Printable Page

Dear Brother Moshe,

Cary here calls you "My Rabbi". Is this not what Yeshua forbids when He says  to call no man Rabbi? Please share with me your insight on this matter.

Your  brother in Yeshua, Daniel Sanders

ANSWER:  In the short space that I have, I will present for your consideration one  common anti-Jewish teaching, that has been taught in most churches, while  many innocent congregants often do not pick up on what is really being  taught. You see my friend, the House of Israel (most non-Jewish believers)  are often just as blind, as all those supposedly blind Jews!  In Matthew 23:8, Yahshua supposedly commands His disciples that no one must  be called or referred to by the title of "Rabbi". Yahshua supposedly claims  to be our only Rabbi, therefore apparently forbidding His followers from  using the term. Is this really true?

The rest of scripture totally  contradicts this anti Jewish interpretation. Rabbi simply means teacher.  Nothing more, nothing less. In Ephesians: 4:11,Yahshua tells Rav Shaul  (Paul) that teachers or rabbis are Yahweh's personal gift to His body in  order to teach, build up and encourage people to walk in truth. Why would  Yahshua supposedly first forbid teachers or rabbis, then boldly state that  they are one of His fivefold office gifts to His people! Have you ever asked  yourself that, or perhaps wondered about that? The Hebrew word for teacher  is Rav or Rabbi in Ephesians 4.

In Matthew 23:9, Yahshua also supposedly forbids calling anyone on earth  "father". Then John the beloved, one of the original 12 disciples, in First  John 2:13-14 refers to mature spirit filled believers as "fathers" in and of  the faith. Wasn't John paying attention to Yahshua's teachings? Was John  sleeping instead of taking notes? Why would John who lived daily with  Yahshua for three and a half years, suddenly turn around and disobey Yahshua, by referring to mature born again believers as "fathers" of the  faith? Weren't you and I supposedly taught that both these titles are  forbidden titles?

In Matthew 23:10, Yahshua also tells us to avoid using the title of leader.  He supposedly claims that since He is our one true leader, that we should  not have other leaders. Could this possibly be right? Wouldn't lack of leadership result in chaos within divine government? Messiah would then be  ruling over an anarchistic body. Yahweh's word tells us that Yahweh is not  the author of confusion in the kehelot! As a matter of fact, in Second  Thessalonians 3:7 -9 and several other places, Rav Shaul (Paul) asks through  apostolic authority to be followed. He asks and even demands to be followed  as He walked with Yahweh (1 Cor.11:1) . He is asking others to accept his  role as a leader. Rav Shaul further instructs Timothy and Titus to lead and  appoint other leaders in other local assemblies.

Due to these seemingly irreconcilable contradictions, we must reread Matthew  23:8-10, asking Yahweh to shed pure gospel light on these verses. We must never make the mistake that so many make by taking a verse out of context in order to develop a pretext. Does Yahshua pick on three titles above all other titles and forbid their usage among his followers? No, he does not! The anti-Semites in the church would like you to think just that! The heart of Yahshua's discourse regarding the titles of rabbis, fathers and  leaders, is that men must always resist the tendency to label themselves with man-made titles and with self awarded designations. Any title that we assign to ourselves, in order to be noticed and to lift our fragile egos with pride, is sinfully corrupt and wrong. Yahshua was not attacking Jews or rabbis. He Himself was a rabbi as was Rav Shaul (Paul). He is exposing the religious mental gymnastics that men play with each other, by granting, withholding, interchanging and exchanging meaningless self imposed titles, designed to feed the fleshly desire for acknowledgment!

When and if Yahweh calls you a rabbi, you are a rabbi! When Yahweh calls you a congregational father, you become a congregational father. When Yahweh calls you a leader of His people you are a leader. If on the other hand, you or I grab any title (not limited to these three), that has not been divinely imparted by Almighty Yahweh Himself, then we are being hypocritical, vain and self seeking. Yahshua does not merely single out three titles for prohibition in a world having a plethora of man made titles and declaring only these three to be inherently evil! He prefers rather to single out the sinful tendency in man to promote himself through public recognition, without divine sanction.

Considering these truths, we Messianic Nazarene Yisrael leaders are quite comfortable with our designation as rabbi's and teachers. Only a heart filled with incorrect doctrine and teaching through years of anti-Semitic indoctrination would fail to see and comprehend the above outlined truth from Yahweh's  Word.

It is safe therefore to conclude that if Yahshua was addressing Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians and other modern day groups, His message would remain unchanged. He would clearly condemn the usage of titles such as Reverend, Doctor, Pastor, Monsignor and others tossed around, unless the individual had been previously sealed separated and chosen by the Ruach Hakodesh (Holy Spirit), for a life of service. Yahshua obviously chose to make a point and simply used the title of rabbi, because He was addressing a Jewish audience, not because that title was inherently evil. He was not picking on three specific titles in a world full, of false titles. His own rabbinical discourse in no way teaches the intolerance of fellow rabbis (Matthew 23:1). He was condemning the practice of using titles, without His  permission and His calling upon their lives.

Perhaps you and I will feel released from this religious legalism handed down to us through faulty church doctrine and unbiblical traditions. You and I are free in Yahshua to refer to the leaders of this great Messianic Nazarene Yisrael movement as rabbis without any hesitation, reluctance or guilt on our part. Perhaps if you have been referring to yourself as a Messianic Pastor, the time has arrived for you to realign your thinking with Yahweh's and become part of the new wine of biblical Messianic faith, the kind Yahshua died to establish. Since Yahshua was a Rabbi, it would stand to reason that any of  His shepherds from both houses of Israel, would be honored to be called by the exact same title, that He Himself used freely.