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June 29, 2025 |
| You Shall Not Be Called Rabbi | ||
The title of this study comes from some words that Jesus used when talking to his disciples. Unfortunately, what he says is not widely understood in Christianity.
He is saying the same thing that he says at other times, but this time he says it in a different way, and people become confused.
He is speaking at a higher level than people recognize. Jesus speaks at this level almost all of the time. So it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. But most people are thinking that, if Jesus isn't obviously speaking at a high level, then he should be understood at a lower level, a more literal understanding.
They think this way because they struggle to understand at the higher level and prefer to understand at a lower level. Their spiritual understanding is weak.
One of the most misapplied passages from the Bible begins with, "You shall not be called Rabbi." This is because it sounds like Jesus is speaking at a low level; I don't want you to use this word.
Almost everyone thinks Jesus is saying there are words Christians should not be using as titles for people. That's definitely not what Jesus is saying.
"Rabbi" is an uncommon word in our society, so avoiding it isn't a problem. But the words "father" and "leader", which Jesus also uses in this passage, are very commonly used. How would we avoid those, if that's what Jesus meant?
But then those people who say we shouldn't use those titles don't obey what they understand. They continue to use "father" to refer to their biological fathers, for example, and use "leader" to refer to the leaders of the groups they work with. Everybody else uses those words, so it's nearly impossible to avoid doing that.
This is the only place in the Bible where Jesus talks about these words in this way. Many of his other words appear in more than one gospel, but not these. If it did appear in other gospels and was a little different, that might help people understand the level he is speaking at. These are the three verses that talk about titles.
8 But you shall not be called "Rabbi", for One is your Rabbi, but you are all brothers.
9 And you should not call yourselves "Father", in the earth, for one is your Father who is in Heaven.
10 And you will not be called Leaders, because one is your Leader, the Messiah. (Matthew 23:8-10)
When you look at only these 3 verses, it seems certain that Jesus is saying not to use these 3 words.
There are three levels at which Jesus' words could be understood.
At the lowest level, he could mean, "Don't use these words to refer to any person." That would mean that there was a problem with the words. If he meant that, then the specific words that he spoke should not be used that way.
He didn't speak English. He spoke Hebrew / Aramaic, which we don't speak, so there would be no chance that we would ever use those words he spoke to refer to a person. Therefore this passage wouldn't apply to English speakers, or speakers of any language other than Hebrew / Aramaic and possibly Arabic or Amharic, because they are sister languages with some of the same words. Though the words he used could be translated into English, there wouldn't be a problem for us because those English words are not the words Jesus spoke.
So, if Jesus meant "rabbi", "father", and "leader" as words, then it is only those words that he spoke. Those aren't English words, so what he says would not require us to do anything, because we don't use those words he spoke, and the translated words are different.
These are the words he spoke.
רבי
Pronunciation: RaaB'eey (rabbi)
אבא
Pronunciation: AVaA (abba)
מדברנא
Pronunciation: MThaaB'RaaNeh
The word "rabbi" appears many times in most English Bible translations, but we don't understand very well what a rabbi was. A rabbi had gone through years of Bible study, thus people believed he understood the Bible very well. Really, a large part of his study consisted of learning the works of other rabbis. Therefore he was indoctrinated into the rabbi orthodoxy, the generally accepted doctrine.
A rabbi worked as a teacher, often as an itinerant teacher, a travelling teacher. A rabbi could be either a Pharisee, a Sadducee, or an Essene. Those were the rabbinical doctrines. We don't hear about the Essenes in the Bible because they lived in isolated communities.
A rabbi was also usually a master over disciples who would help him teach. They served as advertisers and marketers for their master. They also served as the audio system for large crowds, relaying their master's words to the far reaches of the crowd.
The rabbis, at least in Jesus' time, were also part of the religious legal system. Some of them served as police who would warn people about infractions or bring people into the court, which was the Sanhedrin. History isn't clear on the Sanhedrin, but the judges probably included rabbis.
