Call No Man Rabbi

It happened. It wasn’t the first time, nor will it be the last time. But, it happened once again. In the many years since I was ordained as a rabbi, it has happened hundreds of times. In this case, it happened as a result of one of my social media posts. The post simply said, “If you don’t believe in the whole Bible, then you don’t believe in the Bible.” While the post received overwhelming support, one person decided that they would challenge my making that statement. So, they posted a comment that said: “If you really believed the whole Bible, you wouldn’t call yourself a rabbi.” After all, Yeshua/Jesus said in Matthew 23 not to call yourself or any man rabbi, didn’t He?

This statement showed me two things: first, that something about my post challenged their beliefs, and they became defensive as a result of conviction. Second, it told me that the person did not understand the passage they were quoting. In the post, I didn’t respond because social media is a terrible place to engage in debate. But, I thought the topic was important enough to respond to, so here is my response.

First, it is important that we know what Yeshua actually said in Matthew 23, because He didn’t only say not to call yourself rabbi. The statement continues, including “teacher” and “father,” two titles conveniently left out when folks are accusing people like me of rejecting or rebelling against Yeshua’s instructions.  

Matthew 23:8 “But you are not to be called rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And call no man on earth your father; for One is your Father, who is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Messiah.

In order to understand what Yeshua was saying in this series of verses, we must look at the context. Chapter 23 begins with these words:

Matthew 23:1 Then Yeshua spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, 2 saying, “The Torah scholars and Pharisees sit on the seat of Moses. 3 So whatever they tell you, do and observe. But don’t do what they do; for what they say, they do not do.

With these words, Yeshua is establishing the religious authority of the Torah scholars and Pharisees who sit in the seat of Moses. However, in the next few verses, Yeshua goes on to share that while they do hold religious authority, some of them also had a significant problem with pride, arrogance, and hypocrisy.

Matthew 23:4 They tie up heavy loads, hard to carry, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves aren’t willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 All their works they do to be noticed by men. They make their tefillin wide and their tzitziyot long. 6 They love the place of honor at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7 greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called rabbi by men.

It is in this context of hypocritical arrogance that Yeshua told His disciples these types of men should not call themselves rabbi. Notice the prohibition wasn’t against calling men rabbi, but against egotistical, arrogant, hypocritical religious leaders calling themselves rabbi. 

But, once again, the statement by Yeshua didn’t only speak of the title rabbi, it also used the titles teacher and father. Once again, in order to understand what Yeshua meant by these words, we have to look at the context, not only of the verses in this chapter, but also the context of the entirety of Scripture. If Yeshua was actually saying that no one should call themselves or be called rabbi, then we also have to conclude that Yeshua also meant no one should be called teacher or father. 

This understanding presents real challenges. If you are not allowed to call someone teacher, then how would we be able to believe in the different offices listed in Ephesians 4:

Epheisians 4:11 He Himself gave some to be emissaries, some as prophets, some as proclaimers of the Good News, and some as shepherds and teachers— 12 to equip the kedoshim for the work of service, for building up the body of Messiah.

Are we to believe that when the Holy Spirit inspired and anointed Paul to write the book of Ephesians, saying that Yeshua ordained some to be teachers, the Holy Spirit forgot what Yeshua said in Matthew? How would one be able to honor their father if they could not identify them as their father? I could provide more examples of the difficulties in understanding this verse to prohibit calling someone rabbi, teacher, or father, but I think the point has been made.

So, if it wasn’t simply the use of the titles rabbi, teacher, and father, then what was Yeshua speaking about when he said these words? Yeshua was teaching against pride, arrogance, and hypocrisy in those who were and are religious leaders. 

It is interesting that when the King James bible translated Matthew 23:5-10, it did so this way:

Matthew 23:5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,6 and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.  8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.  9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.  10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. 

With this translation, the translators of the King James version translated not only Yeshua’s words from the Greek manuscript, but also the intended meaning of His words. Notice the end of verse 7 uses the doubling of the word rabbi. In Hebrew thought, when you double a word it increases its meaning. For instance, if you wanted to say very large you could say: large large. For dark red, you say red red. For perfect peace, you would say peace peace. And if you wanted to say Great Rabbi, or Elevated Rabbi, you would say Rabbi Rabbi. 

The King James does a great job of demonstrating the intentions of Yeshua by doubling the word Rabbi and therefore denoting that it wasn’t simply calling a man rabbi that was being prohibited, but rather the elevating of a man, any man, to a position of inerrancy and religious authority above G-D, because no man should ever be seen as anything higher than a fallible human being. While there are faiths that raise their religious leaders to a position of infallibility and inerrancy, those who believe in Yeshua should never do so. Because the One and Only infallible and inerrant Rabbi, Teacher, and Father is G-D.