Subject: Elders not a pastor should lead church |
Bible Note: Greetings Bereaniam! You asked for a word study, so here goes! ;-) The words (in order of fewest number of occurances to greatest) are Pastor(1), Overseer(5), Deacon(29), and Elder(66). Here are my findings. Pastor is never used in connection with any of the other words, so it is difficult to say if it is synonymous with any of the other words or not. Later, I will make a case for it being synonymous with one of the other words. Overseer and Deacon are clearly not synonymous. They are used together in Phil. 1:1 of two distinct groups. Further, 1 Tim. 3 lists them as two distinct offices. It could be argued that Elder is synonymous with Overseer, but the case is very weak. Acts 20 speaks of of Paul calling the elders of Ephesus, then v. 28 speaks of them as being overseers. However, it could be that v. 28 is not using the word in the sense of a title since in Titus 1, overseer and elder seem to be listed as two seperate offices. So, any attempt to make these terms synonymous is at best weak. If I were to make any connection, I could see an argument for pastor and overseer being synonymous, but even that case is weak. Here are my conclusions. 1) Pastor (overseer) - Pastor is only used once, and overseer is only used 5 times (once in reference to Christ) (Acts 20:28, Phil. 1:1, 1 Tim. 3:2, Titus 1:7, and 1 Pet. 2:25). Though the qualifications of an overseer are spelled out, the ministry of one is only described in terms of shepherding (Acts 20:28). Nothing is said about how many there should be in a church, or even about how they are selected. 2) Elders: The word occurs 66 times in the NT, but it appears to be used of a church officer only 17 times (Acts 11:30, 14:23, 15:2, 4, 6, 22, 23, 16:4, 20:17, 21:18, 1 Tim 4:14, 5:17, 19, Tit. 1:5, 6, James 5:14, and 1 Peter 5:1. They are specifically said to be appointed by the apostles and their fellow laborers. They are also specifically tied to preaching, teaching, decision making, and prayer. 3) Deacons: The word itself occurs 29 times in the NT, but only 4 of these seem to refer to a church officer (Rom. 16:1, Phil. 1:1, 1 Tim. 3:8, and 1 Tim. 3:12). Nothing is said about how they are appointed, or what they do. If one goes by the meaning of the word, and the example of the seven in Acts 6, they would seem to be primarily involved in physical ministries. Nothing in any of this study would indicate any of the following: · That there is a set structure that every church is commanded to follow. · That there is a set number of leaders that every church is commanded to have. I hope this study helps! Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |