What Jesus Said About Using Honorific Titles

In Jesus’ final public confrontation in Jerusalem before he was put to death, he said something that’s recorded in the Gospel of Matthew to his disciples that I think is largely ignored in churches today. What he says seems super straightforward (depending on the tradition you’re a part of, of course).

We’re going to look at Matthew 23:1-12, but the macro-structure of Matthew 21-25 helps us understand what he says there.

Jesus confronts the temple system

In Matthew 21-22, Jesus enters Jerusalem, symbolically judges the temple, and debates its leaders. In chapter 23, he pronounces prophetic woes on the scribes and Pharisees. Then in chapters 24-25, he predicts the temple’s destruction and speaks of His coming Kingdom.

So overall, he’s having a confrontation with the temple and its system.

He takes symbolic actions like clearing the temple (because its failed in its purpose), cursing the fig tree (the temple system has leaves, but no fruit) and responds to the question “By what authority are you doing these things?” (by the authority of obedience to the Father and not by a position in the temple system).

He’s really poking the bear here.

In the Old Testament, the temple was the symbolic center of heaven and earth overlapping. The temple system included priests that mediated sacrifice, scribes that interpreted the Torah (God’s instruction), Pharisees that modeled covenantal faithfulness and rabbis that formed disciples to be obedient to God’s instruction.

They all worked together in keeping the old covenant with God.

In particular, the scribes and Pharisees’ roles were helping God’s people live out the covenant. There were laws, but those laws would need to be interpreted into application in different situations. So they would develop interpretations of the laws and instruct Israel in how to practically live out the gray areas.

Sabbath observance is what we encounter in the passage we’re going to look at and its a classic example. God’s instruction in the law did not define “work” in practical terms. So we see examples of that when the disciples were plucking grain to eat on the Sabbath day, or when Jesus was healing on the Sabbath.

There were different interpretations because the story the Pharisees were living by (holiness preserves God’s presence) and Jesus was living by (God’s presence restores people) were different. Jesus was flipping the story. The laws were good, but the story being used to interpret them was not what the story of the Old Testament was teaching in the first place.

Then we get to Matthew 23:1-12…

¹Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, ²saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; ³therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. ⁴They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. ⁵But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. ⁶They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, ⁷and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men. ⁸But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. ¹⁰Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. ¹¹But the greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹²Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

Again, Jesus is addressing the crowds and his disciples about this mediation system between God and Israel. In this system, priests were called “father,” rabbis were called “teacher” and disciples gained identity through the person they followed and learned from.

Jesus reimagines where authority is found

These titles were a public recognition of spiritual authority. Anybody can offer their opinion, but what makes it trustworthy?

It’s like today how anybody can get on social media and be an “expert” at something. They can even pose as personalities they are not. So social media platforms have instituted a “verified badge” to confirm that someone is who they say they are. It’s like a stamp of approval that this is legit.

So titles were like stamps of approval on who was the gatekeeper to God’s words and thoughts on all matters. This is the role the priests, scribes, Pharisees and rabbis held.

So Jesus comes along and talks about how he’s starting a new community, and what he says here is that no one in this new community will do that sort of thing. They will not address each other with honorific titles. Authority won’t be in these types of positions or roles. In this new system, authority will be in Him alone.

He says other things to his disciples like “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6) and that he’s going to come live in every one of his followers.

In this passage, he also says “you are all brothers,” making a shift from elevation language to kinship language where God is the Father and everyone else are siblings.

So instead of a hierarchical system, it’s a horizontal system. Or maybe even more accurately, a circle.

In this system, you don’t seek higher status. Everyone seeks the lowest one together. The greatest are those leading the way down.

This path is messier. This path is narrower. This path leads to transformation.

God’s purpose throughout the Bible

This path echoes Genesis 1. When God created the human, he said their purpose was to image him. When Israel is established, he says their purpose was to be a kingdom OF priests (not a kingdom WITH priests). Then you get to the prophets and read things like…

They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34)

God’s purpose was not that there would be in-between layers of mediation between God and humans.

