Presbyter is the Greek word for elder.
Appoint elders in every town.
The word in that sentence is presbyter.
Presbyter is not a third office. It is the elder. When Titus is told to appoint elders, the Greek word is presbyter. When Peter exhorts the elders, it is the same word. The overseer and the bishop are the other name for the work. Later churches used presbyter for a rank between bishop and deacon. The letters do not. The church that wants the apostles’ order appoints elders, calls them overseers when it is speaking of the watch they keep, and does not invent a step the text does not have.
- The council of elders laid hands on Timothy. That council is presbyters.
- John calls himself the elder in the second and third letters. The word can still mean the older man.
- This page lives with Elder and Overseer because it is the same office.
Presbyter means elder.
The overseer is that man.
Do not make a third chair.
- Presbyter is the Greek for elder.
- It is not a separate New Testament office.
- Titus, Peter, and Timothy use the word for the shepherds.
- Overseer describes the work. Presbyter names the man.
- Later ranks are later. The letters have elders and deacons.
- John can use elder of himself as the older servant.
- The Word – Elder.
- The Office – The same as overseer.
- The Not – Not a middle rank in the letters.
- The Council – Elders who laid hands on Timothy.
- The Older – John the elder.
- The Pair – Elders and deacons.
- Titus 1:5 – “Appoint elders in every town as I directed you. The word is presbyter.”
- 1 Peter 5:1 – “I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder.”
- 1 Timothy 4:14 – “The council of elders laid their hands on you.”
- Philippians 1:1 – “Saints, with the overseers and deacons. Two groups, not three.”
- Titus 1:7 – “An overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach.”
- Acts 14:23 – “They appointed elders for them in every church.”
- Acts 20:17 – “He sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.”
- James 5:14 – “Let him call for the elders of the church.”
- 2 John 1:1 – “The elder to the elect lady and her children.”
- 3 John 1:1 – “The elder to the beloved Gaius.”
Appoint elders in every town.
I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder.
Presbyter is that word.
It is not a third office. Elder, presbyter, and overseer are one work in the letters. Deacons serve beside them.
Entry compiled for the JESUSaves.com Bible Glossary. Optimized for wiki.js Visual Editor.