This word in the
sense of ' overseer ' occurs many times in the LXX, and its ecclesiastical use
was probably suggested by familiarity with certain passages in this Greek
version of the Old Testament, which was the only Scriptures with which the vast
majority of the early Christians were acquainted. But again it must not be
forgotten that the name would be the more readily adopted by Greek-speaking
Christians of Gentile origin, since it was already well known as the title of
officials engaged in secular duties, as Overseers or Superintendents. When it
first passed into Christian use is unknown, but its earliest appearance is in
the remarkable words addressed by St. Paul to the presbyters of the Ephesian
Church, whom he had summoned to meet him at Miletus as he was journeying to
Jerusalem in 57 A.D. ' Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock in which
the Holy Spirit set you as overseers (επισκοπους) to shepherd (ποιμανειν) the
Church of God, which He purchased with His Blood. Here we find certain
presbyters described as ‘overseers ' and their special function as that of
shepherding or tending the flock, implying that in the local organisation of
the Church their duty was not only that of government, guidance, and
discipline, but of the provision of spiritual food. Again in the Epistle to the
Philippians St. Paul salutes ' the saints in Christ Jesus with the overseers
and deacons.' Turning to the Pastoral Epistles we have the qualifications set
forth carefully, which should guide Timothy and Titus in their choice of persons
fit for the Church's official ministry. From these instructions two facts seem
to come out clearly: that while all episcopi were presbyters, only a
limited number of the presbyters were episcopi. In other words these
titles cannot be used convertibly. An episcopus, or presbyter-bishop if
one may so style him, differed from the ordinary presbyter in that he had
certain superadded duties of oversight and superintendence such as were
connoted by his name. There is a spiritual side to his office: he must be ' apt
to teach,' ' able to exhort in the sound doctrine and to convict the gainsayers;
and a business or administrative side: he must be blameless, as God's steward. (George
Edmundson, The Church in Rome in the First Century [Longmans, Green and
Co., 1913], 182-83)
