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Text -- Matthew 23:9 (NET)

Strongs On/Off
Context
23:9 And call no one your ‘father’ on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
Parallel   Cross Reference (TSK)   ITL  
Table of Contents

Word/Phrase Notes
Robertson , Vincent , Wesley , JFB , Clarke , Calvin , Defender , TSK

Word/Phrase Notes
Barnes , Poole , Haydock , Gill

Verse Notes / Footnotes
, Geneva Bible

Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis , MHCC , Matthew Henry , Barclay , Constable , College , McGarvey , Lapide

Other
Critics Ask , Evidence

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Robertson: Mat 23:9 - -- Call no man your father ( patera mē kalesēte hūmōn ). Jesus meant the full sense of this noble word for our heavenly Father. "Abba was not co...

Call no man your father ( patera mē kalesēte hūmōn ).

Jesus meant the full sense of this noble word for our heavenly Father. "Abba was not commonly a mode of address to a living person, but a title of honour for Rabbis and great men of the past"(McNeile). In Gethsemane Jesus said: "Abba, Father"(Mar 14:36). Certainly the ascription of "Father"to pope and priest seems out of harmony with what Jesus here says. He should not be understood to be condemning the title to one’ s real earthly father. Jesus often leaves the exceptions to be supplied.

Vincent: Mat 23:9 - -- Father ( πατέρα ) Aimed at those who combed the title Abba, or Father. Compare the title Papa - Pope.

Father ( πατέρα )

Aimed at those who combed the title Abba, or Father. Compare the title Papa - Pope.

Wesley: Mat 23:8-10 - -- The Jewish rabbis were also called father and master, by their several disciples, whom they required, To believe implicitly what they affirmed, withou...

The Jewish rabbis were also called father and master, by their several disciples, whom they required, To believe implicitly what they affirmed, without asking any farther reason; To obey implicitly what they enjoined, without seeking farther authority. Our Lord, therefore, by forbidding us either to give or receive the title of rabbi, master, or father, forbids us either to receive any such reverence, or to pay any such to any but God.

JFB: Mat 23:9 - -- To construe these injunctions into a condemnation of every title by which Church rulers may be distinguished from the flock which they rule, is virtua...

To construe these injunctions into a condemnation of every title by which Church rulers may be distinguished from the flock which they rule, is virtually to condemn that rule itself; and accordingly the same persons do both--but against the whole strain of the New Testament and sound Christian judgment. But when we have guarded ourselves against these extremes, let us see to it that we retain the full spirit of this warning against that itch for ecclesiastical superiority which has been the bane and the scandal of Christ's ministers in every age. (On the use of the word "Christ" here, see on Mat 1:1).

Clarke: Mat 23:9 - -- Call no man your Father - Our Lord probably alludes to the Ab , or father of the Sanhedrin, who was the next after the nasi , or president. See on M...

Call no man your Father - Our Lord probably alludes to the Ab , or father of the Sanhedrin, who was the next after the nasi , or president. See on Mat 20:21 (note). By which he gives his disciples to understand that he would have no Second, after himself, established in his Church, of which he alone was the head; and that perfect equality must subsist among them.

Calvin: Mat 23:9 - -- 9.And call no man on earth your Father He claims for God alone the honor of Father, in nearly the same sense as he lately asserted that he himself ...

9.And call no man on earth your Father He claims for God alone the honor of Father, in nearly the same sense as he lately asserted that he himself is the only Master; for this name was not assumed by men for themselves, but was given to them by God. And therefore it is not only lawful to call men on earth fathers, but it would be wicked to deprive them of that honor. Nor is there any importance in the distinction which some have brought forward, that men, by whom children have been begotten, are fathers according to the flesh, but that God alone is the Father of spirits. I readily acknowledge that in this manner God is sometimes distinguished from men, as in Heb 12:5, but as Paul more than once calls himself a spiritual father, (1Co 4:15,) we must see how this agrees with the words of Christ. The true meaning therefore is, that the honor of a father is falsely ascribed to men, when it obscures the glory of God. Now this is done, whenever a mortal man, viewed apart from God, is accounted a father, since all the degrees of relationship depend on God alone through Christ, and are held together in such a manner that, strictly speaking, God alone is the Father of all.

