As in, a distinct group set apart from the entire congregation who collectively are known as saints.
So now the "Sola Yourselfa" crowd claims to have studied the origins of the word "prelates" and have discovered that it came from cavemen who used it to mean, "pebble".
That's a somewhat interesting variation of, "that's what the Scriptures say, but that's not what they mean", but it's still exactly the same refusal to accept what the Bible clearly says. It's just another variation of the same dodge that those who claim to believe in the "clear meaning of Scriptures" use as they attempt to twist and torture Scriptures to fit into their own personal interpretation of Scriptures.
Only ONE version uses *prelates* and it’s the Douay-Rheims Bible. The rest say *leaders*.
http://bible.cc/hebrews/13-24.htm
In the Greek, the word is.....
hégeomai: to lead, suppose
How else can they all get along? Every sect is right, the Seventh Day dudes, the Christmas is Pagan dudes, the God the Mother dudettes - all of them in agreement - that Our Lord did NOT establish One Church, that Our Lord did NOT appoint Apostles and through them their successors. How else?
Who, in scripture, are referred to as bishops or elders.
Bishop – episkopos
1. an overseer
a. a man charged with the duty of seeing that things to be done by others are done rightly, any curator, guardian or superintendent
b. the superintendent, elder, or overseer of a Christian church
(http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=1985)
Elder – meizōn
1. greater, larger, elder, stronger
Priest – hiereus
Never used of church leadership in the New Testament.
Doesn't the Church of the Y Generation interpret it as XBox?