***I called my flesh father dad, and never ‘holy father’. It is common to find the word ‘father’ on all manner of unofficial and official documents, but they never refer to anything Spiritual or Heavenly or Creator.***
May I refer you to 1 Corinthians 4:
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I am writing you this not to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 5
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Even if you should have countless guides to Christ, yet you do not have many fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
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Therefore, I urge you, be imitators of me.
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For this reason I am sending you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord; he will remind you of my ways in Christ (Jesus), just as I teach them everywhere in every church.
Paul calls himself father and the Corinthians and Timothy his children. This is entirely spiritual and NOT at all in the physical sense.
Stephen also uses the term father to address the Pharisee in Act 7:
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Then the high priest asked, “Is this so?”
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And he replied, 1 “My brothers and fathers, listen.
The use of the term father in a spiritual sense is not proscribed whatsoever. Jesus was simply making a point that calling those spiritual teachers father who are frauds is wrong.
Let us now look at Matthew 23 in context.
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6 As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.
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Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven.
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Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Messiah.
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The greatest among you must be your servant.
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Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Have you ever called anyone Teacher, or Master? We all have. What is the point here? That one should not take arrogant titles upon one’s self. This is about teaching humility and the code of conduct in which Christians are expected to act. Not arrogant; rather humble. This can be taken in context with Jesus washing the feet of his Apostles.
My King James words ICorinthians 4:15 as follows: For though ye have ten thousand instructers in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
Now that gospel would included Christ's own instruction of Matthew 23:9 on both ends of the equations, meaning no man should set himself up as Father here on earth, nor should any be calling another flesh being 'Holy Father' here on this earth, as in replacement of the Heavenly Father.
Paul never called himself 'father' and none of his students addressed him as such. As a matter of fact Paul starts off this chapter in verse 1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
As for your Acts citation, Stephen was not calling himself 'father', he is talking about literal fathers and specifically 'father' Abraham as the name Abraham literally means 'father of many nations', not in the religious sense of an earthly 'holy father'.