Deacons, Priests and Bishops Ping!
Dear Religion Moderator,
I am having trouble keeping this thread open as an Ecumenical thread. Most posters don’t seem to know that there is NO antagonism on an Ecumenical thread.
Your advice needed — Shall I close the thread since people are not following the rules for Ecumenical threads as you have posted on your homepage at FR?
The English word priest is derived from the Greek word hee-er-yooce'
And interestingly, hee-er-yooce' is not used a single time by the Apostle Paul in relation to the church who was the Apostle to the Gentile church...
The role of the episcopos is not clearly defined in the New Testament,
Actually it is...
Act 20:17 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.
Act 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
In the context of these two verses we can see that elder and overseer is the same thing...
Tit 1:5 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:
Tit 1:6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
Tit 1:7 For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
And here, we can see an elder is not only an overseer but a bishop and a steward as well...PLUS, he's got to have a family...
1Pe 5:2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
And as we can see here, the elder is also a pastor or shepherd...
Those are all one office but no where are they described as a priest...No sacrifices...No atonements...
Similarly, the term diakonos is rendered both as "deacon" and as "minister" in the Bible, yet in Protestant churches the office of deacon is clearly distinguished from and subordinate to the office of minister.
Actually, no...Minister in the New Testament comes from the Greek word leitourgos...It is similar to the office of deacon since both offices include the work of service...
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..."
1 Pet 5:1-3 "Therefore, I exhort the elders AMONG YOU ... shepherd the FLOCK OF GOD AMONG YOU proving to be examples to the flock"
1 Pet 5:1 "I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow-elder"
Peter was an elder but he was not higher in rank that any other elder. All elders in the eldership are of equal authority...
One bishop/elder is never over other bishop/elders in rank: all are equal.
One bishop/elder is never over more than one local church churches
The pyramid type organization is contrary to the Bible pattern and did not come to full development until 606 AD when pope Boniface III claimed to be the one man who ruled every local church world wide. This was 600 years too late to be the Bible pattern and represents a serious apostasy in organization.
Titus and Timothy went to different churches where no 'elders' existed...They then appointed 'elders' IN THOSE CHURCHES...They were starting up new churches...What they did not do was to ordain a bunch of elders and send them out to different churches...