Is it Biblical to Call a Priest "Father"?
Question: Surely Catholics contradict the Bible when the call their priest "Father"?
It is 100% Biblical to call a priest "father".
To understand this, we first have to recognize that there is no real Biblical taboo on the word "father." In Mat. 15:4-6, we find Jesus talking in a very normative manner about earthly fathers: He gives an injunction to honor them, but never a mention of any prohibition of the name "father." So too, throughout Romans 4, Paul calls Abraham "our father". In Eph. 6, he talks about relations between fathers and sons, and is seemingly oblivious to the idea that it is naughty to call anyone on earth "father". Finally, the author of Hebrews speaks reverentially of our "fathers of our flesh" (Heb. 12:9).
Moreover, even in New Testament times, the word "father" was regularly used as an endearing honorary title for Church officials. Paul confirms that God is our adoptive Father (Ro. 8:15; Ga. 4:6), but also calls himself the father of his flock of the faithful (e.g., 1 Co. 4:15-17, Gal. 4:19, 1 Thes. 2:7, 11, and 2 Cor. 6:13,). For Paul, then, an apostle such as he was truly a spiritual father to his congregations.
The honorary title of "father" was also applied to the elders in the Church. Paul, for example, instructs Bishop Timothy to exhort the elders (presbyters) as fathers (1 Tim. 5:1). If you recall that the Catholic priest is a descendent of the New Testament office of elder, or presbyter, then this is text stands as full Biblical mandate for our use of the term "father" in a Church setting.
But there is one more text that is worth considering for a further, and I think telling, insight. John, in his first Epistle, directly addresses the elders of the Church as "fathers" (1 John 2:13-14), just as Paul instructed Timothy to do. But recall that John was himself one of the 12 apostles, who heard the discourse in Matt. 23:9, and yet here he refers to elders in the Church as "fathers".
This preponderance of Scriptural evidence suggests that fundamentalists may be reading way too much into Matt. 23:9. Paul, John and Timothy all used the title "father" to refer to presbyters. If it's good enough for the apostles, then it's good enough for me.
Does Romans 3:23 Teach that Mary Sinned?
Paul writes in Romans 3:23 that: "all ('pantes' in the original Greek) sinned and lack God's glory." Some Baptists wrench this verse out of context in order to claim that Mary was a sinner. But is this conclusion actually warranted by Paul's discussion of sin in the Letter to the Romans?
Does Paul Mean that Each and Every Person Sinned?
No. Paul's use of the word 'pantes' ("all") in Romans 3:23 hardly constitutes a statement that every single person since Adam has sinned! Indeed, common sense bears this out, for the sad fact is that many young babies have died within moments or hours of death, and have thus obviously not sinned. Paul himself explicitly admits that not every one has sinned, when he explains that as a result of Adam's disobedience "many" ('polloi'), and not "all," were made sinners (Ro. 5:19). Needless to say, Baptists never cite this passage when discussing the issue of the Mary and the Immaculate Conception!
But Doesn't "All" Mean Just That, "All"?
When Paul says "all", he is making a generalization about humanity's bondage to sin as opposed to a categorical statement that each and every person has sinned. This is easily demonstrated by looking at Romans 5:12-14, where we read that death came to "all" (again, 'pantas') men. But the Bible tells us that some men did not die. For example, Enoch (He. 11:5) and Elijah (2 Ki. 2:11) were both taken up to heaven without experiencing death. Clearly, then, when Paul says that death came to "all", he means that death was the normal end for man, although God might make exceptions.
As a point of grammar, when Paul says "all" ('pantes') in Romans 3:23, he means precisely the same "all" mentioned in Romans 3:22: "all those who are believing." So too, by emphasizing in Romans 3:21-23 that there is no difference in justification for those believers who were under the Law and those who were not, Paul refers us back to Romans 3:9: "Jews and Gentiles alike are all ('pantas') under sin." Paul's statement about sin in Romans 3:23 thus glosses his earlier comment on the dominion of sin over Jew and Gentile alike, and the need of both for God's grace.
Does Paul's Discussion of Sin Support the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception?
Yes. While we simply cannot found the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception on the Epistle to the Romans alone, Paul nonetheless clears the way for understanding how such a doctrine can exist comfortably within his soteriology.
Paul's discussion of sin in Romans is grounded upon the concept of original sin. Sin, he tells us, entered the world through one man (Ro. 5:12) and thence reigned over humankind until the Resurrection of Christ (Ro. 6:17-23). Nonetheless, this condition of original sin was not always universally imputed to men; e.g., prior to the Law (cf. Ro. 5:13). So too, even after the advent of the Law, the Lord graciously declined to impute sin to some people, even apart from their works (Ro. 4:6). To this end, Paul approvingly cites the Psalmist: "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes no sin" (Ro. 4:8). And what is the Virgin Mary, if not especially blessed by God (Lk .1:48)?
So too, Paul teaches that the gift of the abundance of God's grace frees us from the stain of original sin (Ro. 5:15-17). What was the Blessed Mother, if not completely filled with grace (Lk. 1:28)? Again, Paul teaches that those who are not slaves ('douloi') to sin are instead slaves of God. And once again, what is Mary, if not the "slave" ('doule') of the Lord (Lk. 1:38)?
In the Epistle to the Romans, Paul never articulates any doctrinal point that rules out or excludes Mary's sinless life. Indeed, in explaining the radical freedom from sin that Christians enjoy, the Apostle actually touches in a broad-brushed way upon the very characteristics that lie at the heart of Mary's unique exemption from the stain of Original Sin: her blessedness, her fullness of God's grace, and her status as a special servant of the Lord. It is with the greatest of ease that we can imagine St. Paul heartily assenting to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.