Defender: Mat 23:9 - -- This would not apply to recognizing one's biological father by this name. The point is that no man should be regarded or addressed as an authoritative...

This would not apply to recognizing one's biological father by this name. The point is that no man should be regarded or addressed as an authoritative spiritual master, playing a role equal to that of our heavenly Father or even as an intermediary between us and Him. "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1Ti 2:5). The same would apply to any other title or position (Rabbi, Master, Doctor, Reverend) which might imply spiritual authority or power above that of ordinary believers, all of whom have been made "kings and priests unto God and his Father" (Rev 1:6)."

TSK: Mat 23:9 - -- call : 2Ki 2:12, 2Ki 6:21, 2Ki 13:14; Job 32:21, Job 32:22; Act 22:1; 1Co 4:15; 1Ti 5:1, 1Ti 5:2; Heb 12:9 for : Mat 6:8, Mat 6:9, Mat 6:32; Mal 1:6; ...

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Mat 23:9 - -- And call no man your Father ... - This does not, of course, forbid us to apply the term to our real father. Religion requires all proper honor ...

And call no man your Father ... - This does not, of course, forbid us to apply the term to our real father. Religion requires all proper honor to be shown to Him, Exo 20:12; Mat 15:4; Eph 6:1-3. But the word "father"also denotes "authority, eminence, superiority, a right to command, and a claim to particular respect."In this sense it is used here. In this sense it belongs eminently to God, and it is not right to give it to people. Christian brethren are equal. Only God has supreme authority. He only has a right to give laws; to declare doctrines that shall bind the conscience; to punish disobedience. The Jewish teachers affected that title because they seem to have supposed that a teacher formed the man, or gave him real life, and sought, therefore, to be called father. Christ taught them that the source of all life and truth was God, and they ought not to seek or receive a title which properly belongs to him.

Poole: Mat 23:8-10 - -- Ver. 8-10. It is most certain that our Saviour doth not here forbid the giving of the titles of masters and fathers to his ministers, for then Paul w...

Ver. 8-10. It is most certain that our Saviour doth not here forbid the giving of the titles of masters and fathers to his ministers, for then Paul would not have given himself the title of father, 1Co 4:15 ; nor called the Galatians his little children, Gal 4:19 : nor called Timothy his son, and himself his father, Phi 2:22 ; nor called himself a doctor of the Gentiles, 1Ti 2:7 2Ti 1:11 . That which he forbids is,

1. An affectation of such titles, and hunting after them.

2. Rem tituli, the exercise of an absolute mastership, or a paternal, absolute power; so as to require any to believe things because they said them, or to do things because they bid them, without seeing the things asserted, or first commanded, in the word of God.

For in that sense God alone is men’ s Father, Christ alone their Master. Pastors and teachers in the church are all but ministers, ministers of Christ to publish his will, and to enjoin his laws; nor must any be owned as masters and fathers, to impose their laws and doctrines. This is twice repeated, because such is the corruption of human nature, that it is very prone, not only to affect these swelling titles, but also to exercise these exorbitant authorities.

Haydock: Mat 23:9-10 - -- Call none your father ... Neither be ye called masters, &c. The meaning is, that our Father in heaven is incomparably more to be regarded, than any ...

Call none your father ... Neither be ye called masters, &c. The meaning is, that our Father in heaven is incomparably more to be regarded, than any father upon earth: and no master is to be followed, who would lead us away from Christ. But this does not hinder but that we are by the law of God to have a due respect both for our parents and spiritual fathers, (1 Corinthians iv. 15,) and for our masters and teachers. (Challoner) ---

This name was a title of dignity: the presidents of the assembly of twenty-three judges where so called; the second judge of the sanhedrim, &c. (Bible de Vence) ---

Nothing is here forbidden but the contentious divisions, and self-assumed authority, of such as make themselves leaders and favourers of schisms and sects; as Donatus, Arius, Luther, Calvin, and innumerable other of very modern date. But by no means the title of father, attributed by the faith, piety, and confidence of good people, to their directors; for, St. Paul tells the Corinthians, that he is their only spiritual Father: If you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet not many Fathers. (1 Corinthians iv. 15.)

