What about a “Bishop”?

Does your Church have a position or officer known as a “bishop”?

Richard Hollerman

Have you ever heard of a “bishop”? We commonly use “minister” or “brother” or “shepherd” (“pastor”). But it would seem that the “bishop” is not as common. In fact, many churches distinguish between the bishop or “overseer” and other positions. (Many groups refer to “offices” instead of “positions” which does give a wrong impression.)

What is a bishop or overseer? This is a term that comes from the Greek episkopos which means “an overseer” (W. E. Vine, Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words). As we might imagine, “overseer” is much clearer than “bishop” and the latter actually misleads us. Overseer is the term that should be used—if we seek to communicate rightly with others.

As we look at the issue (in “churchianity”), it appears that there is much confusion regarding who a bishop is. Many churches don’t even use the term “bishop”—probably, as we have mentioned above, because the term is misunderstood and even misleading. Let’s explore further what we mean.

The Roman Catholic Church, for instance, has a prominent position that is called the “bishop.” This is distinguished from other positions in the highly-organized Catholic Church. Consider such officers as the “pope” or the “cardinal” or the “arch-bishop.” The Anglican Church (or Episcopal Church in America) also prefers the misleading term, “bishop.” Thus, we may read of “Bishop Jones” or “Bishop Johnson.”  The Methodist Church comes from the English “Anglican” Church, thus we find that this denomination has the “bishop” system. Consequently, we may read of Bishop Thomas, Bishop Mallery, or “Bishop Standford.”

However, it doesn’t need to be a “high church” official or a more common denomination to use this misleading title. We think of the conservative Mennonite Church. Here a bishop is an official who is over one congregation or several churches. We’ve even heard of these officers referred to as the “bishop brethren.” This, of course, entirely misconceives the term!

How is the bishop defined by prominent English dictionaries? The Random House Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary says that a bishop is “a person who supervises a number of local churches or a diocese, being in the Greek, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and other churches a member of the highest order of the ministry.” The American Heritage College Dictionary tells us that a bishop is “a high-ranking Christian cleric, in modern churches usually in charge of a diocese.” We know that all of this is unscriptural, but it does show us what the religious world around us thinks of this term.

We saw earlier that bishop is actually from the Greek episkopos, meaning and “overseer” (The Compact Dictionary of Doctrinal Words).  “Overseer” would be a much better choice to understand and communicate what God, through the Holy Spirit, wanted to convey in Scripture. It is important for us to realize that apparently the bishop (better, “overseer”) is the same as the “elder” or “presbyter” (from Presbyteros). For example, the elders (Acts 20:17) were also the overseers (v. 28) who were also the “shepherds” (v. 28). All three terms refer to the same functionaries or positions.

Furthermore, the elders (Titus 1:5) were also known as the overseers (v. 7). Each assembly (that was fully developed) had their own overseers (Philippians 1:1). The overseer (1 Timothy 3:2) is the one who “manages” the believers (v. 5) as well as his own family. By the way, the early overseers were marred people (1 Timothy 3:1-7) who were men—and not women (vv. 1-2). See also Titus 1:6. They oversee those in the assembly (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13) and were not ones who had complete or arbitrary authority, similar to what the world has (cf. Matthew 20:25-28).

In the second century, apparently the positions of the elder or overseer or shepherd were distinguished. Thus, from this time, we read in history of the elder or shepherd distinguished from the overseer. The overseer was seen as having a higher authority with elders under him. Eventually, the overseer (whom they called bishop) was over not just one assembly or even one city, but over an entire geographical area (a “diocese”). This was far different from what Jesus wanted, as reflected in the New Testament.

Not only are the Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, and the Lutheran Church governed by these officials who had authority, but it went beyond this. The Roman Catholic Church had officials who freely exercised authority over others, with the so-called “Pope” finally usurping the leadership over the entire “Christian” church—or the so-called Roman Catholic Church.

Hopefully, we can see that it is far better to go back to the New Testament and find only those positions mentioned and described there. The overseer is not the “bishop” as defined by the Catholic Church or the various Protestant churches. The overseer was meant to lead others—yes—but were not to have authority over them.

So let the overseer choose to “oversee” the assembly. This was their work. They were older men (the elders) and they fed the flock of God (thus were called “shepherds”—otherwise known as “pastors”). Whether we speak of overseers, elders, or shepherds, these men (always a plurality in each congregation) were meant to help, teach, bless, and direct the believers in the congregation. It would be good for the reader to also examine 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9 and see the qualifications for these leaders. This will help further in our receiving a whole picture of what these men did in the early assemblies.