Priesthood and Spiritual Fatherhood

Introduction: The Church as the Family of God

Jesus Christ is the "first-born" Son of God; following him, we become children of God.  These two realities are illustrated in passages like the following:

Hebrews 1 says: "In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son".  It goes on to say,

"For to what angel did God ever say, 'Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee'? Or again, 'I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son'? And again, when he brings the first-born into the world, he says, 'Let all God’s angels worship him.'"

Romans 8:29 - Jesus is called "the first-born among many brethren".

Galatians 4:4-7 - "But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir."

With all this family language, we see that the context for thinking about this is that of the Church as the "Family of God".  Right from the start, in paragraph 1, this is exactly how the Catholic Catechism describes the Church.  Now let's see how this has developed through salvation history.

Priesthood in the Old Testament

In the time of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Joseph etc.), there was no official priesthood.  Priestly duties were done by the head of the family - the father.  Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob all built altars and offered sacrifices.  They passed those duties on to their first-born sons.
Who is the first priest mentioned in the Bible? Melchizedek.  Traditional Jewish interpreters (as well as some of the early Church Fathers) teach that Melchizedek was Shem, Noah's first-born son.  Genesis 11 says that Shem lived 500 years, so he would have been the main priest and patriarch through ten generations of his descendants, down to Abraham.  He made an offering of bread and wine and blessed Abraham, and after that Abraham became the new chief priest and patriarch over his descendants.

Now this is all before the Levitical priesthood was established in the time of Moses.  It seems like the plan of God was for the first-born sons, the fathers and heads of the families, to all be priests in Israel, but when they started worshipping the Golden Calf while Moses was on Mount Sinai, the plan was changed.  From then on priests were to be taken only from the tribe of Levi.
So what was the status of the Levitical priests in terms of spiritual fatherhood?  We can get a good idea from Judges 17, where a travelling young Levite is welcomed into the house of Micah, who says to him "Stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest".

Priesthood in the New Testament

Then in the New Testament we see Christ as our model of the priesthood.  First of all, he is called "a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek".  Jesus is not a Levitical priest, but like Melchizedek is a priest on the basis of being the first-born son.  And with respect to us, Jesus is not just our brother, but in some sense he has a fatherly relationship with us as well. Hebrews chapter 2 talks about how Jesus "had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people"; but it also talks about how Jesus says "Here am I, and the children God has given me".  And after his resurrection, when Jesus appears to his disciples by the sea, he calls them "Children" (John 21:5).

1 Corinthians 15 mentions the first man, Adam, who is the father of the whole human race, and then talks about the "last Adam", Jesus, who as Paul says, "became a life-giving spirit".  So when we are born again into Christ and receive his Spirit into our hearts through baptism, we see another sense of the fatherly ministry of Jesus, as we are made "a new creation".

Then there are the apostles and their successors.  Gal 6:16 talks about the Church as the "Israel of God", the new Israel, and in Matthew 19:28 Jesus establishes the apostles as the new patriarchs (see also Rev 21:12-14).  They understood this as a fatherly ministry, often calling people in the Church their "children".

St John said things like, "My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin; but if any one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1); and "No greater joy can I have than this, to hear that my children follow the truth" (3 John 4).

St Peter says things like, "She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings; and so does my son Mark" (1 Pet. 5:13).

St Paul says things like, "Therefore I sent to you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ" (1 Cor. 4:17); "To Timothy, my true child in the faith: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord" (1 Tim. 1:2); "To Titus, my true child in a common faith: grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior" (Titus 1:4).

St Paul even refers to whole churches in his care as children: "Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you; for children ought not to lay up for their parents, but parents for their children.  I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls" (2 Cor 12:14-15).

St Paul's spiritual fatherhood is associated with his mission as an apostle; he is "a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God," (Romans 15:15-16).
Probably the single clearest reference to spiritual fatherhood is in 1 Cor 4:14-15, where Paul says: "I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.  For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel."

And that is exactly what our priests and bishops become for us as well.

Spiritual Fatherhood

The bishops and priests who the apostles ordained as they established churches throughout the world carry on this ministry of spiritual fatherhood.  We see this in the priest's preaching and teaching and administration of the sacraments.  Through baptism, they bring about the birth of new children of God by water and the Spirit (John 3:5); through the Eucharist, the children are fed with the Bread of Life (see Matthew 7:9); through Confession, the sins of the children are forgiven and through penance we grow in righteousness (see Heb 12:2-11); through Anointing of the Sick the priests lay their hands on the sick children that they may be saved (James 5:14-17).  And through preaching, the priests instruct the children in the Word of God (Mal 2:7).

So you can see that it's very much a family thing, as set up by God the Father, "from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named" (Eph 3:15).


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  For further reading, see Catholic for a Reason: Scripture and the Mystery of the Family of God, especially the essay by Fr Pablo Gadenz, The Priest as Spiritual Father]; and also Vatican II's Lumen Gentium, especially section #28.  I also have an article specifically addressing objections against the Catholic practice of calling priests "Father" on the basis of Jesus' injunction in Matthew 23:9 to "call no man your father".

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