§ 61. Presbyters or Bishops. The Angels of the Seven Churches. James of Jerusalem.
We proceed to the officers of local congregations who were charged with carrying forward
in particular places the work begun by the apostles and their delegates. These were of two kinds,
Presbyters or Bishops, and Deacons or Helpers. They multiplied in proportion as Christianity
extended, while the number of the apostles diminished by death, and could, in the nature of the
case, not be filled up by witnesses of the life and resurrection of Christ. The extraordinary officers
were necessary for the founding and being of the church, the ordinary officers for its preservation
and well-being.
The terms Presbyter (or Elder)^706 and Bishop (or Overseer, Superintendent)^707 denote in the
New Testament one and the same office, with this difference only, that the first is borrowed from
the Synagogue, the second from the Greek communities; and that the one signifies the dignity, the
other the duty.^708- The identity of these officers is very evident from the following facts:
a. They appear always as a plurality or as a college in one and the same congregation, even
in smaller cities) as Philippi.^709
b. The same officers of the church of Ephesus are alternately called presbyters^710 and bishops.
(^706) The πρεσβύτεροι correspond to the Jewish zekenim; see above, § 51. It was originally a term of age, and then of dignity,
like Senators, Sennatus, γερουσία (comp. our " Senate," "Alderman"), for the members of the governing body of a municipality
or state. Aged and experienced men were generally chosen for office, but not without exceptions. Timothy was comparatively
young when he was ordained (1 Tim. 4:12). The Roman Senate consisted originally of venerable men, but after the time of
Augustus the aetas senatoria was reduced to twenty-five. The use of presbyter in the sense ofsacerdos,ἱερεύς, priest, dates from
the time of Cyprian, and became common from the fifth century onward to the Reformation. In the New Test. there is no trace
of any special sacerdotal office or caste.
(^707) The term ἐπίσκοποςoccurs about a dozen times in the Septuagint for various Hebrew words meaning " inspector,"
"taskmaster," "captain," "president" (see Trommius, Concord. Gr. 492 LXX. Interpr. sub verbo, and also sub ἐπισκοπή and
ἐπισκοπέω). It was used in Egypt of the officers of a temple, in Greece of overseers or guardians in general, or of municipal and
financial officers. In Athens the commissioners to regulate colonies and subject states were called ἐπίσκοποι. The Spartans sent
ἐπιμεληταί in the same capacity. The term was not only applied to permanent officers, but also to the governing body, or a
committee of the governing body. The feminine ἐπισκοπή is not classical, but passed from the Sept. into the Greek Test. (Acts
1:20; 1 Tim. 3:1) and patristic usage with the meaning: the work or office of a bishop (inspectio, visitatio). See Lightfoot,
Philippians, 93 sqq., Gebhardt and Harnack, Patr. Apost. Op. p. 5; Hatch, l.c., 37 sqq., and Hatch, art. "Priest" in Smith and
Cheetham, II. 1698 sqq.
(^708) The distinction between them, as two separate orders of ministers, dates from the second century, and is made a dogma in
the Greek and Roman churches. The Council of Trent (Sess. XXIII., cap. 4, and can. vii. de sacramento ordinis) declares bishops
to be successor of the apostles, and pronounces the anathema on those who affirm "that bishops are not superior to priests
(presbyters)." Yet there are Roman Catholic historians who are learned and candid enough to admit the original identity. So
Probst, Sacramente, p. 215; Döllinger (before his secession), First Age of the Church, Engl. transl. II. 111; and Kraus, Real-Encykl.
der christl. Alterthümer (1880), I. 62. Kraus says: "Anfangs werden beide Termini [ἐπίσκοπος and πρεσβύτερος] vielfach mit
demselben Werthe angewendet (Act 20:17, 28; Tit. 1:5; Clem. ad Cor. I. 42, 44, 47). Noch im zweiten Jahrh. findet man die
Bischöfe auch Gr. presbuteroi genannt, nicht aber umgekeht. Sofort fixirt sich dann der Sprachgebrauch: der B. ist der Vorsteher
derπαροικία, διοίκησις ,als Nachfolger der Apostel; ihm unterstehen Volk und Geistlichkeit; ihm wohnt die Fülle der priesterlichen
Gewalt inne."The sacerdotal idea, however, does not synchronize with the elevation of the episcopate, but came in a little later.
(^709) The only apparent exceptions are 1 Tim. 3:2; Tit. 1:7, but there the definite article before ἐπίσκοποςis generic.
(^710) Acts 20:17 (presbyters), 28 (bishops). In the English version the argument of the identity is obscured by the exceptional
translation "overseers," instead of the usual "bishops." The Revised Version of 1881 has mended this defect by adopting "elders"
and "bishops" in the text, and "presbyters" and "overseers" in the margin. The perversion of the passage, under the unconscious
influence of a later distinction, began with Irenaeus, who says (Adv. Haer. III. 14, 2): "The bishops and presbyters were called
together (convocatis episcopis et presbyter) at Miletus from Ephesus, and the other neighboring cities (et a reliquis proximis
civitatibus)."The last addition was necessary to justify the plurality of bishops as distinct from presbyters. The latter alone are
mentioned, Acts 20:17.
A.D. 1-100.