The word "abba" appears once, I believe, in most English New Testament translations. As in Spanish, the B and V sounds of Hebrew / Aramaic are very close. That's why you see a V in the pronunciation guide.
The word "abba" can be translated into our word "father," but it has many more meanings than we have for "father." For one, it referred to a religious father, like the father of a church, a person who brought a church into being. That's the way Jesus means it in this passage. We do sometimes use it that way now. Some churches have a title or an organizational position called a father. Also we sometimes refer to the early church fathers.
The third word in this list is not pronounceable by me and does not appear in any English Bible. The people with this title were managers of religious groups. Luke 8:49 refers to the leader of a synagogue. That's the way Jesus means it.
You should have noticed that these 3 words are all religious titles. While some of them could be used secularly as well, Jesus is referring to their use in Judaism. We'll see the evidence for that later. So Jesus is not saying it is wrong to refer to biological fathers as abba.
There is a word that Jesus didn't use that you might think he should have included - priests. Priests were different from the others Jesus mentioned here, though, because God had elevated them. They were the intermediaries between God and man in that covenant. The Bible even said that they should be respected. This comes up in Acts 23:5, where Paul unknowingly insults a priest. But they had also elevated themselves over the people, as the others had. So they weren't completely different from these other names.
At the next level up, Jesus could mean, "Don't use the concepts named by these words to refer to anyone." A concept is an abstract idea, one that can include various forms. For example, there is the word "teacher," which speaks of a specific job, but there is also the abstract idea of a teacher, which would be a person who does some kind of teaching, though maybe not formal classroom teaching. So the abstract idea called "teacher" would include the word "teacher" and also words like "tutor" and "coach".
If Jesus means "Don't use the concepts named by these words to refer to anyone", that would mean there was a problem with the concepts, not the words. These concepts are all titles that you might give to a person. So the problem would be with the titles. If he meant that, then the title names, rabbi, father, and leader, which are also concept names, should not be used to refer to anyone. As concepts, that would mean there could be other words in Hebrew / Aramaic that were also included, for example, grandfather would be included by father. Because they are concept names, or title names, they can be translated into our language and applied to us, at least where we have the same concepts in our culture. Those concepts could include many English words that we would use that fit into that concept.
That's where the problems start to come in. Do we have the same concepts, and what words would be included in those concepts?
We have similar concepts for father and leader. But we don't have anything exactly like a rabbi, in our time. What concept do we have that is sufficiently similar to the concept of a Rabbi at the time of Jesus?
Also, what other words would we include in those concepts? We are a much more diverse country, and we have many more words in our language than they did, words that we often use to differentiate subtle differences between concepts. Someone has to decide which of our concepts are included.
While most translations leave Jesus' first title untranslated, as rabbi, a couple of translations do translate it into concepts that we understand. One translates it as teacher; the other translates it as master, which we sort of understand from when I talked about what rabbis were. Both title names are appropriate.
Thus there are translations that use "rabbi", "teacher", and "master". But we have many nuanced names for teachers of various sorts. A teacher could also be called an educator, instructor, tutor, coach, professor, or sometimes doctor. If we include the church names we use for teachers, we add apostle, pastor, priest, minister, cleric, parson, bishop, deacon, and reverend. That puts all of the church leadership under this "rabbi" umbrella. Does Jesus intend that we shouldn't use any of these?
All translations use "father" for the second title Jesus mentioned. That concept in English also includes "parent", "forefather", "patriarch", "ancestor", "elder", "senior", and more colloquially, "dad", "daddy", and "papa". Many of those are only used in the secular world, but "papa" is the equivalent of Pope.
For Jesus' third title, translations are all over the place, using "leader", "teacher", "instructor", and "master", which overlap with other titles I've already mentioned. Those could also be translated as "ruler" or "guide".
This overlap between these title names does tell us something - it isn't about the names. We'll come back to that later.
If Jesus is referring to "rabbi", "father", and "leader" as concept names, we have a large number of English words that would fit inside those concepts. One result would be that we shouldn't be using the word "pastor." Pastors are leaders and teachers, … not so different from rabbis.
