Question & Answer: Call No One Father

Call 'NO ONE' on earth "FATHER" (Mt. 23v.9)
What about my dad?
...I said call no one on earth your Father.
But it is written in your Law that I should honor my father and mother (Ex. 20v.12, Eph. 6v.2). And your apostle Paul says you are my children, this day I have begotten you through the Gospel (Acts 13v.33). Even John your evangelist addresses his first letter to the Fathers?...
...I said you have but one Father in heaven.
What about these others: the Pope, who is even called the Holy Father, the priests, the founding fathers of my nation or congregation?
SO WHAT IS JESUS TALKING ABOUT?
The basic point that Jesus is making is this: Your father may fail you but God won't, he is 'the' Father.
This is what we call an hyperbole and it should not be taken literally. Its like saying "...to wait in eternity". So Jesus also sometimes speaks like that. For example, "anyone who wants to follow me must HATE his mother and father and wife." He is not talking about HATING them as such but he is using the concept to illustrate or describe the seriousness of ones decision.

BACK TO "CALL NO FATHER...
In the context of the passage Jesus is talking about people who have taken their seat on the chair of Moses, literally meaning, 'a chair of leadership or of a religious teacher'. And he says do what they tell you but do not follow them. Why?
Because they have short comings. They are not perfect at what they do? They are fathers but not as God is to you. they are masters but not as I am to you.
SO LOGICALLY HE IS SAYING THE FOLLOWING:
1. God is Father,
2. Man is Father
3. But God is NOT Man, and Man is NOT God.
Jesus' version >
1. Jesus is Rabbi
2. Man is Rabbi
3. But this Man Rabbi is NOT the Rabbi Jesus who is the master
And the concept MASTER explains it all. He is perfect at what he does.

So he is says call no one on earth your Father to mean mind you know the difference of degree in your application of these concepts.
Man Father may sometimes fail to do his duties but God does not
Man Father sometimes sins but God does not.
This is an hyperbole.
We certainly have fathers in flesh, through the preaching of the Word, through social and cultural ties, through the spirit and more so historical founders e.g. *father of the nations*
TO HAVE THIS UNDERSTANDING IS NOT MATURE IN FAITH TO A POINT THAT THE WEAKNESS OF MEN, CALLED "FATHERS" CAN NOT CAUSE YOU TO LOOSE FAITH, AND THE UNDERSTANDING AND LOVE OF GOD AS YOUR FATHER.
Your parents may fail you but you have the Father
A priest may disappoint you but remember you have the Father
An elderly person, whom we call father, culturally speaking, may fail you but you have the Father.
God bless you...