Gill: Mat 23:9 - -- And call no man your father upon the earth,.... Not but that children may, and should call their natural parents, fathers; and such who have been inst...

And call no man your father upon the earth,.... Not but that children may, and should call their natural parents, fathers; and such who have been instrumental in the conversion of souls, may be rightly called by them their spiritual fathers; as servants and scholars also, may call those that are over them, and instruct them, their masters: our Lord does not mean, by any of these expressions, to set aside all names and titles, of natural and civil distinction among men, but only to reject all such names and titles, as are used to signify an authoritative power over men's consciences, in matters of faith and obedience; in which, God and Christ are only to be attended to. Christ's sense is, that he would have his disciples not fond of any titles of honour at all; and much less assume an authority over men, as if they were to depend on them, as the founders of the Christian religion, the authors of its doctrines and ordinances; and to take that honour to themselves, which did not belong to them; nor even choose to be called by such names, as would lead people to entertain too high an opinion of them, and take off of their dependence on God the Father, and himself, as these titles the Scribes and Pharisees loved to be called by, did: and who were called not only by the name of Rabbi, but Abba, "Father", also: hence we read of Abba Saul, or "Father" Saul n; Abba Jose ben Jochanan, a man of Jerusalem o, Abba Chanan p, Abba Chelphetha, a man of the village of Hananiah q; Abba Gorion r, and others; and this name was לשון כבוד כמו רבי, "a name of honour, even as Rabbi" s, and of great authority: the wise men are said to be אבות הכל, "the fathers of all" t, to whom all gave heed, and upon whom all depended, as so many oracles. There is a whole treatise in their Misna, called Pirke Abot, which contains some of the oracles, and peculiar sayings of these "fathers", the Misnic doctors, and which are preferred to the writings of Moses, and the prophets. In this sense, and upon this score, our Lord inveighs against them, and cautions his disciples against giving or taking all such titles, in such sense. "For one is your Father, which is in heaven"; who is so, both by creation and adoption, and is possessed of all paternal authority; and is to be honoured and obeyed by all; from whom all wisdom and knowledge is derived, and who has the care and government of all in heaven and in earth.

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Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

Geneva Bible: Mat 23:9 And call no [man] your ( i ) father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. ( i ) He attacks a custom of the Jews, for they calle...

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Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Mat 23:1-39 - --1 Christ admonishes the people to follow the good doctrine, not the evil examples, of the Scribes and Pharisees.5 His disciples must beware of their a...

MHCC: Mat 23:1-12 - --The scribes and Pharisees explained the law of Moses, and enforced obedience to it. They are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge acc...

Matthew Henry: Mat 23:1-12 - -- We find not Christ, in all his preaching, so severe upon any sort of people as upon these scribes and Pharisees; for the truth is, nothing is more...

Barclay: Mat 23:5-12 - --The religion of the Pharisees became almost inevitably a religion of ostentation. If religion consists in obeying countless rules and regulations, i...

Constable: Mat 19:3--26:1 - --VI. The official presentation and rejection of the King 19:3--25:46 This section of the Gospel continues Jesus' ...

Constable: Mat 23:1-39 - --D. The King's rejection of Israel ch. 23 Israel's rejection of Jesus as her King was now unmistakably cl...

Constable: Mat 23:1-12 - --1. Jesus' admonition of the multitudes and His disciples 23:1-12 (cf. Mark 12:38-39; Luke 20:45-46) 23:1 As we have seen, there were three groups of p...

College: Mat 23:1-39 - --MATTHEW 23 I. DENUNCIATION OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES (23:1-39) Throughout the narrative comprising chapters 21-25 Jesus assumes the role of a pr...

McGarvey: Mat 23:1-39 - -- CX. JESUS' LAST PUBLIC DISCOURSE. DENUNCIATION OF SCRIBES AND PHARISEES. (In the court of the Temple. Tuesday, April 4, A. D. 30.) aMATT. XXIII. 1-39...

