All these terms are used in the NT to refer to the same office. This is especially clear from Titus 1:5-9: Paul speaks him instructing Titus to ordain prebyterous in every city in v5, and goes to delineate the qualifications for such an office (vv6-9) in the midst of which he speaks of them as "episkopos" (v7). Similarly, in the Acts 20 account of Paul meeting with the "elders" (presbyteros, v17) he charged them to keep watch over themselves and over the flock "of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers (episkopos" (v28). Peter, in addressing the "elders (presbyteros among you" (1 Pet 5:1) charged them to "be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care/oversight (episkopeo)" (v2). It is possible that presbyteros may have found a more natural setting in predominantly Jewish congregations, since elders were an already established office in the synagogues, which episkopos was probably the preferred term in Greek-speaking churches.
The office of an overseer—as shepherds of God's flock—is a high and nobel one, and Paul sets high standands for those who aspire to the office. No wonder, for Peter himself calls Jesus "the Overseer of your souls" (1 Pet 2:25); the office, therefore, carries on doing what Jesus did.
The term bishop comes from the Latin word biscopus and used in the KJV, NKJ, RSV, NRSV, and NASB, to translate episkopos. As the early Church grew and the needs demanded a more clearly defined institutionalization of its government, a system of hierarchical structure evolved, known as monarchical episcopacy; this consisted initially of a three-tiered structure: bishop, presbyters, and deacons. As the church continued to expand, and especially after the Church became closely associated with the state, there evolved bishops among bishops with titles like popes, metropolitans, patriarchs, and archbishops.
Read the entry in International Standard Encyclopedia on Bishop,
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