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Re: Presbyteros and newterous
Raymond E. Brown, a respected Biblical scholar, wrote a book called
_The Critical Meaning of the Bible_. This is a 1981 book and I'm
interested in what you think of what he has to say about the
Episcopate. Starting at the bottom of page 138, he says:
Let us now turn to the designation of local church officials.
In the pastorals there are two offices set up for the pastoral care of
the community, a higher office and a subordinate office. If we invoke
wider NT evidence, it seems that the holder of each of these offices
had two designations, respectively, the presbyter (elder) or bishop,
and the "younger" or deacon. One document may speak exclusively of
episkopoi, "bishops," and diakonoi, "deacons" (Philip 1:1), while
another document may speak of presbyteroi, "elders," and neoteroi,
"youngers" (I Pet 5:1, 5). Still other passages illustrate the
interchangeability of the respective titles. The interchangeability
of presbyteros and episkopos is seen not only in the Pastorals (Titus
1:5--7;; I tim 3:1; 5:17) but also in Acts 20:28, where those who have
previously been designated as the presbyteroi of Ephesus are told,
"Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock in whcih the Holy Spirit
has made you spiskopoi to shepherd the Church of God." Similarly, in
I Pet 5:2--3 Peter addresses himself to the presbyteroi, "Feed the
flock, being supervisors (episkopountes) not by coercion but
willingly." The interchangeability of neoteros and diakonos is
attested by the parallelism in Luke 22:16: "Let the great one among
you become as a neoteros; let the one who rules become as a diakonos."
The fact that neoteros, "younger," is not simply an age bracket (any
more than is presbyteros, "elder") but another name for the
subordinate office has frequently been missed, resulting in strange
combinations, e.g., while the reference in I Pet 5:1--4 to presbyteroi
has rightly been understood as a designation not simply for elderly
men but for the holders of presbyteral office, the next verse (5:5) is
(wrongly) thought to shift with its neoteroi to the theme of youth!
If we concentrate on the higher office, it has often been
suggested that one title, presbyteros, was in use among Jewish
Christian communities, while the other, episkopos, was in use in the
Gentile Churches. However, the evidence that we have for the use of
presbyteros among Jewish Christians comes from Acts' account of the
Jerusalem community (see section above on Hellenist Leaders and James
of Jerusalem), and the same book describes the officials of the
Gentile Christian communities as presbyteroi too (Acts 14:23; 20:17).
A more plausible theory is that we have here a reflection of two
strins of Judaism which came into Christianity. The synagogues of
Pharisaic Judaism had a group of zeqenim, "elders," the Hebrew
equivalent of presbyteroi, forming a council whose members set policy
but were not pastors responsible for the spiritual care of
individuals. In addition to such zeqenim, the Dead Sea Scrolls
community of the New Covenant had officials who bore the title
mebaqqer or paqid, synonymous words meaning "supervisor, overseer,"
the Hebrew equivalent of episkopos. These functionaries, assigned one
to a group, did have a pastoral responsibility. The higher of the two
Christian offices described in the Pastorals may have combined the
group of presbyters from the Pharisaic synagogue with the supervisor
of Jewish sectarianism, so that the presbyters served also in a
supervisor capacity. This origin would explain why in Titus 1:5
presbyteroi are spoken of in the plural, while in 1:7, obviously
referring to the same office, the author describes episkopos in the
singular. Furthermore, while our NT evidence points to a general
interchangeability between the titles presbyteros and episkopos, it is
possible that not all the presbyters of a community assumed the title
and role of the supervisor. In I Tim 5:17 we are told that a double
honor is due to "those presbyters who rule well." Does the author
mean that, while all the presbyters rule, only some rule well, or that
only some presbyters rule? The latter seems more plausible, since he
goes on in the same verse to single out those presbyters "who labor in
preaching and teaching," which surely means that not all had those
tasks. The body of presbyters, then, may have divided up among
themselves tasks once handled by people with different charisms, e.g.,
by the teachers and administrators of I Cor 12:28. It is well known
that Ignatius of Antioch gives witness to the recent) emergence of a
three-fold-office structure in certain communities: one episkopos,
under him a group of presbyteroi and a group of diakonoi (a structure
nowhere clearly attested in the NT), so that the title episkopos is
now no longer widely interchangeable with presbyteros. However, in
light of the discussion above, attention should be paid to Polycarp,
Phillipians 5:3, for there neoteroi are told to be subject to both
presbyters and deacons. Just as ultimately presbyters became subject
to bishops, so neoteroi became subordinate to diakonoi; and it seems
that at least for a brief period the two sets of terms yielded four
offices or roles.
That the term diakonos could be applied to a woman is known
from Rom 16:1. In the passage on deacons in I Tim 3:8-13, rules are
laid down for women in 3:11, and some have argued that these are the
wives of the deacons. (However, the clear reference to the deacon's
wife in 3:12 may be introducing a new but related topic.) Whether
they are or not, they surely serve as deacons, since the author speaks
of the rules for them as similar to the rules for (male) deacons. In
view of the high plausibility that there were men and women deacons in
the Churches of the Pastorals, and that neoteros was another term for
diakonos, a passage in I tim 5:1-2 raises the question of whether
there were also both men and women presbyters. The apostolic delegate
is told by "Paul" how to treat presbyters and "youngers": Do not
rebuke a presbyteros but exhort him as you would a father, and the
neoteroi as you would brothers; presbyterai as you would mothers, and
neoterai as you would sisters." It is most often assumed that age
brackets are meant, and indeed neoterai refers to younger women who
are widows in 5:11,14. Nevertheless, every other passage dealing with
presbyteros in the Pastorals is taken to refer to officeholders,
including two passages in this same chapter of I Timothy (5:17, 19).
This argument is offset by the fact that the parallel passage in Titus
2:1--6 (which speaks of the male presbytes and neoteros and the female
presbytis and nea) deals with age groups. In any case, we can say
that _if_ there were women presbyters as there were women deacons, it
should be remembered that not all presbyters seem to have ruled (i.e.,
served as episkopos). The prohibition in I Tim 2:12, "I do not permit
a woman to teach or or (sic) to have authority over men," may have
been thought all the more necessary if women held an office that
allowed many of its male occupants to teach and rule.
END OF QUOTE
Brown goes on to note that Peter himself is referred to as a
presbyter. At least in Catholic theology, this supports Peter as a
Bishop (of Rome). He also notes that Prisca and Aquila both _taught_
(emphasis mine) Apollos in the Way, supporting the practice of women
in teaching roles in the Church. Brown further notes that James
5:14-15 speaks of presbyters being called n to pray over the sick and
anoint him in the name of the Lord so that "the prayer of faith will
save the sick person." Thus, presbyters (in my interpretation)
administer the Sacrament of Unction for the Sick. If both women and
men are presbyters, it follows that men and women can administer
Sacraments traditionally reserved only to men. Furthermore, in
practice, only a bishop can anoint the oil. If presbyers served as
bishops, it follows that women bishops do not violate the apostolic
succession. Obviously, I'm drawing conclusions that Brown left up in
the air (he's RC, by the way).
Comments?
Cindy Smith
cms@dragon.com