Episkopos #47

Episkopos is formed from words meaning “over” and “look,” and means someone who watches over: a supervisor or guardian. It was an ordinary Greek word for an official who oversees, and the New Testament uses it for those who have charge of the life of a local church. “Bishop” is the English descendant, by way of Latin.

Biblical Usage

Paul lists what an overseer must be in 1 Timothy 3:1-2: he says the person who desires the office “desireth a good work,” and must be blameless, faithful in marriage, sober, hospitable, and able to teach. The list in Titus 1:5-7 is similar, and calls the overseer God’s steward. In Philippians 1:1 the overseers, in the plural, are greeted along with the deacons, which suggests a local group and not a single figure in each city.

The New Testament also appears to treat overseer and elder as overlapping. In Acts 20 Paul calls together the elders of the church at Ephesus (Acts 20:17) and tells them the Holy Spirit made them “overseers” (verse 28) to shepherd the flock. In Titus 1 he tells Titus to appoint elders in every city and then describes them as overseers in the next verses, and Peter urges elders to shepherd the flock and to exercise “oversight” (1 Peter 5:1-2). First Peter 2:25 uses the noun for Christ himself, calling him the “Shepherd and Bishop” of souls.

Theological Significance

These passages are read differently across traditions. Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican churches hold that the bishop soon became a distinct office, with authority passing from the apostles, a pattern they trace to the second century and to writers such as Ignatius of Antioch. Presbyterian and many other Protestant churches point to the interchangeable use of “elder” and “overseer” in the New Testament and hold that they were originally one office. Other churches keep the office as a local pastorate. The differences bear on questions of church government and authority, and the underlying New Testament wording does not settle them for all readers.