Should Conservative Baptists Ordain Pastors to Bishops?

By Rev. Nicky Joya

They explain, since these CB pastors lead churches that have given birth to several daughter churches, and minister to their pastors as spiritual mentors, they should be elevated to the office of a bishop. This has led a number of CBs to ask the question, should CBAP join the bandwagon? Should the association create a new office of bishop and ordain some pastors into the position?  

To answer this we have to first ask, “What is the meaning of the term, bishop?”

The starting point and the final word for every believer is the Bible. In the Bible, the Greek term used for bishop is episkopos which means, “superintendent” or “overseer”. It has reference to one of the functions of a pastor which is to oversee God’s flock. While the use of the term changed in the course of church history, biblically speaking, “bishop” is another term for one who holds the office of a pastor.

There are three terms that the Bible uses to refer to the office of a pastor—pastor, bishop and elder. On a number of occasions in Scripture, the terms are used interchangeably.

In Acts 20, when Paul met with the “elders” (verse 17) of the Ephesian church in Miletus, he tells them in verse 28 that God has appointed them “overseers” (episkopos) among the flock. Further, he commands them to be “shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood” (verse 28). We can conclude that the terms bishop, pastor and elder are terms that denote one office.

Likewise in Titus 1:5 and 1:7, the Apostle Paul uses “overseer” (or bishop) and “elder” interchangeably.

The three words are once again seen in interchangeable terms in 1 Peter 5:1, 2: “1 To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds (or pastors) of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers (bishops)—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve.”

Therefore, there is no problem in using the biblical term according to its original intent. Calling a pastor “bishop” or even “elder” is quite accurate since he is both. However, this is not the way some pastors would like to apply the term. If such was the case, no separate ordination is necessary since they are not creating another office. But since they are seeking for the ordination of some pastors to bishops, they mean the term in the traditional sense.

Traditionally, the term “bishop” came to refer to a religious ruler of a diocese [J. D. Douglas, Ed., The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1974), p. 134]. Bishops, such as those in religious sects that maintain an Episcopalian form of government, exert authority over the clergy and lay in their appointed jurisdiction. Therefore, Baptists who want to establish an office of a bishop that is separate from and higher than the pastor must understand that that they are adopting a form of church government that Baptists have historically believed to be unbiblical.

Consider the CBAP Statement of Faith, Section 8: “We believe that each church is independent and autonomous and must be free from interference by any ecclesiastical or political authority, that therefore, Church and State must be kept separate as having different functions, each fulfilling its duties free from the dictates or patronages of others.”

Historically, this has been the conviction of Baptists. Should CBAP set up an office of a bishop, it would in effect have to let go of its conviction about the autonomy of the local church, since local churches would now be governed by a religious authority higher than the elders and pastors of a local church. Further, the conviction about the congregational form of government would also have to be relinquished, since a hierarchical form of government would have to be established.

We cannot avoid the fact that Baptists are distinguished from other groups primarily by their convictions about the church. Therefore, CBAP churches should ask themselves if they want to depart from what Baptists have maintained to be Scriptural.