Is it wrong for Catholics to call priests “Father”?
A common objection to Catholicism is that Catholics ignore the Bible in calling priests, Father. This reasoning comes from Matthew 23:9, Jesus says, “call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.”
It seems, on the surface, that we are just violating scripture. And really, how hard is it to just call our priest Reverend? But when we begin to examine scripture, we quickly discover that Matthew 23:9 is one of the most misunderstood passages in all of scripture.
The genealogy in Matthew 1 lists many fathers: “Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers…” Jesus talks about our fathers in Matthew 10:37 and Mark 10:29. Ephesians 6:2 reminds children, “honor your father and mother.” In fact, there are countless men referred to in the New Testament as father or fathers.
Many Protestants recognize this and concede that it’s okay to call a man “father” in the biological sense, just not in the spiritual sense. But Matthew 23:9 doesn’t actually say that. It says to call no man “father.” My point is this, no one should take Matthew 23:9 literally. Jesus and Matthew don’t.
Then is it okay to call a man a biological father, but not a spiritual father? This interpretation is also wrong, and contrary to the biblical language.
When Jesus tells the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, the rich man refers to Abraham by the title “Father Abraham” (Luke 16:24; 16:30). There is no mention anywhere in the passage that it is wrong to call Abraham, father. Also, in Acts 4:25 we hear the words, “our father David your servant” and in John 4:12, “our father Jacob.” These appear to be the exact reasoning banned by Matthew 23:9.
There are plenty of other places in the bible where Christ’s followers address others as father. In Acts 7:2, St. Stephen uses the title, father, for the elders of the Jewish Council, beginning his speech with, “Hear me, brethren and fathers!” He’s not claiming that the high priest and the elders are his physical ancestors, but rather referring to them as fathers in the same way we refer to priests as fathers today.
St. Paul even refers to himself as a spiritual father, saying, “in Christ Jesus I became your father through the Gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15). And St. Peter refers to John Mark as his (spiritual) son in 1 Peter 5:13 – with the implication that Peter is his father in faith. So basically, everyone in the New Testament uses father as a spiritual title which is one of the main objections of Protestants.
Jesus wasn’t implying that we should never use the word “father” to refer to another human being, but rather, all fatherhood ultimately comes from God. As long as we recognize this distinction, we should be comfortable to refer to priests, biological male parents, and anyone else who plays a fatherly role in our lives as “father” -- just like the authors of the New Testament often did.
March 14, 2023