CHAPTER VI.

EQUALITY AND IDENTITY OF BISHOPS AND

PRESBYTERS.

Soon after the ascension of our Lord, it became expedient for the brethren to appoint a certain class of officers to superintend the secular concerns of their fraternity. These were denominated diáxovoi, servants, ministers, deacons. In process of time, another order of men arose among them, whose duty it was to superintend the religious interests of the church. These were denominated oi rooiσráμɛrol, Rom. 12: 8. 1 Thess. 5: 12; of youμevot, Heb. 13: 7, 17, 24; пgeoẞúregoi, Acts 20: 17; iníσxoпol, Acts 20: 28, equivalent to the terms, presidents, leaders, elders, overseers, terms all indicate one and the same office, that of a presiding officer in their religious assemblies. Officers of this class are usually designated, by the apostles and the earliest ecclesiastical writers, as presbyters and bishops,―names which are used interchangeably and indiscriminately to denote one and the same office.

These

The appropriate duty of the bishop or presbyter at first was, not to teach or to preach, but to preside over the church, and to preserve order in their assemblies. " They were originally chosen as in the synagogue, not so much for the instruction and edification of the church, as for taking the lead in its general government." The necessity of such a pre

1 Neander's Apost. Kirch. I. p. 44 seq. Comp. Siegel, Handbuch, IV. S. 223. Ziegler, Versuch, der kirchlichen Verfassungsformen, S. 3-12. Rothe, Anfänge, I. S. 153. So, also, Gieseler, Rheinwald, Böhmer, Winer, etc.

siding officer in the church at Corinth is sufficiently apparent from the apostle's rebuke of their irregularities. "How is it, then, brethren? When ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying." 1 Cor. 14: 26. The apostle, however, allows all to prophesy, to exercise their spiritual gifts; and only requires them to speak "one by one," that all things may be done decently and in order. The ordinary officers of the apostolical church, then, comprised two distinct classes or orders. The one was

known by the name of deacons; the other, designated by various titles, of which those most frequently used are presbyters and bishops.

Our proposition is, that Bishops and Presbyters, according to the usage of the apostles and of the earliest ecclesiastical writers, are identical and convertible terms, denoting officers of one and the same class. In this proposition we join issue with the Episcopalians, who assert that bishops were divinely appointed as an order of men superior to presbyters. We, on the other hand, affirm that presbyters were the highest grade of officers known in the apostolical and primitive churches; and that the title of bishop was originally only another name for precisely the same officer. Even after a distinction began to be made between presbyters and bishops, we affirm that the latter were not a peculiar order distinct from presbyters and superior to them. The bishop was merely one of the presbyters appointed, like the moderator, to preside over the college of his fellow-presbyters, but belonging still to the same body, performing only the same pastoral duties, and exercising only the same spiritual functions. Like the moderator of a modern presbytery or association, he still retained a ministerial parity with his brethren, in the duties, rights and privileges of the sacred office. Our sources of argument in defence of this general proposition are two-fold,-Scripture and History.

I. The scriptural argument for the equality and identity of bishops and presbyters. This may be comprised under the following heads:

1. The appellations and titles of a presbyter are used indiscriminately and interchangeably with those of a bishop. 2. A presbyter is required to possess the same qualifications as a bishop.

3. The official duties of a presbyter are the same as those of a bishop.

4. There was, in the apostolical churches, no ordinary and permanent class of ministers superior to that of presbyters.

1. The appellations and titles of a presbyter are used interchangeably with those of a bishop.

One of the most unequivocal proof-texts in the Scriptures is found in Acts 20: 17, compared with verse 28. Paul, on his journey to Jerusalem, sent from Miletus and called the presbyters, noεoßvzégovs, elders, of Ephesus. And to these same presbyters, when they had come, he says, in his affectionate counsel to them," Take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you bishops, inɩoxónovs, to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood." Both terms are here used in the same sentence with reference to the same men.

