Christ gives us a lesson in humility, using hyperbolic statements (as He often does to prove His points). The full context of the Word here illustrates that Christ did not mean we could literally call no man father or teacher. Otherwise, Matthew would have transgressed Christ’s teaching by using the word “father,” 37 times within the first 17 verses of his Gospel. Christ would have contradicted Himself as well, for He says the word father 4 times within a couple verses (Matthew 15:4-6). Altogether, the word father is mentioned in the New Testament nearly 400 times, mostly by Christ or His Apostles. How could we possibly interpret Christ’s words as literal, given plenty of evidence to the contrary?