A direct command was given by Jesus Christ to not call any one Father in a Spiritual way? The priests in a parish are the spiritual guides of the people who go to the church they pastor. How can this not be breaking the command Jesus gave? Breaking a direct command of Jesus is not a tempest in a teapot IMO.
Becky
"After saying only "One is your Father," Jesus proceeded to declare, "And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ."6 Yet He Himself acknowledged Nicodemus to be a "teacher of Israel."7 And in the church at Antioch certain men were called "prophets and teachers."8 Then again, the Apostle Paul not only recognized teachers as gifts of God to the Church,9 but he also did not hesitate to call himself "a teacher of the Gentiles."10 Furthermore, in this present day, almost all of us have at one time or another called certain people Sunday School teachers. The discussion thus goes far beyond any Protestant-Catholic lines. Therefore, in saying we should call no one "father" and "teacher," except God the Father and Christ Himself, the Lord Jesus appears not to be taking issue with the use of these particular titles in and of themselves. The CONTEXT of the passage gives us the interpretive key we are looking for. In this "call no man father" passage, our Lord is contending with certain rabbis of His day who were using these specific titles to accomplish their own ends. And had these same apostate rabbis been using other titles, such as "reverend" and "pastor," Jesus, it seems to me, would have said of these as well, "Call no one reverend or pastor."