When Jesus was confronted with questions about life, he would always take the conversation back to God’s original purpose for humanity. It wasn’t to be in this temple-like system. That was to get us from one point to another.

So he dismantles temple-shaped authority and re-centers Israel’s faith around God’s direct reign through the Messiah, where leadership exists only as servant and slave-like participation in God’s family of brothers and sisters, not as honor-bearing mediation from some people to other people.

Those aren’t titles in your New Testament

When Paul the apostle writes, he keeps talking about how he’s the least. He’s positioning himself as a status-symbol of what leadership in the Kingdom of God is. He also doesn’t title himself “Apostle Paul.” Instead, he writes “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus” to explain his function.

He understands Jesus’ words here, that functional differences aren’t being denied. It’s the use of self-exalting and honorific titles of distinction.

Terms like “apostle” or “elder” or “pastor” are functional terms like “husband” or “wife” in a household. My wife doesn’t call me “husband Mike.” But this is what we do in churches.

In the book 58:0 – How Christ Leads Through the One Anothers, author Jon Zens writes…

…the terminology is descriptive of one’s task; they help to picture someone’s function, or may even denote one’s spiritual maturity as in the term “elder.”  Thus, it is just as foolish and unnecessary to speak of “Pastor Bob” as it is to speak of one who possesses the gift or function of hospitality as “Hospitality Harry”; or one who has the gift of mercy as “Mercy Mary”; or one who has the gift of giving as “Giving George.”  It is probably best (as Jesus suggests) to abolish most uses of such titles and look for equalizing terms that show that we are all related as family to one Heavenly Father (God) and one teacher (Christ)…

The early church never used titles because Christ is the honored one and His followers are all on equal footing as brothers and sisters.

It’s also a funny thing we do because we typically give one title to people, but in the New Testament, the same people wear multiple descriptions. For example, Paul functioned as an apostle, but when he functioned in a different role, he wasn’t. He was also called a deacon. Timothy was called a deacon and a pastor in different contexts.

The first Jesus communities were anti-status communities in a status-obsessed culture. This is challenging because we operate in title-based systems in most areas of life, like government, education, business, etc.

Titles start infiltrating the churches in the late 1st-2nd century and then get really locked in around 300 AD when you find institutional hierarchies and formal titles.

But what if they’re a good person?

Now someone might ask “what if the person called by the title is a good, humble person with a servant’s heart?” The danger here isn’t bad motives, it’s about habituation. Humans are inevitably weak and most aren’t even aware they’re being affected by this practice. So good people are still affected by it.

This is pretty straightforward stance by Jesus. He doesn’t qualify it by saying that you shouldn’t do it unless someone is mature, and then it’s OK. He recognizes what it does to people.

For people that hold titles, mentally they can begin to merge their self-worth with their function. Then if something happens where they’re taken out of that function, it can really destroy them.

Authority can start to feel intrinsic rather than situationally entrusted. Just like the Pharisees and scribes in this story, they have authority just because of their title and not because of what they’re bringing to the table. Then trust is given to them even though most of the time there is no close-knit relationship with that person.

People will go to them for counseling just because of a title before their name, and they might not even be a good counselor. Then we get bad advice and it leads down a bad path.

Even if there is a relationship there, it will affect that relationship if you start this practice. Now humility becomes harder because status is constantly reinforced by a title.

Could it be that we don’t realize just how much of a slippery slope our souls are? This is constantly seen in the story of the Bible. The best, bravest and brightest of God’s people fail time after time after time. It’s only the Messiah who deserves all status and authority.

The effects on the people using the titles are great too. They are less likely to challenge the title holder. They can get a codependence to them. Discernment gets outsourced even though God calls all his people to be discerning.

What is healthy for a church?

If this is a practice that is common, there needs to be language reform. Jesus doesn’t just say “don’t abuse titles.” He says “Do not be called…” because the practice itself reshapes hearts over time.

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