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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - 1 Timothy 5:1 - 5:1
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Rebuke not an elder (πρεσβυτέρῳ μὴ ἐπιπλήξῃς)
The verb N.T.o. olxx. originally to lay on blows; hence to castigate with words. Πρεσβύτερος elder, oP., but frequent in Gospels, Acts, and Revelation. Modern critical opinion has largely abandoned the view that the original Christian polity was an imitation of that of the Synagogue. The secular and religious authorities of the Jewish communities, at least in purely Jewish localities, were the same; a fact which is against the probability that the polity was directly transferred to the Christian church. The prerogatives of the Jewish elders have nothing corresponding with them in extent in the Christian community. Functions which emerge later in the Jewish-Christian communities of Palestine do not exist in the first Palestinian-Christian society. At the most, as Weizsäcker observes, it could only be a question of borrowing a current name.
Modern criticism compels us, I think, to abandon the view of the identity of Bishop and Presbyter which has obtained such wide acceptance, especially among English scholars, through the discussions of Lightfoot and Hatch. The testimony of Clement of Rome (Ep. ad Corinth.) goes to show that the Bishops (ἡγούμενοι or προηγούμενοι) are distinguished from the Presbyters, and that if the Bishops are apparently designated as Presbyters, it is, because they have been chosen from the body of Presbyters, and have retained the name even when they have ceased to hold office. for this reason deceased Bishops are called Presbyters. In Clement, Presbyters signify a class or estate - members of long standing and approved character, and not office-bearers regularly appointed. Among these the Bishops are to be sought. Bishops are reckoned as Presbyters, not because the Presbyter as such is a Bishop, but because the Bishop as such is a Presbyter. In the Pastorals, Bishops and Deacons are associated without mention of Presbyters (1Ti 3:1-13). Presbyters are referred to in 1Ti 5:17-19, but in an entirely different connection. The qualifications of Bishops and Deacons are detailed in the former passage, and the list of qualifications concludes with the statement that this is the ordering of the church as the house of God (1Ti 5:14, 1Ti 5:15). The offices are exhausted in the description of Bishops and Deacons. Nothing is said of Presbyters until ch. 5, where Timothy's relations to individual church-members are prescribed; and in Tit 2:2 ff. these members are classified as old men (πρεσβύτας) old women, young men, and servants. In 1Ti 5:17 are mentioned elders who rule well (οἱ καλῶς προεστῶτες πρεσβύτεροι). Assuming that Presbyters and Bishops were identical, a distinction would thus be implied between two classes of Bishops - those who rule well and those who do not: where as the distinction is obviously between old and honored church-members, collectively considered, forming the presbyterial body, and certain of their number who show their qualifications for appointment as overseers. Presbyters as such are not invested with office. There is no formal act constituting a Presbyter. The Bishops are reckoned among the Elders, but the elders as such are not officers.
Thus are to be explained the allusions to appointed Elders, Tit 1:5; Act 14:23. Elders are to be appointed as overseers or Bishops, for the overseers must have the qualifications of approved Presbyters. The ordination of Presbyters is the setting apart of Elders to the position of Superintendents. The Presbyterate denotes an honorable and influential estate in the church on the ground of age, duration of church membership, and approved character. Only Bishops are appointed. There is no appointment to the Presbyterate. At the close of Clement's letter to the Corinthians, the qualifications of a Presbyter are indicated in the description of the three commissioners from the Roman church who are the bearers of the letter, and to whom no official title is given. They are old, members of the Roman church from youth, blameless in life, believing, and sober.