overseers
Acts 20:28
20:28 overseers. The word “overseers” is the same as “bishops.” Since these men were the “elders of the church” (Acts 20:17), it follows that the offices of “elder” and “bishop” were the same in the early church. In the Greek, “elder” is presbuteros (from which, of course, we get our ecclesiastical term “presbyter”) and “bishop” is episkopos (from which “episcopal” is derived), meaning simply “overseer.” The two terms are again equated in Titus 1:5,7. The word “pastor” is the same as “shepherd” (Greek poimen), and the elders (or bishops) have the duty of “feeding” the “flock” for which they are responsible. See also I Peter 5:1-5.