A religious title such as “Rabbi, ” which means“ Teacher, ” “tends to engender pride and a sense of superiority in those who obtain it, and envy and a sense of inferiority in those who do not; and the whole spirit and tendency of it is contrary to the ‘ simplicity that is in Christ, ’ ” noted the Bible scholar Albert Barnes.
عیسی در حالیکه چنین جامعه‌ای را مدّ نظر داشت به شاگردانش توصیه کرد :‏ « شما آقا خوانده مشوید ،‏ زیرا استاد شما یکی است یعنی مسیح و جمیع شما برادرانید .‏ »