Matthew 18:15-18 – “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.
John 20:23 – “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”
1 Timothy 1:2-3 – To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines.
Titus 2:1, 15: But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine…. Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.
2 Timothy 2:2: The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
1 Timothy 3: It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. 2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. 4 He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity 5 (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?), 6 and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. 7 And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
14 I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; 15 but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.
Matthew 24: 42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. 43 But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 44 For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.
45 “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 47 Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; 50 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, 51 and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Luke 12:39-48 – 39 “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 40 You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.”
41 Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?” 42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 44 Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; 46 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. 47 And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, 48 but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.
John 21:17 – He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
Acts 1:20 – For it is written in the Book of Psalms: “Let his dwelling place be desolate, And let no one live in it”; and, “Let his bishopric pass to another.”
Titus 1: 5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you, 6 namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion. 7 For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, 8 but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, 9 holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.
10 For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11 who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. 12 One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13 This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith.
Hebrews 13:17, 24: 17 Obey those who rule over you and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you… 24 Greet those who rule over you and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you.
Acts 20: 17 From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. 18 And when they had come to him, he said to them,
Acts 20: 28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
Acts 14:23: And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
1 Peter 5:1-4: Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, 2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; 3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
1 Corinthians 12:28 -And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.
James 3:1: Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.
1 Timothy 5: 17 The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing,” and “The laborer is worthy of his wages.” 19 Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. 20 Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning. 21 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality. 22 Do not lay hands upon anyone hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin.
1 Corinthians 3: For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men? 5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. 7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it.
Titus 3:1: 13 Diligently help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way so that nothing is lacking for them.
3 John 1: 9 I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. 10 For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church. 11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself; and we add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.
3 John 1:13: I had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to you with pen and ink; 14 but I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face.
2 Thessalonians 2:5: Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
Revelation 2: 13 ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
Acts 15:19: 19 Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles….
4 Responses
Do you believe that bishops and presbyters are the same office (elders)?
Peace to you, Jeremiah.
Nowhere in Scripture is “elder” ever referred to as an office. “Bishop” is an office. An elder is an old person. Abraham and Sarah are called “presbyters” in the Bible, not because they held an office but because they were elderly. No one is ever called an overseer/bishop unless they were put in charge of others.
In the church, bishops were chosen out of a group of elders who had established themselves as wise and virtuous men, well-instructed and capable of teaching others. This is what Paul means when he tells Timothy and Titus to ordain elders to act as bishops over the cities. For this reason, almost every single bishop was an elder.
When the apostles call themselves “fellow elders,” they don’t mean they were ordained one day as “elder,” as if “elder” were an office. Rather, bishops were selected from old men, and one of those old men was chosen to preside over the others.
Some of the confusion comes from the fact that multiple elders are called bishops while all living in the same city (Acts 20:17). The reason for this is that even elders who have been elected to assist the bishop of a city are mini-bishops, since they oversee smaller congregations, while the big bishop overseers the entire city and even the other elders.
Many protestants abuse the writings of the early church by maliciously teaching that bishops and elders are the same office in order to dissuade people from obeying the bishops of the early church. They say, “There were never singular bishops of entire cities! Instead, there was a plurality of elder-bishops who formed a council over the churches of each city.” There’s always an agenda behind every heresy. They just despise authority.
It’s clear from all of the earliest records that Clement of Rome, Ignatius, and Polycarp were bishops over vast regions of land (Clement over all of Rome, Ignatius over all of Syria, as he says in his epistle, and Polycarp over Asia, as his martyrdom account says). You also have more objective sources like Josephus saying James was the leader over the Christians in Jerusalem. Why would a Jew make that up? The Acts of the Apostles is also clear that James was the one who gave the final “judgment” at the council of Jerusalem.
It’s very fitting for there to be a high bishop and many smaller bishops assisting him, just as there was a high priest and many other priests assisting him.
First of all, you can’t deny that a bishop or elder is a priest because God already called His people a kingdom of priests. So you already believe yourself to be a priest. Or else, what, do you think all Christians are priests except for bishops?
It’s easy to prove that some bishops have more authority than others. Aside from the fact that all Christians are priests (and yet we know some priests are higher in authority than others) and also ignoring the fact that Jesus and Paul and Peter and John all say that a single bishop can be the head of a household, consider the fact that all of the apostles are bishops (Acts 1:20 – “Let his bishopric pass to another…”), implying they’re higher bishops than the bishops they appointed in the cities. The apostles have more authority than the bishops they ordained, so they are an example of a higher bishop. Likewise, some shepherds are above others. “When Christ, the CHIEF shepherd appears….” But if anyone thinks that since Christ is our chief shepherd, there is no diversity of ranks beneath him, consider that Christ makes “some apostles, some prophets, some teachers.” Who would be so audacious as do say the apostles were the same rank as Timothy and Titus, or that Timothy and Titus were of the same rank as the ones they were ordaining to be bishops?
Clement of Rome says there are still Levites, priests, and high priests in the church (referring to deacons, presbyters, and bishops):
These things therefore being manifest to us, and since we look into the depths of the divine knowledge, it behooves us to do all things in [their proper] order, which the Lord has commanded us to perform at stated times. He has enjoined offerings [to be presented] and service to be performed [to Him], and that not thoughtlessly or irregularly, but at the appointed times and hours. Where and by whom He desires these things to be done, He Himself has fixed by His own supreme will, in order that all things, being piously done according to His good pleasure, may be acceptable unto Him. Those, therefore, who present their offerings at the appointed times, are accepted and blessed; for inasmuch as they follow the laws of the Lord, they sin not. For his own peculiar services are assigned to the high priest, and their own proper place is prescribed to the priests, and their own special ministrations devolve on the Levites. The layman is bound by the laws that pertain to laymen. Let every one of you, brethren, give thanks to God in his own order, living in all good conscience, with becoming gravity, and not going beyond the rule of the ministry prescribed to him. – 1 Clement, chapter 40-chapter 41
“If any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, or anyone of the catalogue of the priesthood…” – Apostolic Constitutions, book 8, Canon 9
Just as there are little bishops and big bishops, there are regular priests and high priests. Just because presbyters and bishops are technically both “bishops” doesn’t mean there’s no distinction in the offices. “But they’re both bishops, so there’s only one office!” That’s like saying high priest and priest are the same office just because they’re both priests! The elder who assists the bishop in charge is ordained to that office while recognizing the authority of his superior.
You should watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gjF8MOg_pM&list=PLyqzUejgGmxUTNmysYrPIJHBA9lUybvpN&index=11
Thank you for your reply, but, what do you mean that Josephus said that James was the bishop of Jerusalem? As much as I have read of Antiquites (Those being books 18-20) He never mentions James being in any position, but he only says he was “the brother of Christ” and was stoned thanks to Anani Ananus.
You’re right, he doesn’t explicitly say that he was the bishop, but he confirms the importance of James, implying he’s their leader when he says the Jews who were trying to root out Christianity targeted James specifically. With so many witnesses from the early church, even from non-Christian sources, it’s astonishing that some rebels still deny the existence of a singular bishop over each city from the beginning.