Lapide: Mat 23:1-39 - --CHAPTER 23 Then Jesus spake, &c. Then, that is to say, when, by His most wise answers and reasonings, He had confounded the errors of the Scribes an...

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Commentary -- Other

Critics Ask: Mat 23:9 MATTHEW 23:9-10 —Is it wrong to call others our father? PROBLEM: Here Jesus commanded: “Do not call anyone on earth your father.” Yet elsew...

Evidence: Mat 23:9 Jesus commanded His followers not to call any man "father." The Pharisees loved to be seen and praised by men. They cherished their titles-Rabbi ( Mat...

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Introduction / Outline

Robertson: Matthew (Book Introduction) THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW By Way of Introduction The passing years do not make it any plainer who actually wrote our Greek Matthew. Papias r...

JFB: Matthew (Book Introduction) THE author of this Gospel was a publican or tax gatherer, residing at Capernaum, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. As to his identity with t...

JFB: Matthew (Outline) GENEALOGY OF CHRIST. ( = Luke 3:23-38). (Mat. 1:1-17) BIRTH OF CHRIST. (Mat 1:18-25) VISIT OF THE MAGI TO JERUSALEM AND BETHLEHEM. (Mat 2:1-12) THE F...

TSK: Matthew (Book Introduction) Matthew, being one of the twelve apostles, and early called to the apostleship, and from the time of his call a constant attendant on our Saviour, was...

TSK: Matthew 23 (Chapter Introduction) Overview Mat 23:1, Christ admonishes the people to follow the good doctrine, not the evil examples, of the Scribes and Pharisees; Mat 23:5, His di...

Poole: Matthew 23 (Chapter Introduction) CHAPTER 23

MHCC: Matthew (Book Introduction) Matthew, surnamed Levi, before his conversion was a publican, or tax-gatherer under the Romans at Capernaum. He is generally allowed to have written h...

MHCC: Matthew 23 (Chapter Introduction) (Mat 23:1-12) Jesus reproves the scribes and Pharisees. (v. 13-33) Crimes of the Pharisees. (Mat 23:34-39) The guilt of Jerusalem.

Matthew Henry: Matthew (Book Introduction) An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Gospel According to St. Matthew We have now before us, I. The New Testament of our Lord and Savior...

Matthew Henry: Matthew 23 (Chapter Introduction) In the foregoing chapter, we had our Saviour's discourses with the scribes and Pharisees; here we have his discourse concerning them, or rather aga...

Barclay: Matthew (Book Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SAINT MATTHEW The Synoptic Gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke are usually known as the Synoptic Gospels. Synopt...

Barclay: Matthew 23 (Chapter Introduction) Scribes And Pharisees (Mat_23:1-39) If a man is characteristically and temperamentally an irritable, ill-tempered and irascible creature, notoriou...

Constable: Matthew (Book Introduction) Introduction The Synoptic Problem The synoptic problem is intrinsic to all study of th...

Constable: Matthew (Outline) Outline I. The introduction of the King 1:1-4:11 A. The King's genealogy 1:1-17 ...

Constable: Matthew Matthew Bibliography Abbott-Smith, G. A. A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament. Edinburgh: T. & T. Cl...

Haydock: Matthew (Book Introduction) THE HOLY GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST, ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW INTRODUCTION. THIS and other titles, with the names of those that wrote the Gospels,...

Gill: Matthew (Book Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO MATTHEW The subject of this book, and indeed of all the writings of the New Testament, is the Gospel. The Greek word ευαγγελ...

College: Matthew (Book Introduction) INTRODUCTION HISTORY OF INTERPRETATION It may surprise the modern reader to realize that for the first two centuries of the Christian era, Matthew's...

College: Matthew (Outline) OUTLINE I. ESTABLISHING THE IDENTITY AND ROLE OF JESUS THE CHRIST - Matt 1:1-4:16 A. Genealogy of Jesus - 1:1-17 B. The Annunciation to Joseph...

Lapide: Matthew (Book Introduction) PREFACE. —————— IN presenting to the reader the Second Volume [Matt X to XXI] of this Translation of the great work of Cornelius à Lapi...

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