Bishop
“Overseer, guardian, one who watches over”
Summary
A church office combining oversight and pastoral care, synonymous with 'elder' in the New Testament, responsible for teaching, leading, and guarding the flock.
☩Definition and Terminology
The Greek word episkopos literally means 'overseer' or 'one who watches over.' In the New Testament, this term is used interchangeably with 'elder' (presbyteros) to describe the same office. Paul addressed the Philippian saints with 'bishops and deacons,' and when he summoned the elders of Ephesus to Miletus, he told them that the Holy Spirit had made them 'overseers' (episkopoi) of the flock. Peter similarly exhorts elders to 'exercise oversight' (episkopeo).
☩Qualifications
Paul provides detailed qualifications for bishops in his letters to Timothy and Titus. A bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, and able to teach. He must not be given to wine, not violent, not greedy, but gentle and not quarrelsome. He must rule his own house well, for how can one who cannot manage his family care for God's church? He must not be a new convert lest he fall into the condemnation of the devil, and must have a good reputation with outsiders.
☩Functions and Responsibilities
The bishop's primary functions are oversight, teaching, and pastoral care. He must be 'apt to teach' and able 'to exhort and convict those who contradict' sound doctrine. As a shepherd of souls, he must watch for them as one who will give account. He is to guard the flock against false teachers who would arise from without and within. In the early church, bishops/elders normally served in plurality, governing and teaching the congregation together.
☩Later Development
By the second century, a monarchical episcopate had developed in some churches, distinguishing a single 'bishop' from the 'elders.' Ignatius of Antioch advocated this arrangement, placing the bishop over the elders and deacons as a safeguard of unity against heresy. However, Jerome and other church fathers acknowledged that the original New Testament pattern showed bishops and elders as the same office, with the later distinction arising from ecclesiastical custom rather than divine appointment.
Related Verses7 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Bishop," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. I (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Bishop," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. I (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.James Hastings (ed.), "Bishop," in Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, vol. I (T. & T. Clark, 1906–1908).