SUMMARY
The author sets forth the qualities required of bishops, eldersElders are leaders who exercise wisdom or leadership by virtue of their age and experience. In the New Testament elders, along with the chief priests and scribes, constituted the primary opposition to Jesus when he taught in Jerusalem. More, and deacons, and he makes some remarks concerning their functions and duties.
ANALYSIS
The offices spoken of here and at 1 TimothyThe companion on Paul's later journeys for whom two pastoral epistles are named More 5:17–21 seem to be in existence already, and so the original readers presumably know what the author is talking about. Concerning the office of bishop (episkopos, meaning “overseer”), the author speaks of qualities of those seeking that office, but does not actually outline the responsibilities of the office. It includes some kind of administrative leadership, since the person is supposed to be able to manage his own householdA household is a living unit comprised of all the persons who live in one house. A household would embrace all the members of a family, including servants and slaves. In the book of Acts, stories are told of various persons and their households, like... More as a prerequisite for his work in the church. There is more specificity for the duties of the presbyter (presbyteros, meaning “elder”). Presbyters have leadership functions of some kind, since at least some of them should be honored because they “rule well,” and some of them teach. There is a “council of elders” or presbytery (presbyterion, which the NRSV translates as “council of elders”) to which the elders belong and is responsible for ordinations (4:14). Whether the bishop belongs to the presbytery is not clear. The office of deacon"Deacon" originally meant "one who serves" or "ministers." In the early church deacons served in leadership roles; later they became a specific rank of clergy. Today some churches ordain deacons while others commission them to serve in specific ways such as worship, pastoral care, and... More (diakonos, “minister” or “servant”) appears to be assumed and may have to do primarily with social ministry, but the duties are not elaborated.
