<p>23:8&nbsp;<em>But you are not to be called Rabbi</em>- The Lord was looking ahead to when those immature disciples would be the leaders of the new community He believed He was creating. He foresaw the day would come when their converts would naturally want to show them respect, and He warns against the use of titles as a sign of respect. But in this kind of thinking ahead, we have an insight into the great faith and hope the Lord had in His men; for they were so immature, and so far away from such positions of authority and leadership. But He has the same hopes for us too. His positivity is and was extraordinary. The whole vision was a huge challenge for the disciples- to learn that they would one day be the equivalent of the Rabbis in the new Israel the Lord was creating.</p><p><em>For one is your teacher- </em>AV &quot;Master&quot;. &lsquo;Rabbi&rsquo; means &lsquo;master&rsquo; and is from the Hebrew word&nbsp;<em>ab</em>, &lsquo;father&rsquo;. This explains why having taught against using the title &lsquo;Rabbi&rsquo;, the Lord now speaks specifically about &lsquo;master&rsquo; and &lsquo;father&rsquo;. The greatness of Christ means that once it is perceived, then we will naturally perceive that in the light of His excellence, we have no pre-eminence over each other; we are brethren, in Christ.</p><p><em>And all you are brothers- Just because</em>&nbsp;we are all brothers, actually something&nbsp;<em>more than physical brothers and sisters</em>, we are not to call any of us &lsquo;Master&rsquo;, because if we do, it will distract us from our personal looking to Jesus as Lord and Master. This is why anything that even suggests a personality cult built around leading brethren, no matter how wonderful they are or were, really must be avoided. For it takes us away from the one and only Lord and Master. Whatever leaders or organisers we have, we are to call nobody our &lsquo;father&rsquo; in a spiritual sense. The wonder of our relationship with&nbsp;<em>the</em>&nbsp;Father ought to mean that we never do this. Above all, we are all brethren in Christ. John refers to himself as the brother of the congregation (Rev. 1:9), and the leading apostles were addressed as &lsquo;brother&rsquo; just as much as anyone else in the ecclesia (Acts 21:20; 2 Pet. 3:15). There may be leaders among brothers (Acts 15:22), but we are still essentially brethren. The intimate inter-connectedness of the family must ever remain; which explains why Paul is called &lsquo;Paul&rsquo; and not a longer form of address. Likewise I&rsquo;d suggest that the practice of calling each other by our first names, with the prefix &lsquo;brother&rsquo; or &lsquo;sister&rsquo;, is healthy; and, indeed, a privilege. Reference to a brother as &lsquo;Dr.&rsquo; or &lsquo;Mr.&rsquo; seems to me to be quite at variance with the family nature of our relationship. If the Lordship of Jesus is fully felt as it should be, then even those who become leaders in the congregation the disciples, in the first instance are to feel themselves as brethren with those they are leading. This brotherhood between leaders and followers is essential for true functioning of the body of Christ.</p>