Frank

I have read through Interview Rounds 8 and 9, and found them very good. But I wonder if our rigid distincitions between elders, overseers and ministers (which in Greek are prebuteroi, episcapoi, and diakinoi respectively) is really correct. So let me share some observations based on some previous study of New Testament leaders, and let me know what you think, eh?

Years ago, when I studied both prophecy and prophetic ministry in the NT, it became apparent to me, as I made a comparative study of their functions and gifts, that while “elders” was a designation of the leaders’ maturity and seniority, “overseer” and “minister” described their primary functions as those who discipled and trained the rest of the congregation. And the various spiritual gifts, as they pertained to those who were leaders, indicated how they fulfilled their leadership functions as “overseer” and “ministers”.

Now, if you compare the requirements and responsibilities of the elders and deacons in 1 Timothy with those of the elders, who alone are mentioned in Titus, they are essentially the same, which indicates to me a distinction of an office (“elders”)and its functions (“overseer” and “minister”). Furthermore, in Philippians 1:1, where the NIV and other English translations have “together with the overseers and deacons [ministers],” according to Greek grammar and syntax, this phrase would better be translated something like “together with the elders who minister [there among you].” It was because of clues like these in the NT that I came to see that leadership in the Earliest Church was less hierarchical and rigid as it was by the third and fourth centuries, when the Church was no longer a body of believers but a highly organized institution. And Gordon Fee’s books, Paul, The Spirit and the People of God and The Spirit and the Text, have further confirmed this view for me.

And along the same lines, Kenneth E. Bailey’s article in Theology Matters, “Women in the New Testament: A Middle Eastern Cultural View,” by the consistent use of what is called rhetorical criticism, demonstrates that 1 Timothy 4:6-5:22 and Titus 1:5-2:5 apply to the requirements and responsibilities of both men and women who served as elders and ministers. I strongly recommend you read Bailey’s article, if you have not done so.