"But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Messiah."
On the surface this would seem to contradict other parts of the NT in which we see that elders, fathers, teachers and leaders are ordained in the communities of faith. Are we to not have teachers or leaders?
The context in which he is speaking is the teacher-disciple relationship of the First Century. This teacher to student relationship is likened to a master to servant and father to son relationship.
Jesus says it is not to be like that for his disciples. He says that his disciples are not to be like other disciples in that regard. Other disciples, when they are trained go and raise disciples for themselves and then they become the teacher, the father, the rabbi, the master. Jesus' disciples are instructed not to raise disciples for themselves. There was not to be a School of Peter, a House of Andrew, an Academy of James.
The disciples of Jesus were never to take the role of master, because unlike the master's of the Pharisees or the men of the Great Assembly or sages like Hillel or Shammai, Jesus is still alive. Followers of Jesus are forbidden to make their own disciples because their job is to raise up more disciples for Jesus
For we have one teacher! The Messiah.
Ultimately, it is not that we do not have teachers among us, or elders, fathers, rabbis or even leaders. Of course we do. But we must never let our elders, fathers, rabbis, leaders or teachers take the place of our Master. We must never be the disciples of men carrying on the traditions of men. Rather, we must be disciples of the Messiah. We must never raise up disciples for ourselves, for our own self-aggrandizement. Rather we must raise up more disciples for him!
This is the peculiar distinctive of the Disciples of Jesus. Our Master is still alive.
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