There is more than one time where the BibleOriginally posted by Matt Black:
I in no way think that the Scriptures speak with an uncertain sound; nor do I disbelieve the Scriptures. I happen to believe that God is the author of Scripture and that if He had meant episkopos and presbuteros to mean the same thing, He would have used the same term. I do not believe that He is the author of confusion. I could equally accuse you guys of 'not believing the Scriptures', because you seem to think that the two different titles are the same and that that implies that God was double-minded or that you don't believe that God inspired the Scriptures,
Matt
uses different words for the same term. God and His Word does have synonyms. For example, Matthew has "the evil one" (ho poneros--13:19),
Mark has "Satan" (Satanas--4:15), and Luke has the devil (ho diabolos--8:12). Are you claiming that this difference in words for these parallel passages in the Gospels makes God "double-minded"
or causes confusion? Your claim is the one that does not hold up and that will harm the correct interpretation of the Scriptures.
God made it plenty clear enough when He called the same group of men in Acts 20 both names:
"elders of the church" (Acts 20:17) and
"overseers or bishops" (Acts 20:28).
How many different groups of officers in a local church are referred to in Philippians 1:1
[only two: bishops and deacons]? Do you think that God would have ignored the elders of the church at Philippi if their office was not the same office as that of the bishops?