AE 746 - teachers, fathers, brethren

AE 746 [13]

Be ye not called teacher,
for one is your Teacher, Christ;
but all ye are brethren.
And call no man your father upon earth,
for one is your Father who is in the heavens.
(Matthew 23:8, 9)

In the natural sense men may be called teachers and fathers,
but representatively; that is to say,
teachers in the world teach truths indeed,
but from the Lord, not from themselves,
and fathers in the world are good,
and lead their children to good,
but from the Lord, not from themselves.
From this it follows
that although they are called teachers and fathers
still they are not teachers and fathers,
but the Lord alone is Teacher and Father.
"To call" and "to call by a name"
signifies in the Word to recognize the quality of anyone.
Because all in heaven and in the church
are disciples and sons of the Lord,
who is their Teacher and their Father,
the Lord says, "all ye are brethren;"
for the Lord calls all in heaven and in the church
"sons and heirs" from their consociation by love from Him,
and thus by mutual love, which is charity;
therefore it is from the Lord that they are brethren.
In this way the common saying
that all are brethren in the Lord
is to be understood.