Many make the grave mistake of taking a small part of Scripture, then emphasizing it or exaggerating its importance to make their own point. When we do this, we risk creating new doctrines that can be very misleading.
In this article, I want to explain a word from our very own Lord Jesus Christ.
When we take things out of context
Many wrong teachings today stem from Bible verses that were taken out of context.
For example, let's talk about the principle of submission to authority. We're familiar with Romans 13, the chapter where submission to authority is talked about.
Many selfish leaders misuse this principle in order to gain control over the people. Even crooked ministers do this to the flock God entrusted to them. They use Romans 13:1-2 to justify their wicked ways of leadership and force people to obey them:
"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves."
When the focus is only on this part of the passage, we will all agree that we should all submit to authority without questions. But when we know God's heart for leaders, we know we should honor God before any man. We will be able to say with all our heart,
"We ought to obey God rather than men." (see Acts 5:29)
What does this have to do with Jesus' command?
Now we proceed to the main content of this article. What did Jesus mean when He said in Matthew 23:9? Let's read what He said:
"Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven."
Here we read Jesus saying we have One Father, our Father in heaven. Because of this, He tells us not to call anyone "father."
Did Jesus mean we must not call anyone our fathers, even our biological dad? Of course not. Here are a few things Jesus meant with what He said:
1) To remind us that we are God's children
Jesus reminded us with this short verse that God is our Father. He reminded us that above all, we are God's children.
2) To emphasize God's sovereignty and authority over us
Jesus gave this short command as He talked about the religious leaders during His time in earthly ministry. He commanded us to humble ourselves and recognize Him as God and Lord over us.
3) To put our focus on God and not man
Lastly, Jesus said these words so that we'd all learn to put our focus on Him, not on others.
As God's people, we ought to follow God. We ought to follow Christ. If our focus is on people, we will never be able to follow Christ - all the more if we're deceived by someone who tries to present Himself as "Christ" (see Matthew 24:23-25).
