***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.***
Note the term ‘begotten’. I have begotten you. I have fathered you. That is what that means. I went online to find a KJV at http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+4&version=NKJV and found:
14 I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. 15 For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you, imitate me. 17 For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.
Note: children, begotten, son in the Lord. Your point is noted and refuted.
***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.***
Which gospel? The gospel of Paul? Are you saying that Paul’s gospel is more important than Christ’s?
But at any rate, using the same version of the KJV, let us see Matthew 23: 1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 Therefore whatever they tell you to observe,[a]that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 4 For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. 6 They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7 greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ 8 But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ,[b] and you are all brethren. 9 Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.[c]
15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ 17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies[d] the gold? 18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ 19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20 Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells[e] in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.[f] 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’
31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
Jesus Laments over Jerusalem
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’”[g]
Humility and arrogance, JMT. That is what this passage is about. It is not about forbidding the use of the term father or teacher. Paul uses it regularly as a bishop in the Church to describe himself in relation to his flock.
***Paul never called himself ‘father’ and none of his students addressed him as such. ***
Some more examples.
Romans 9:10 And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac
1 Thessalonians 2:10 You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; 11 as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged[b] every one of you, as a father does his own children, 12 that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
Phillippians 2:22 But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel.
We also have 1 John 2:12 I write to you, little children,
Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.
13 I write to you, fathers,
Because you have known Him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
Because you have overcome the wicked one.
I write to you, little children,
Because you have known the Father.
14 I have written to you, fathers,
Because you have known Him who is from the beginning.
And there are other examples as well. You focus on the out of context snippet and do not get the intent of the passage. That is the problem with sola scriptura personal interpretation.
***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.***
That has nothing to do with the point.
***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’.***
This is in error in several ways. Abraham is the father of the Jews, where God first made the covenant with them. He is also considered the father of Christians and Muslims (by themselves, respectively). He is considered the spiritual father, not the nations’ father.
Jesus calls him father and Abraham is referenced in many Scriptural passages as father.
Stephen does not call himself father. I did not say that. I said that he called the Pharisees that he was addressing father and in that passage, he also calls Abraham father.
Personal interpretation error, my friend.
What exactly did you refute? Paul did not literally father alllll these children or beget them? And Paul says "for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you THROUGH the gospel." Paul is call an apostle of Jesus Christ, not 'Father' Paul. ICorinthians 1:3 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing in there about "Father" Paul.
4 I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; (No Father Paul here)
5 That in *every thing* ye are enriched by HIM, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
6 Even as the *testimony* of Christ was confirmed in you:
7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the *coming* of our Lord Jesus Christ:
8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the *day* of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful, by Whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
Paul tells these people in Corinth 3:1 And I, brethern, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. (These people were still in spiritual diapers.)
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
Paul continues to fill up the baby bottle to feed these babies in Christ and then 4:14 I write not these things to SHAME you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. And he is not particularly pleased he is still having to change diapers instead of serving these people the MEAT of the WORD.
And you want to tell me Paul's warning is that he is altering the WORDS of Christ?
IF all you get from Matthew 23 is Humility and arrogance, JMT. That is what this passage is about. It is not about forbidding the use of the term father or teacher. Paul uses it regularly as a bishop in the Church to describe himself in relation to his flock. I truly feel sad for you.
These words of Christ are the MEAT that Paul could not get to because he was having to fill up baby bottles and change spiritual diapers to the babes in Christ.