At the next and highest level up, Jesus could mean, "Don't have the spirit … that is involved in the titles … named by these words." That would mean that there was a problem with the spirit, not the titles or the words. If he meant that, then the spirit behind the title names should not be used that way. This is the level where Jesus is at. This is what he means. But, this is not where the majority of the church is at.
The problem is that Jesus doesn't name the spirit. He wants his listeners and readers to have hearts that desire to understand what he says. He wants them to figure that out. I expect that many translators are at that level, but they translate words, and without Jesus saying the name of the spirit, they have nothing to translate but the words he spoke. They can only work at the level of the titles, the concepts.
I checked some commentaries. Some understood what Jesus said at the level he intended, but others plainly did not.
But most readers are not at the level Jesus wants. They understand what Jesus says at the lowest level, as words that should not be used. So, they try to find different words, ones that aren't in the Bible translation that they use. They are worried about the word but, without realizing it, they may have the spirit they aren't supposed to have.
These levels of understanding are difficult to understand. We'll look at an example where Jesus does exactly the same thing that he is doing in our verses, but on a different topic. He uses exactly the same pattern. In Matthew 5:22, he lists 3 different things not to say, for each of those, there is a different but related consequence of saying that word, and the heart of the matter comes in the verses prior to the list of things that should not be said.
The similarities don't stop there. The translators usually choose not to translate one of the words that Jesus speaks, leaving it in Aramaic. Furthermore, most of Christianity do not understand what Jesus is saying and think there are some words they shouldn't be using. 2000 years after Jesus spoke those words, most of Christianity still does not understand. Christianity has failed.
I'm only going to look at one part of the verse, which is Matthew 5:22.
Whoever will say "You fool," is condemned to the Gehenna of fire.
Most translators leave the Aramaic word "Raca" in the verse where you see "You fool". This is like "rabbi", in our verses. If Jesus means that as a word, then it doesn't apply to us. The average person would think to himself, "Jesus says I shouldn't use the word 'raca.' Easy. I don't even know what it means. If I call someone a raca, he won't know what it means, either. I wouldn't even be sure if I'm saying it correctly. So, I won't say raca. Done. Big checkmark on that."
But some translators work at the next level up and try to figure out the concept behind the word raca, so they can find the same concept in English and pick a similar English word in that concept. The problem is that the meaning of 'raca' is not clear in our time. That results in translations using a long list of English words that they think are a good translation. I found these: Idiot, Fool, Stupid, Worthless, Empty, Scoundrel, Good-for-nothing, the phrase "I spit on you", the idea of "whoever insults." If you look at these as words you shouldn't use, are you going to stop using all of these words? I haven't checked all translations. There may be other words.
But Jesus' meaning is a level up from that, at the spiritual level. He is saying not to diminish a person in your heart, which is the 6th Commandment, the murder commandment. Pretty much no one in Christianity understands that.
Now we'll look at the verses in their full context.
And [the Scribes and Pharisees] love the first class places at feasts and first class seats in the synagogues, 7 and greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called, "Rabbi", by the people.
8 But you shall not be called "Rabbi", for one is your Rabbi, but you are all brothers.
9 And you should not call yourselves "Father", in the earth, for one is your Father who is in Heaven.
10 And you will not be called leaders, because one is your leader, the Messiah.
11 But he who is great among you will be a servant to you. (Matthew 23:6-11)
Now we can see that Jesus is making three points. The three points are about different aspects of a single idea. I've highlighted the verses in 3 colors so you can see where each point is.
First we'll look at the yellow point, which begins with the Scribes and Pharisees loving a long list of things. The list actually starts 2 verses earlier, but I trimmed those off because we can get the point without them.
With this long list, what is it that the Scribes and Pharisees love? They love being above everyone else because they are given respect and honor. Because of the respect and honor, they receive special treatment, which includes all the things in that list and more.
Then we jump down to the yellow highlight in verse 8. Jesus says to his disciples, "You are all brothers," which means they are from the same father and essentially equals, no different than a big brother to a little brother.
