Act 20:28 | Abbott | STEP | Overseers. In , they are called elders; here, overseers, which is, in the original, the same as the word rendered sometimes bishops. There have been endless disputes among different churchmen whether the terms elder and bishop, as used in the New Testament, denote the same office, or whether the one was of higher rank than the other. But on an impartial examination of the subject, it will appear that these terms, and the many other similar ones, such as pastor, teacher, angel of the church, were often used interchangeably, and without any idea of technical precision and strictness in their applications; and this shows that they were employed, like ordinary words of discourse, as general terms of designation,—not as the technical titles of office. To attempt to make out from these primitive institutions any nice system, which shall be adapted to modern wants, and conformed to modern ideas, is to mistake altogether the nature of all primitive institutions, which are essentially provisional, extemporaneous, informal, and changeable.— Of God. In all the most ancient copies of the New Testament, and those most to be relied upon for correctness, it reads, "The church of the Lord, which," &c.

Acts 20:28

Overseers. In v. 17, they are called elders; here, overseers, which is, in the original, the same as the word rendered sometimes bishops. There have been endless disputes among different churchmen whether the terms elder and bishop, as used in the New Testament, denote the same office, or whether the one was of higher rank than the other. But on an impartial examination of the subject, it will appear that these terms, and the many other similar ones, such as pastor, teacher, angel of the church, were often used interchangeably, and without any idea of technical precision and strictness in their applications; and this shows that they were employed, like ordinary words of discourse, as general terms of designation,—not as the technical titles of office. To attempt to make out from these primitive institutions any nice system, which shall be adapted to modern wants, and conformed to modern ideas, is to mistake altogether the nature of all primitive institutions, which are essentially provisional, extemporaneous, informal, and changeable.—Of God. In all the most ancient copies of the New Testament, and those most to be relied upon for correctness, it reads, "The church of the Lord, which," &c.