumper! (Bump@bumpitybump.bump), April 21, 2004.

Hi Andrew,

I have something that is currently in rough form about the roles of God and how He shares those roles with humans. This is also good for arguing about Peter as the Rock. It is in really rough form right now, otherwise I'd post it. I will hopefully get to that this summer. But I sent it to you in an email.

God bless,

-- Emily (jesusfollower7@yahoo.com), April 21, 2004.

From Catholic Answers:

To understand why the charge does not work, one must first understand the use of the word "father" in reference to our earthly fathers. No one would deny a little girl the opportunity to tell someone that she loves her father. Common sense tells us that Jesus wasn’t forbidding this type of use of the word "father."

In fact, to forbid it would rob the address "Father" of its meaning when applied to God, for there would no longer be any earthly counterpart for the analogy of divine Fatherhood. The concept of God’s role as Father would be meaningless if we obliterated the concept of earthly fatherhood.

But in the Bible the concept of fatherhood is not restricted to just our earthly fathers and God. It is used to refer to people other than biological or legal fathers, and is used as a sign of respect to those with whom we have a special relationship.

For example, Joseph tells his brothers of a special fatherly relationship God had given him with the king of Egypt: "So it was not you who sent me here, but God; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt" (Gen. 45:8).

Job indicates he played a fatherly role with the less fortunate: "I was a father to the poor, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know" (Job 29:16). And God himself declares that he will give a fatherly role to Eliakim, the steward of the house of David: "In that day I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah . . . and I will clothe him with [a] robe, and will bind [a] girdle on him, and will commit . . . authority to his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah" (Is. 22:20–21).

This type of fatherhood not only applies to those who are wise counselors (like Joseph) or benefactors (like Job) or both (like Eliakim), it also applies to those who have a fatherly spiritual relationship with one. For example, Elisha cries, "My father, my father!" to Elijah as the latter is carried up to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kgs. 2:12). Later, Elisha himself is called a father by the king of Israel (2 Kgs. 6:21).

for more see the whole article .

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), April 21, 2004.

JMJ,

hello and God bless, andrew,

the word "father" in the language used for that passage is actually represented by three different words. the word used for this case is ABBA (ie- father) which has a connotation of a spiritual father. thus the passage would more accurately be understood "call no man your spiritual father (or Father-God) but God the father" (read: call no man ABBA but God..."

The word father, applied to priests and even parental fathers is a different word in this language. As the word adelphos has more than one translation in modern language, so the word father has more than one translation in ancient language. If you need proof, look at any of the MANY characters who title their earthly parents as father. this is a different word from ABBA.

-- paul h (dontSendMeMail@notAnAddress.com), April 21, 2004.

Everyone has already hit this topic pretty well. One more quote that might be useful in 1 Cor 4:15 where St. Paul calls himself a "father" when he writes to the Corinthians. Is he disobeying Christ?

1 Cor 4:15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

-- Andy (aszmere@earthlink.net), April 22, 2004.

Hi Andrew,

There is a good article on this subject. You can find it at the Catholic Answers site here at:

http://www.catholic.com/library/Call_No_Man_Father.asp

-- Ed (catholic4444@yahoo.ca), April 22, 2004.