Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 07:3 (Fall 2003)
Article: Hierarchy in the Church? Instruction from the Pastoral Epistles concerning Elders and Overseers
Author: Benjamin L. Merkle

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SBJT 7:3 (Fall 2003) p. 32

Hierarchy in the Church?
Instruction from the Pastoral Epistles
concerning Elders and Overseers

Benjamin L. Merkle

Benjamin L. Merkle received his Ph.D. from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is currently teaching in Southeast Asia. He is the author of The Elder and Overseer: One Office in the Early Church published by Peter Lang and has published articles in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society and the New Holman Bible Dictionary. This article has been adapted from his book The Elder and Overseer: One Office in the Early Church.

As in every age since the first century, there is today a variety of opinions regarding the proper organizational structure of the church. Various denominations have deacons, archdeacons, evangelists, apostles, prophets, pastors, senior pastors, elders, overseers, bishops, archbishops, and there is even a pope. To make problems more complicated there is inconsistency among denominations, and even within each denomination, as to what duties church officers should perform as well as the relationship between the differing officeholders.

The goal of this article is not to present a detailed blueprint of how every church should be organized. Rather, this article will focus on the use of the terms “elder” and “overseer” (or “bishop”) in the Pastoral Epistles in order to determine the precise relationship between these terms.1 Most denominations agree that the office of deacon is biblical and should therefore be maintained (although the precise function of the deacon will vary among denominations, and many denominations do not have archdeacons). While the position of “evangelist” is important, similar to a missionary it is not viewed as a “church” office per se since the evangelist’s task is to minister outside the church. Regarding the offices of apostle and prophet, Paul clearly writes in Ephesians 2:20 that they were given to the church as a foundational ministry and therefore are no longer given today.2 But what about the other church offices? Does the biblical model include pastors, senior pastors, elders, overseers, bishops, archbishops, and popes? Based on the evidence from the Pastoral Epistles it will be shown that besides the office of deacon, there is only one other New Testament church office— that is, the office of pastor, elder, or overseer.

Although the term “pastor” does not occur in the Pastoral Epistles, it is clear that it refers to the same office as the elder or overseer. There is only one text in the New Testament that uses this term to refer to an office in the church.

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