The Office of Overseer

Excerpt

The word “overseer” receives such translations as “bishop” (KJV, ASV), “Presiding-Officer” (TCNT), “superintendent” (Goodspeed), or “pastor” (Williams). In such passages as Acts 20:17, 28 and Titus 1:5, 7 the terms “elders” and “overseers” appear together to suggest that the positions are partially, if not fully, interchangeable.

In discussing the office of an overseer, Paul was not requesting that Timothy begin a new office in the church. Men were already functioning in the position (Acts 14:23; 20:17, 28). What Paul stipulated was that those appointed to the office were to possess qualifications of commitment. More

Lea, Thomas D., and Hayne P. Griffin. 1, 2 Timothy, Titus. Vol. 34. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992. Print. The New American Commentary.