Doctor, teacher (one who teaches): title of respect that Jews give to their spiritual leaders (Mt. 23:7; Jn. 1:38).
In the time of Jesus, the Jews distinguished between three honorific titles; From the bottom title they were:
"rab", teacher;
«rabbi», my teacher;
"rabboni", my lord.
By the time of the apostle John, the first person genitive suffix (-i) had lost its particular sense of possessive pronoun, because John translates the terms rabbi and raboni as meaning only "teacher" (John 1:38; 20: 16).
Meaning of RABBI
Doctor, teacher (one who teaches): title of respect that Jews give to their spiritual leaders (Mt. 23:7; Jn. 1:38).


