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Volume 13, Number 2, July-August 2009 Overseers in
the New Testament
by Richard Heath
Recently, Servants News has run articles about government—civil
government in particular. I would like to expand on that theme in this
article, and look more particularly at church government (as it is sometimes
called); specifically at the job title and description of "bishop" as the King James Version
has it. "Bishop," or "overseer", as
modern translation say, is a job filled by various individuals in the
assemblies that we find in the New Testament portion of scripture. Quite
honestly; "Bishop" is far too religious sounding, and so I will
drop it from here on out. "Overseer" is much more accurate, as it
describes what the person with this job does: he oversees things! Profound
yet simple. Simply profound!
I was originally drawn by YHWH (John Some time after my initial conversion, my friend and I
found a local congregation of the Worldwide Church of God in upstate Apparently, there are several ways to understand this job
of "overseer", as it is utilized in the Bible. First; there were
small, home fellowships meeting in private houses. In these instances the
believing head of household would preside as overseer of the guest believers.
The same thing is quite common in my own experience. While in
A second, and more business-like option appears both in
scripture and in life when an assembly outgrows the home setting, and
begins to meet in a larger hall. At this point, an individual is appointed in
some manner to oversee the meeting place. For instance; here at PABC, Norman
Edwards is our overseer. He pays the bills (keeping the lights & heat
on!), generally suggests a topic for study, and proclaims when we will be
meeting (so that visitors can plan to come) among other things. None of these
chores places him somehow in a superior position with either God or man, I'm
certain. In both of these examples you will note that an overseer is a local
position. In other words; I wouldn't usurp your position as host if I was a
guest in your home for Sabbath services, neither would Norm aggrandize
himself as the overseer if and when he visits another assembly or festival
location. Before I leave this point, it is worthy to mention Acts
20, where "overseers" and "elders" appear simultaneously.
Some conclude therefore that these two terms might or even must be
synonymous. (As I said earlier; I became an overseer almost before I became a
believer! Let alone an elder!) The word "elder(s)" appears in v.17,
and the word "overseer(s)" appears in v.28. However; the "brethren" likewise appears in v.
32! Is it logical to conclude that all brethren are elders or
overseers because they appear here too? I think not. Paul is obviously talking to a group of brethren, some of
which are elders or overseers, and he is addressing specific parts of his
message to those subgroups. The elders were specifically called to be there
in verse 17, and the verses that follow may be addressed primarily to them.
Acts And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I
have gone preaching the It is not reasonable to say that only the elders would
“see his face no more”, but the brethren would still see him. Finally, the
overseers, mentioned in Acts 20:28 had the specific task “to shepherd the As a second witness; you can turn back to Acts 15:22,
where Silas and Barsabbas are not mentioned as elders, but as
"chief men among the brethren." (The elders are classed with the
apostles at the beginning of this verse.) Now Silas was a close associate of
Paul, and Barsabbas may be the fellow identified as a possible replacement
for Judas Iscariot (in Acts There is however; a third description of an
"Overseer" used in scripture. I capitalized the word because it
identifies our Master and Savior, Yahoshua Messiah, as "the Shepherd and
Bishop (i.e. Overseer) of your souls," in 1 Peter Interestingly; the apostle Peter not only mentions
Yahoshua as our ultimate Overseer, but he also warns of certain individuals
who will desire to usurp the legitimate overseer's position on the physical
level. The King James language hides this fact, but you can read it plainly
via any reference book. It is in 1 Peter 4:15: But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief,
or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.”
All of the boldface words above are rendered from one Greek
word in Strong's Concordance: S.E.C. #244. This word literally means
"overseeing others' affairs" or "a meddler!" This action
was considered to be heinous enough to be listed alongside murder, thievery
and other evils! In church history, it blossomed into the position of Pope,
Presiding Elder, Pastor General, and numerous other titles!). For the job of
overseer was never meant to be a church-wide position, but only a local job
description—be it in a home setting or in an assembly hall. Because of these considerations, I will state that I see
no reason to narrow the criteria of being an overseer to only men, or only
elders. That isn't to say that elders are not to be in the assembly or that
they could not also serve as an over seer. No! it is only that the
terms "elder" and "overseer" are not synonymous. May YHWH bless and keep you, I pray. & Download Full Issue in PDF: July/August 2009 Quick PDF (1.8
MB) July/August 2009 High-Quality PDF to Print (3.7 MB)
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