Titles for Pastors in the NT, specifically "overseer"

[FSSL]

"overseer" in the modern versions appears as "Bishop" in the KJV.

This has raised many questions related to church hierarchy.

When Paul gave the qualifications of an "overseer," did he intend to mean a person...
... over one congregation
... multiple congregations
... or, possibly both

 

[christundivided]

"overseer" in the modern versions appears as "Bishop" in the KJV.

This has raised many questions related to church hierarchy.

When Paul gave the qualifications of an "overseer," did he intend to mean a person...
... over one congregation
... multiple congregations
... or, possibly both

Possibly both.....

First and foremost, they, themselves, would be servants. Not "directors" or "dictators". Its wasn't a job. It was a calling. A way of life engrained in the very being of those called. Not something that comes and goes based on who pays the most money or provides the most benefits.

 

[cave_dweller]

uuuaagghh!

 

[prophet]

"overseer" in the modern versions appears as "Bishop" in the KJV.

This has raised many questions related to church hierarchy.

When Paul gave the qualifications of an "overseer," did he intend to mean a person...
... over one congregation
... multiple congregations
... or, possibly both

From Acts 20, we find a presbytery (called this in Timothy) being called overseers (pl).
Philippians is intro'd to a church with "bishops and deacons" (chapter 4 tells us it a single church from the context) .

So, apparently, unlike Apostles,  Bishops are to share leadership of a single church.

 

[rsc2a]

Based on my reading of the Patristic letters, the terms overseer and elder appear to be fairly interchangeable (with a single church in mind, but I acknowledge a bias in that direction) in the earlier letters. Within about 150 years, the overseer/bishop distinction seems to have shifted to someone who oversaw the churches (pl) in a certain area.