This command of Jesus, found in Mt. 23:9-10, is not about vocabulary. If it were, the New Testament writers wouldn't have repeatedly used the word "Father" to refers to human beings. Instead, Jesus warning us against putting our complete faith and trust in a human being rather than God.
We must never submit our innermost being to anyone other than God himself. No prophet, no guru, no teacher garner our total trust, only God.
If simply using the word, "Father," to refer to a human being were wrong, we would not find the word used that way throughout the scripture. But of course we do - again and again.Lk. 16:24 - Jesus himself refers to "Father Abraham" in the parable of Lazarus the beggar. Would he failed to follow his own command?
1Cor.4:14-15 - St. Paul refers himself as a spiritual father: "...I became your father in Christ through the gospel..."In doing so, he defines the way in which Catholics use the term "father" in referring to a priest - as a "father in Christ through the gospel."
Acts 7::1-2 - St. Stephen, the first martyr, says to the high priest and the elders and scribes: "My brothers and my fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham..."Rom. 4:17-18 - St. Paul refers to Abraham as "...the father of us all..." and "the father of many nations."1 Thess. 2:11 -"...We treated eac one of you as a father treat his children..."
Again, St. Paul describes himself as a spiritual father to the faithful.1Jn. 2:13-14 - "I write to you, fathers..."
St. John also appears to disobey Jesus directive - an impossibility, of course. So we see that the vocabulary-based interpretation of Jesus' admonition cannot be correct.
Mat. 23:8 -Actually, "father" is not the only word which the passage in question appeares to forbid us from using: "As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi' means "teacher."
Yet the same people who object to priests being called "father" don't blink an eye when they refer to their Sunday school "teachers."
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