BISHOP
What Is the Role of a Bishop in the Bible?
This is one of the titles of a church official who oversees a local congregation of Christ's church in the company of fellow bishops (always a plurality of men).
"Bishop" translates the Greek termepiscopos , literally "oversee." The bishop is the same as an elder (presbuteros -- older man; see Acts 20:17; 28). He is also identified as a "shepherd" or "pastor" (poimen -- one who tends, feeds, and protects; cf. Eph. 4:11).
Peter uses forms of all three of these terms in 1 Peter 5:1-2 when he instructs the elders to tend the flock among them, within which they exercise the oversight (cf. Heb. 13:17).
The qualifications of these officers are found mainly in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. The notion that a bishop is over a large area of the church (as in the teaching of Catholicism) is foreign to the Scriptures.
"Bishop" translates the Greek term
Peter uses forms of all three of these terms in 1 Peter 5:1-2 when he instructs the elders to tend the flock among them, within which they exercise the oversight (cf. Heb. 13:17).
The qualifications of these officers are found mainly in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. The notion that a bishop is over a large area of the church (as in the teaching of Catholicism) is foreign to the Scriptures.
