{"id":92607,"date":"2015-06-05T00:32:42","date_gmt":"2015-06-05T07:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=92607"},"modified":"2015-05-13T10:42:26","modified_gmt":"2015-05-13T17:42:26","slug":"priests-spiritual-fatherhood-and-bible-only-protestant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/06\/priests-spiritual-fatherhood-and-bible-only-protestant.html","title":{"rendered":"Priests, Spiritual Fatherhood, and a Bible Only Protestant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A reader writes:<\/p>\n

Several months ago, you kindly helped me answer a question a Protestant co-worker asked me about the book of Baruch. This co-worker and I are still corresponding via email discussing the Catholic faith. He asks me questions, and I do my best to answer. \u00a0So far, with the help of Catholic Answers, EWTN, and your blog, I have been able to answer his questions accurately, although he does not accept any of the Church\u2019s reasoning.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bravo to you for bearing witness!<\/p>\n

\u00a0As of late, we have been discussing how Catholics call priests \u201cFather.\u201d My co-worker takes issue with this and I have been sending him links to several articles from Catholic Answers to read on this topic.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Good!\u00a0 Well done!<\/p>\n

\u00a0In response to this article\u00a0http:\/\/www.catholic.com\/\/tracts\/call-no-man-father<\/a>\u00a0he had this to say:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe passage that caught my eye the most is near the end so much of this will be on that. It says in one place \u201cBy referring to these people as their spiritual sons and spiritual children, Peter, Paul, and John imply their own roles as spiritual fathers\u201d. I fail to see this implication. No where are any of these men called \u201cfathers\u201d or \u201cteachers\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s because it\u2019s an *implication*. \u00a0Nonetheless,\u00a0sometimes it *is* clearly said: \u201cI do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers.\u00a0For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel<\/em>\u201d (1 Cor. 4:14\u201315).\u00a0It doesn\u2019t get much clearer than that.\u00a0 Moreover, Paul calls Abraham \u201cour father Abraham\u201d.<\/p>\n

Recall the words of Jesus: \u201cCall *no man* father\u201d (not just priests).\u00a0 If Jesus really means to establish a weird fetish against ever calling anybody \u201cFather\u201d, then not just Paul but a host of biblical luminaries are in trouble, for they call all sorts of people \u201cfather\u201d.\u00a0 Matthew does it in his genealogy.\u00a0 Stephen speaks of \u201cour father Abraham\u201d.\u00a0 Mary speaks of \u201cour fathers\u201d in the Magnificat. John addresses the fathers in his flock.\u00a0 Heck, even Jesus himself speaks of \u201cfather Abraham\u201d.\u00a0 And since the name \u201cAbraham\u201d means \u201cfather of a multitude\u201d it\u2019s pretty hard to take Jesus as laying down a weird demand that nobody ever say the magic word \u201cFather\u201d since you could never speak of Abraham in his language without calling him \u201cFather\u201d.\u00a0 Is Christ really forbidding us to celebrate Father\u2019s Day?\u00a0 If so, why does he tell us to \u201chonor your father and your mother\u201d?<\/p>\n

Also, notably, he says \u201cCall no man teacher\u201d.\u00a0 Does he really intend to establish a bizarre fetish about never using the magic word \u201cteacher\u201d to describe somebody? \u00a0Do you really blaspheme God if you call your third grade teacher \u201cteacher\u201d? \u00a0If so, Luke breaks this rule by acknowledging that the Church in Antioch had teachers including Barnabas and Saul.\u00a0 Indeed, Paul will tell the Ephesians that God gave some to be teachers.\u00a0 Obviously then, Jesus is not intending to be taken with flat-footed literalism.\u00a0 His point is Paul\u2019s:<\/p>\n

\u201cFor this reason I kneel\u00a0before the Father,\u00a015\u00a0<\/sup>from whom every family[a<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0in heaven and on earth derives its name.<\/p>\n

Ephesians 3:15<\/a>\u00a0The Greek for\u00a0family\u00a0(patria) is derived from the Greek for\u00a0father\u00a0(pater).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Your friend continues:<\/p>\n

To imply such is to go \u201cbeyond what is written\u201d which is forbidden (1 Corinthians 4:6). We all are to be teachers in truth but we not above one another which brings me to my next point.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the contrary, we are to \u201cDo nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. (Php 2:3).\u00a0 So we are to \u201chonor our fathers and mothers\u201d, whether biological or those who are our fathers and mothers in the faith, including priests.\u00a0 If we can do it with Paul, we can do it with our shepherds\u2013and are commanded to:<\/p>\n

\u00a0One part says \u201cPriests, in turn, follow the apostles\u2019 biblical example by referring to members of their flock as \u201cmy son\u201d or \u201cmy child\u201d. Again no one is called a \u201cpriest\u201d in the NT.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

They are.\u00a0 The word \u201cpriest\u201d is the Englished version of \u201cpresbuteros\u201d.\u00a0 You might as well say that nobody calls our Lord \u201cJesus\u201d in the NT because they call him \u201cIesous\u201d.<\/p>\n

We are all called to this \u201coffice\u201d of being priests and teachers of the word (1 Peter 2:5;9) being that Christianity is a taught religion (Matthew 28:19; John 6:45).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Church recognizes that the baptized are baptized into the office of prophet, priest, and king.\u00a0 Ancient Israel likewise saw the nation as having a priestly office\u2013but also that the nation was given a sacerdotal priesthood in the Levites.\u00a0 The Church repeats this pattern.<\/p>\n

No one has any special privileges anymore because we are all one in Christ (Galatians 3:28). Christ actually put an end to the physical priesthood being the last one an fulfilling the law.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Christ put an end to the Levitical priesthood, not the physical priesthood.\u00a0 He founds a new covenant\u00a0tracing \u00a0its priestly roots to Melchizedek, not Levi, that, just like Israel, has a common priesthood shared by the people of God and a sacerdotal priesthood shared by those who have received the sacrament of holy orders. That\u2019s what the \u201claying on of hands\u201d Paul mentions in his letter to Timothy is all about. \u00a0It\u2019s what the whole letter to the Hebrews is about. Paul ordained Timothy a bishop, just as he himself was ordained in Acts 13.\u00a0 The sacerdotal New Covenant priesthood is rooted in the prayer of consecration Jesus offers for the apostles in John 17.\u00a0 Everywhere the apostles go they ordain presbuteroi (aka episcopoi) to be the priestly leaders of the communities they found (Acts 14:23).<\/p>\n

\u00a0It also talks about the \u201cspiritual fatherhood\u201d which I have stated doesn\u2019t exist in the NT times being that Christ did away with it. I would like to get your\u00a0response to this please.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Paul calls himself a father through the gospel.\u00a0 Your friend is wrong.<\/p>\n

I hope this helps!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A reader writes: Several months ago, you kindly helped me answer a question a Protestant co-worker asked me about the book of Baruch. This co-worker and I are still corresponding via email discussing the Catholic faith. He asks me questions, and I do my best to answer. \u00a0So far, with the help of Catholic Answers, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[106,8,650],"class_list":["post-92607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-god-bless-our-priests","tag-mailbag","tag-na"],"yoast_head":"\nPriests, Spiritual Fatherhood, and a Bible Only Protestant<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A reader writes: Several months ago, you kindly helped me answer a question a Protestant co-worker asked me about the book of Baruch. 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