We have another instance, equally clear, of the indiscriminate use of the terms, in the first chapter of Paul's epistle to Titus. "For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain presbyters, пoεσẞutéqovs, in every city, as I had appointed thee." Then follows an enumeration of the qualifications which are requisite in these presbyters, one of which is given in these words: "A bishop must be blameless, as the Steward of God."

Again, it is worthy of particular attention, that the apos

tle, in his instructions to Timothy, 1 Tim. 3: 1-7, respecting the qualifications of a bishop, proceeds immediately to specify those of deacons, the second class of officers in the church, without making the least allusion to presbyters, though confessedly giving instructions for the appointment of the appropriate officers of the church. This omission was not a mere oversight in the writer; for he subsequently alludes to the presbytery, 4: 14, and commends those that rule well, 5: 17. In these passages the apostle evidently has in mind the same offices, and uses the terms bishop and presbyter, as identical in meaning.

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To all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, the apostle addresses his salutation, to the saints, with the bishops and deacons, that is, to the church and the officers of the church. Here, again, as in all the New Testament, these officers were distributed into two classes. For, had there been at Philippi a third order of ministers, superior to the deacons, it is incredible that the apostle could have omitted all allusion to them, in a salutation so specific. In truth, we must either charge him with neglecting an important and superior class of officers in the church at Philippi, a neglect totally inconsistent with his character, or we must admit that the presbyters are addressed in the salutation of the bishops as being one and the same with them.

The supposition, again, that these were bishops of the Episcopal order, involves the absurdity of a plurality of bishops over the same church; a supposition at variance with the first principles of Diocesan Episcopacy, which admits of but one in a city. This difficulty appears to have forcibly im

2

Epiphanius tells us, that Peter and Paul were both bishops of Rome at once: by which it is plain he took the title of bishop in another sense than now it is used; for now, and so for a long time upward, two bishops can no more possess one see, than two hedge-sparrows dwell in one bush. St. Peter's time was a little too early for bishops to rise."-Hales' Works, Vol. I. p. 110.

pressed the mind of Chrysostom. "How is this?" exclaims the eloquent patriarch. "Were there many bishops in the same city? By no means; but he calls the presbyters by this name [bishops]; for at that time this was the common appellation of both."3

Finally, we appeal to 1 Pet. 5: 2, 3, where the apostle, as a fellow-presbyter, exhorts the presbyters to feed the flock of God, taking the oversight of them, έnioxonovvτes, acting the bishop, performing the duties of a bishop over them, requiring of them the same duties which the apostle Paul enjoins upon the presbyter-bishops of Ephesus. As at Ephesus, where Paul gave his charge to those presbyters, so here, again, it is evident that there could have been no bishop over those whom Peter commits to the oversight of these presbyters. But who are the flock in this instance? Plainly, any body of those Christians scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, to whom he addresses his epistle. These Christians, throughout this vast extent of country, are committed to the care of their presbyters, who are severally to act as the pastors and bishops of their respective charges.

Thus it appears that the appellations and titles of a presbyter are used indiscriminately and interchangeably with those of a bishop. In the same sentence even, and generally throughout the writings of the apostles, these are perfectly convertible terms, as different names of the same thing. This fact is very forcibly exhibited in the following summary from the Rev. Dr. Mason. "That the terms bishop and presbyter, in their application to the first class of officers, are perfectly convertible, the one pointing out the very same class of rulers with the other, is as evident as the sun

3 Σὺν ἐπισκόποις καὶ διακόνοις. Τὶ τοῦτο; μιᾶς πόλεως πολλοὶ ἐπίσκοποι ἦσαν; Οὐδαμῶς, ἀλλλὰ τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους οὕτως ἐκάλεσε· τότε γὰρ τέως ἐκοινώνουν τοῖς ὀνόμασι.—In Phil. 1: 1, p. 199 seq. Tom. 11.