The Scripture is Matthew 23:8-12. Some translations make it seem as if Jesus forbids calling men ‘teachers’ in his kingdom community. But what did he really say?

How do we resolve the fact that the early church had teachers everywhere. Here are two verses:

Ephesians 4:11. Note the title. Emphasis added:

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers (Eph. 4:11, NIV).

1 Corinthians 12:28:

And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers … (1 Cor. 12:28, NIV)

How do we resolve this seeming difficulty?

Let’s begin.

Scripture

Matthew 23:8-12, as follows:

8 But you should not be called ‘Rabbi,’ for one is your teacher, and all of you are brothers and sisters. 9 And you should not be called your ‘father’ on earth, for one is your Father in heaven. 10 Neither should you be called ‘tutor’ because your tutor is one, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you is your servant. 12 The one who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:8-12, my translation)

Commentary

Jesus now instructs his budding kingdom community on who to be and not to be. They are not to be like the teachers of the law or the Pharisees who love titles. The members of the kingdom community are equals. Yes, Paul and the other apostles offer the various ministries for the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:28; Rom. 12:6-8; Eph. 4:11), but the goal here in these verses is to contrast the attitude of lusting after titles, like the teachers of the law and Pharisees did, with simply ministering in the church, as the first generation of disciples did.

“teacher”: Jesus does not use the verb form of this noun for his disciples until he is ascended and commands them to go out and teach (Matt. 28:20). Before then, he tells them to proclaim (Matt. 10). So he allowed the post-Resurrection church to develop teaching roles, which soon developed into the function / ministry of teachers. So things changed after the resurrection and ascension. From heaven, he was guiding his church in the apostolic community, and even today.

“tutor”: Many translations say it means “teacher.” But does it? No. It is the Greek agent noun kathēgētēs (pronounced kah-thay-gay-tayss, and the suffix –tēs make it an agent noun). It is a rare word, never used in the Septuagint (LXX) the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible in about the third century B.C. (and pronounced sep-TOO-ah-gent). BDAG, a lexicon of the Greek NT, which many consider authoritative, unhelpfully says it just means “teacher.” It is not often used in the larger Greek world in the ancient world. As a matter of fact, my classical and Hellenistic Greek lexicon, the nicknamed “middle Liddell,” does not have the term at all! (Today in modern Greek I heard that it means “Professor.”) It is someone who leads or guides. The related verb form means “one who goes before,” “to be the first to do, to establish, institute.” In Jesus’s day it supposedly came to be known as “instructor” or even “tutor.”

However, I believe that when Matthew’s Greek readers-listeners heard the agent noun, they did not think of an ordinary teacher. They knew it was a rare word, certainly rarer than the standard noun didaskalos (pronounced dee-dahs-kah-loss and used 59 times). It is used in v. 8 and in this context (and only in this context) is a synonym with Rabbi.

So Matthew’s readers-listeners must have heard something different in the title kathēgētēs. It could be that they heard these connotations built into the agent noun: “teacher who first institutes” or “instructor who leads the way” or “leader-teacher-guide.” (So ‘tutor’ may be too weak a term.) Only Jesus could fill this role. This is no ordinary teacher whom Jesus raised up in the church after his resurrection and ascension, called a didaskalos (Rom. 12:7 [cognate participle], 1 Cor. 12:28, and Eph. 4:11).

Gifts of the Spirit in Romans 12:6-8

Gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 and 12:28

Jesus’s criticism of all these titles—Rabbi, father, and tutor—is about people seeking them and being arrogant about the titles (vv. 11-12), just like the leaders whom Jesus is criticizing. So be warned the people of God today. Don’t lust after titles. Let your place or role in the Body of Christ evolve over time and in God’s calling. His gift in you will be clear to people, without your self-promotion and without throwing your titles around.

“Of course there are not absolute prescriptions, for both ‘father’ and ‘teacher’ are used often in the NT for Christian leaders and the teaching office was highly prized (Acts 13:1; 1 Cor 12:29; Eph. 4:11; 1 Tim 3:2). Jesus is saying such an office should never be sought for the self-glory it will give (cf. Phil. 2:3; Jas. 3:1)” (Osborne, comment on 23:10).

“one”: it could be translated broadly “one and unique” or “one and only.” The point is that Jesus the Messiah and the heavenly Father were the kingdom community’s one and only leader and guide; kingdom citizens should not pursue men and women as quasi-divine, authoritative substitutes for the true leaders: God and his Messiah.

Verses 11-12 teach us that if you humble yourself before God and others, he will exalt you. This pithy statement sums up the passage and should penetrate our hearts so we can remember this important rule in the kingdom community. Titles can puff us up. Avoid them if they do this to you.

In v. 12 we once again see the divine passive, because the verbs are in the passive voice. This means that God is working behind the scenes exalting and humbling people according to his evaluation of them. As noted, don’t seek for and insist on titles.

Let’s have Blomberg summarize this section:

All [titles] commonly referred in Judaism to those who expounded the law. “Rabbi” etymologically meant my great one. “Father” was apparently reserved for the patriarchs and revered teachers from the past (cf. the allegedly oldest portion of Mishnaic tradition—the Pirqe Aboth or “Sayings of the Fathers”). “Teacher” (kathēgētēs) referred especially to a tutor. As with many of Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, texts elsewhere in the New Testament make it clear that he is not promulgating absolute commands. People are properly called teachers in Acts 13:1; 1 Tim 2:7; and Heb 5:12. Paul will even refer to a spiritual gift that enables some people to be so identified (Eph 4:11; 1 Cor 12:28–29; cf. Jas 3:1). It remains appropriate to call a biological parent one’s father, and even one’s spiritual parent may be addressed with this term (1 Cor 4:15; cf. also 1 John 2:13; Acts 22:1). So the point of vv. 8–12 must be that such titles are not to be used to confer privilege or status. (comment on 23:8-12)

Conclusion

There is one main noun for teacher in the Greek NT: didaskalos. In contrast, the agent noun kathēgētēs is so rare that it is not found even in the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, the Septuagint.

When native Greek speakers in Matthew’s original community heard this very rare word, they must have been startled. They could not have concluded that Jesus meant to outlaw the title of  didaskalos. Surely they saw didaskaloi (plural) and heard them teach in their community. What other word could they use to describe their function in the assembly, as the teachers taught them? Therefore, he did not outlaw the use of this title per se.

In my own research of the related verb I learned that the agent noun could mean a pioneer leader, guide or teacher, one who institutes. Jesus said only he fills this role.

The bottom line: Verses 8-12 are about using titles for ostentatious displays, like the Pharisees and teachers of the law (a.k.a. scribes) did. God humble such people (v. 12). They are not to believe that titles exalt them and therefore should not insist on them. So the idea is not to crave them and exalt oneself through them. It’s the attitude of the heart. When your heart is humble, God will exalt you.

Bottom line:

Didaskalos: yes (but only if you are humble)

Kathēgētēs: never (only Jesus can fulfill this role)

If you want to see the Greek text and the bibliography, click on this link and scroll down to the right verses:

Matthew 23