One often discussed matter that comes up, be it in the Torah Observant crowd or outside of it is the titles we bestow upon the leaders in our congregations. This topic can even get very heated! To answer a special request this is now the subject for today's post.
Many feel the answers can be found in Matthew 23:8-12, “But you are not to let yourselves be called ‘Rabbi’; because you have one Rabbi, and you are all each other’s brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘Father.’ because you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to let yourselves be called ‘leaders,’ because you have one Leader, and he is the Messiah! 11 The greatest among you must be your servant, 12 for whoever promotes himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be promoted. But not so fast! If you take this to mean that we can not use such words, which included Leader, have we no leadership at all in the congregation? That would be a falsity and against how scripture tells us to build our churches (ecclesiology). So we must look deeper at what is going on.
Let's start by placing this scripture back in the context it comes from, Matthew 23. Then Yeshua addressed the crowds and his talmidim: 2 “The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim,” he said, “sit in the seat of Moshe. 3 So whatever they tell you, take care to do it. But don’t do what they do, because they talk but don’t act! 4 They tie heavy loads onto people’s shoulders but won’t lift a finger to help carry them. 5 Everything they do is done to be seen by others; for they make their t’fillin broad and their tzitziyot long, 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, 7 and they love being greeted deferentially in the marketplaces and being called ‘Rabbi.’
8 “But you are not to let yourselves be called ‘Rabbi’; because you have one Rabbi, and you are all each other’s brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘Father.’ because you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to let yourselves be called ‘leaders,’ because you have one Leader, and he is the Messiah! 11 The greatest among you must be your servant, 12 for whoever promotes himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be promoted.
13 “But woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P’rushim! For you are shutting the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces, neither entering yourselves nor allowing those who wish to enter to do so. 14 [a]
15 “Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P’rushim! You go about over land and sea to make one proselyte; and when you succeed, you make him twice as fit for Gei-Hinnom as you are!
16 “Woe to you, you blind guides! You say, ‘If someone swears by the Temple, he is not bound by his oath; but if he swears by the gold in the Temple, he is bound.’ 17 You blind fools! Which is more important? the gold? or the Temple which makes the gold holy? 18 And you say, ‘If someone swears by the altar, he is not bound by his oath; but if he swears by the offering on the altar, he is bound.’ 19 Blind men! Which is more important? the sacrifice? or the altar which makes the sacrifice holy? 20 So someone who swears by the altar swears by it and everything on it. 21 And someone who swears by the Temple swears by it and the One who lives in it. 22 And someone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and the One who sits on it.
23 “Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P’rushim! You pay your tithes of mint, dill and cumin; but you have neglected the weightier matters of the Torah — justice, mercy, trust. These are the things you should have attended to — without neglecting the others! 24 Blind guides! — straining out a gnat, meanwhile swallowing a camel!
25 “Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P’rushim! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Parush! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside may be clean too.
27 “Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P’rushim! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look fine on the outside but inside are full of dead people’s bones and all kinds of rottenness. 28 Likewise, you appear to people from the outside to be good and honest, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and far from Torah.
29 “Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P’rushim! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the tzaddikim, 30 and you say, ‘Had we lived when our fathers did, we would never have taken part in killing the prophets.’ 31 In this you testify against yourselves that you are worthy descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead then, finish what your fathers started!
33 “You snakes! Sons of snakes! How can you escape being condemned to Gei-Hinnom? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and Torah-teachers — some of them you will kill, indeed, you will have them executed on stakes as criminals; some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so, on you will fall the guilt for all the innocent blood that has ever been shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Hevel to the blood of Z’kharyah Ben-Berekhyah, whom you murdered between the Temple and the altar. 36 Yes! I tell you that all this will fall on this generation!
37 “Yerushalayim! Yerushalayim! You kill the prophets! You stone those who are sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children, just as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you refused! 38 Look! God is abandoning your house to you, leaving it desolate.[b] 39 For I tell you, from now on, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of Adonai.’”
This isn't at all a focus on the title used on them! This is about they false representing those titles, placing them above where they should be. These people where being accused of not only being hypocrites, teaching the Law and not obeying it, but of adding their own regulations above the Law of Yahweh. Essentially trying to go above what Yahweh has said! They where also flaunting their roles as leaders in the congregation, putting on airs that where simply inappropriate for their positions. Yeshua is saying here not that we can not now use such titles, but to remember that the titles are not the focal point, that obedience and proper service is what is important.
