Msg Base:  AREA 5  - ASK FATHER            CIN ECHO   AMDG
  Msg No: 196.  Thu 11-21-91 19:05  (NO KILL)  (MAILED)
    From: Father Mateo
      To: Bob Whelton
 Subject: Apostle and Bishop

+-
| In discussion with a Mormon friend he claims Church must have Apostles and
| Bishops are not Apostles. I quoted Acts 1:20 to prove Apostle took office
| of Bishop (King James Bible). His reply was that Psalm 109:8 to which
| Acts 1:20 is translated as "office" , therefore the word bishopric in Acts
| 1:20 means "office" and not Bishops office necessarily. The logic of his
| reply aside, I'm curious if the word in Acts 1:20 translated as bishopric
| is the same as the word in Psalm 109:8 translated as "office"?
|  
 
Dear Bob,
 
When Luke in Acts 1:20 quotes Ps. 109:8, he quotes the Septuagint Greek
version of the psalm, not the original Hebrew.  The Septuagint and Luke
use the word EPISKOPEN (accusative case), which means the office of an
EPISKOPOS or overseer.  The same word is used by Paul in 1st Timothy
3:1-2.  Joseph Reuss in his commentary on 1st Timothy says; "The term
'bishop' (='overseer') in the pastoral epistles has not yet got the
precise meaning it had in the church in the second century.  Here, as
in other passages of the New Testament, the term is used to describe
the office of those who presided over a local church, the leaders of
the local community, of whom there were more than one.  Elsewhere in
the New Testament they are described with the word "presbyter". (Joseph
Reuss.  First Epistle to Timothy.  Herder and Herder. Page 35).
 
The apostles were held in highest honor and exercised supreme power in
the first generation church.  Their work was called DIAKONIA (Acts
1:17), "service, ministry", as also EPISKOPE (Acts 1:20), "office of
overseer" and APOSTOLE (Acts 1:25) "apostleship".  Paul's letters to
Timothy and Titus show that these two young men were appointed by Paul
to govern the churches of Ephesus and Crete respectively.  They were
EPISKOPOI, "overseers"  or church leaders.  Timothy had been ordained
in a ceremony of laying on of hands by Paul (2 Tim. 1:6) and the
Ephesian presbyters (1st Tim. 4:14).  Presumably, Titus was similarly
empowered.  Both men were to appoint and ordain presbyters (1st Tim.
5:22; 2 Tim. 2:2; Titus 1:5), just as Paul had ordained and appointed
them.  The apostolic succession was off and running!
 
But after the first generation, there were none who enjoyed full
apostleship.  Rev. 2:2 praises the Ephesians, who had exploded the
false claims of some who boasted of being apostles, but were not.
 
The only Apostles the Bible says that the Church MUST HAVE are the
original twelve, who are the foundation stones of the Church
(Rev. 21:14) with St. Paul and St. Matthias.  After their deaths,
we do not speak of apostles, but of bishops governing the Church
of God.
 
Thanks for your message.  Please come again.
 
                                Sincerely in Christ,
 
                                Father Mateo