Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 42:1 (NA 1991)
Article: The Messiah As The Tutor: The Meaning Of Καθηγητής In Matthew 23:10
Author: Bruce W. Winter

TynBul 42:1 (1991) p. 152

The Messiah As The Tutor: The Meaning Of Καθηγητής In Matthew 23:10

Bruce W. Winter

There is uncertainty as to the meaning of the term καθηγητής in Matthew 23:10 where it is stated ‘Neither be called καθηγηταί, because one is your καθηγητής, the Messiah.’ Translators and commentators are alike uncertain as to its precise meaning. The term has long been translated as ‘master’, AV, RV, RSV. More recently ‘teacher’ has been used, NIV, REB, even though διδάσκαλος occurs in verse 8 and the latter term is surprisingly rendered ‘master’ or ‘rabbi’. Because this verse is readily paralleled with 23:8 ‘and you must not be called rabbi, for one is your teacher, διδάσκαλος’, καθηγητής has been taken to be a rendering of ῥαββί for Gentile Christian readers and is therefore thought to be a synonym for the latter term. Recent translators have adopted this option because of a general consensus among scholars.1 Spicq, after an extensive review of the meaning of the word in Greek literary and non–literary sources, suggested that the term referred to מורה and could be a reference to the Teacher of Righteousness at Qumran,2 but this has not commended itself to Matthean scholars.3

However, there is one non-literary source, first published in 1930, that could well help in understanding its meaning, namely P.Oxy. 2190 (c. AD 70–90).4 It is proposed in this short note to examine primarily this papyrus where the term occurs more

TynBul 42:1 (1991) p. 153

frequently than in most literary sources,5 and to argue that καθηγητής in Matthew 23:10 refers to a tutor.6

P.Oxy. 2190 was rather hastily written by Neilus, an advanced student of rhetoric in Alexandria, to his father in Oxyrhynchus. In it he expressed relief on having just received a letter noting that his misbehaviour in the theatre had not evoked parental anger....