8 "Don't let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates.

9 Don't set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of 'Father'; you have only one Father, and he's in heaven.

10 And don't let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them - Christ.

11 "Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant.

12 If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.

13 "I've had it with you! You're hopeless, you religion scholars, you Pharisees! Frauds! Your lives are roadblocks to God's kingdom. You refuse to enter, and won't let anyone else in either.

15 "You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You go halfway around the world to make a convert, but once you get him you make him into a replica of yourselves, double-damned.

16 "You're hopeless! What arrogant stupidity! You say, 'If someone makes a promise with his fingers crossed, that's nothing; but if he swears with his hand on the Bible, that's serious.'

17 What ignorance! Does the leather on the Bible carry more weight than the skin on your hands?