Call no man father

"Honor your father and your mother."

"Call no man teacher" vs. charismatic gift of teaching.

Rom 4:16-17: "Abraham, father of the Gentiles."

Acts: Stephen says, "Brethren and fathers, hear me."

Acts 22:1: Paul says, "Brethren and fathers."

No plucked eyes, severed hands among Christians. We recognize hyperbole ...

God has no grandchildren. The instruction to "call no man your father" is not about the vocabulary we use to identify the biological cause of our first birth or to honor our elders in the Body of Christ; it is about the interior recognition that no human being other than God, the Son, Incarnate, comes between us and God. Jesus Christ is our personal Lord and Savior. Through Him, we are "born again" of water and the Spirit. The way in which God is our Father goes beyond every form of human fatherhood in the order of nature and in the Christian community.