Then we jump down to the yellow highlight in verse 11. Jesus says to his disciples that the great ones among them are to be the servants. This translation uses the word servants to soften what's being said. The real word is "slaves," which describes people who do not control themselves but are ruled over by someone else. Jesus speaks of this servant-leadership concept in many places. The Scribes and Pharisees are very different from that. They feel their positions entitle them to respect and special treatment.
Summarizing his point, Jesus is saying the Scribes and Pharisees have it all wrong. Their positions do not make them great. Their positions make them slaves, in the service of everyone. Don't be like them.
Next we'll look at the blue highlighted point. For this point, Jesus is talking about the respect and honor that the Scribes and Pharisees crave so badly. He expresses the same idea from three different perspectives. He says:
Summarizing his point, Jesus is saying these three things: as my people, you should not be showing this kind of respect to your leaders in the faith, and as leaders, you should not speak of yourselves that way or allow people to think of you that way.
Next we'll look at the green highlighted point. For this point, Jesus is saying that people are showing respect to the people in these positions, but that respect belongs to God. Three times he says, "One is your …"
The word "One" is certainly a reference to God. Notice that I haven't even highlighted the words "Rabbi," "father," and "leader." They are only examples of words that refer to titles of positions, positions that some people think deserve respect. There are different words that Jesus could have used. These three words are not the problem.
In total, he says God is your rabbi," which is probably a reference to the Holy Spirit. Then he says God is your father; we know who he is talking about there. Then he says God, as the Messiah, is your leader; we are clear on who that is as well. God is all these things to you and more, but men are not.
Jesus is also making a subtle side point here. If that respect belongs to God, and the Scribes and the Pharisees were wiping it all over themselves, then the Scribes and Pharisees were stealing from God. That's not a good position to be in.
We've seen that Jesus isn't working at the level of words, or even at the level of titles. He hasn't been talking about the words "Rabbi", "father", and "leader". He has been talking about excessive respect for people in the church. He has 3 things to say:
There was nothing wrong with the words or the titles. The problem Jesus refers to is having respect for people as though they were equal to God. There are people who are like this, but there has never been a person who admitted it. This is an area where people can't be honest with themselves. They know they aren't supposed to elevate people like that, so they always say they aren't.
Judaism had failed in this area and continues to do so. When their rabbis discuss a biblical concept, they prefer to refer to other rabbis. Some of them consult only rabbis.
The church has failed in this area. The Catholic Church has certainly done so. They have elevated the Pope to a position where people treasure whatever comes from his mouth. The Protestant Churches have done this as well, but in their own style. Instead of one Pope, there are thousands of people all clamoring for an audience. Their videos show their faces prominently. The title images show them emoting what they think of the topic at hand. They would say they don't want that respect. It looks like they do. They would say they are only doing it to better spread the gospel message.
When you have a question about a topic, where do you go? Do you go to your favorite book author or your favorite video author? Or do you go to the Bible, and then check to see what some author says about it? Let the Spirit be your teacher.
So we can use the titles "Rabbi", "father", and "leader" to refer to people in the church. We aren't likely to use the title, "Rabbi." That just isn't part of our culture … or language, for that matter. We can also use the titles "pastor", "priest", or whatever. As it so often was, Jesus' message was about what's in the heart.
If we misunderstand this passage, we could think that we are doing what Jesus wanted, but we wouldn't be; We could be doing what Jesus didn't want us to do and not know it. We can do what Jesus was saying not to do without using the words "Rabbi", "father", and "leader."
I know that this study will be difficult for some of you to hear. You look at your Bible and see Jesus saying, "You should not call yourselves 'Father'." You naturally ask, … are we supposed to ignore what he said?
Jesus also said these words from John 6:57.
Just as the Living Father has sent me, and I am living because of the Father, whoever will eat me, he also will live because of Me."
Jesus didn't mean that his listeners should kill him and eat him. He didn't mean for those words to be followed literally. He's trying to get his listeners to think at a higher level. We see in John 6:66 that many of them were unable to do that.
The only difference is that "eat me" is plainly unreasonable, but "do not call yourselves father" only seems odd.