This is affirmed when we look to other scriptures to further understand what is going on. Starting with 1 Peter 5:1-3, Therefore, I urge the congregation leaders among you, as a fellow-leader and witness to the Messiah’s sufferings, as well as a sharer in the glory to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is in your care, exercising oversight not out of constraint, but willingly, as God wants; and not out of a desire for dishonest gain, but with enthusiasm; 3 also not as machers domineering over those in your care, but as people who become examples to the flock. Now, was the divinely inspired author of this letter at fault and mistaken in calling himself a leader? According to a point blank representation of Yeshua's words in Matthew 23 you can only say there is a fault in the scripture! Indeed this can not be the case, showing that we can in fact use these as titles in an appropriate manner. Peter identifies as a leader, he marks out that there are other leaders. This also shows the origin of the term Pastor, as it comes from the Latin word for Shepard, guiding the flock and showing them the Way. Acts 20:28 also goed into this same note, saying, Watch out for yourselves, and for all the flock in which the Ruach HaKodesh has placed you as leaders, to shepherd God’s Messianic community, which he won for himself at the cost of his own Son’s blood. Again we see Leaders used as a title, as well as Shepard. Even Phillipians has something to say on the matter right off the start, 1:1 says From: Sha’ul and Timothy, slaves of the Messiah Yeshua To: All God’s people united with the Messiah Yeshua and living in Philippi, along with the congregation leaders and shammashim. Showing Paul also use the use of Leader, and for those who feel the other uses where generic, as the role and not the title, shammashim directly translates into 'servant-leader' showing that this was in fact a manner of title that was used. Which is the core of the title of Deacons.
Leader is not the only part of this that is so clearly rectified however. We of course must apply context with context, so to use Leader after seeing Matthew 23 means that Abba, Father, and Rabbi, Teacher, must also be applicable for use. We can not pick one out and leave the rest behind. For those unsatisfied however who do wish to leave Rabbi or Abba behind, Ephesians 4:11 says, Furthermore, he gave some people as emissaries, some as prophets, some as proclaimers of the Good News, and some as shepherds and teachers. This shows very clearly that the roles, which where also titles, where still applicable. It is the end of this verse that is specifically at play for the purpose of this discussion, as it marks out decisively the use of Teacher, which is Rabbi. In this way Paul shows very clearly that it is indeed not the title in question, but the use of the title that Yeshua was addressing.
So what then of Father? This is also a hot topic, primarily in the Protestant circles. A Hot topic I readily understand as Abba is a title used many times toward the Father in the Trinity. It can feel very close to blasphemous to use it as a title on a person because of this! However, our own feelings to something do not make it true or untrue. The reality is that at the time Yeshua spoke Father was also a term used for someone who held a relationship with a person that they also taught. We can even see this scripturally supported, Genesis 45:8 says, So it was not you who sent me here, but God; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his household and ruler over the whole land of Egypt. Here we see Joseph, having formed a relationship as an Adviser to Pharoah, is called a father type figure to him. This isn't a purely studious relationship, as we would see with a typical Rabbi, it is more personal. The personal and studious relationship between Elisha and Elijah only reinforces this in 2 Kings 2:12 where it says, Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Isra’el!” Then he lost sight of him. Seizing his clothes, he tore them in half. This while Elijah was being taken from Elisha. Isaiah 22:20-21 shows this on a much broader scale as well, When that day comes, I will summon my servant Elyakim the son of Hilkiyahu.
21 I will dress him in your robe, gird him with your sash of office, and invest him with your authority. He will be a father to the people living in Yerushalayim and to the house of Y’hudah.
Ultimately it comes down to appropriately using these titles, Father, Teacher, Leader. Do not allow the use of this title on you to increase your pride and arrogance above who the ultimate of Fathers, the Ultimate Teacher, our Eternal Leader. Do not fall into abusing these titles lest you become no more than a wolf, preying on the sheep the people in these titles should be serving and protecting. If you are in such a position, remember that Yeshua himself came to serve, and follow his example in all that you do.
