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The New Testament uses multiple terms interchangeably to describe this office: elder, overseer (bishop in the King James Version), and shepherd. The Particular Baptist Nehemiah Coxe helps establish these interchangeable titles:

The officers that we are now treating of, which are in our text called elders (πρεσβυτέροι), are in the very next words styled bishops or overseers (ἐπίσκοποι, the like application of both these terms to the same persons and office you may observe in Acts 20), and in Ephesians 4:11 are called pastors and teachers. It is evident the Holy Spirit intends by any of these different terms no distinction or preeminence of office among those that bear these characters, but they are all suited to the same office in its different respects.^[1]

The Greek word used in the NT for elder is πρεσβύτερος. Sometimes this word pertains to someone relatively advanced in age while other times referring to an official.^[2] Notice the pastoral responsibilities given to those who hold the spiritual office of elder. Peter exhorts elders to shepherd the flock (1 Pet. 5:1-2). Paul explains to Timothy that elders have the responsibility to rule, preach, and teach (1 Tm. 5:17). At the beginning of Acts 20, elders are called from Ephesus and are then exhorted to pay careful attention to themselves and all the flock (Acts 20:17; 28).

The same pastoral responsibilities are given to those who hold the spiritual office of overseer. The Greek word used for overseer is επίσκοπος and means “one who has the responsibility of safeguarding” or “seeing to it that something is done in the correct way.”^[3] An overseer is supposed to pay careful attention to themselves and all the flock of God for whom they care (Acts 20:28). As Paul gives the qualifications for becoming a pastor, he calls this the office of overseer (1 Tm. 3:1) and explains an overseer must be able to teach (1 Tm. 3:2). As Paul and Timothy write to the church at Philippi, they address the two spiritual offices of the church: overseers and deacons (Phil. 1:1). A distinction is not made between overseers and elders. The New Testament authors interchangeably use the terms overseer and elder to describe the same spiritual office.

The last synonymous term is shepherd. The Greek word for shepherd is ποιμήν and means “one who herds sheep” or “one who serves as guardian or leader.”^[4] As Paul writes to the church at Ephesus, he explains that God gave shepherds to equip the saints for the work of the ministry and for building up the body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-12). In 1 Peter 5:2, elders are given the responsibility to shepherd the flock. The verb ποιμαίνω, which means “to serve as tender of sheep” or “to watch out for other people”^[5] is the verbal form of the noun ποιμήν, and is used in this exhortation given to elders: shepherd the flock.

Elders, overseers, and shepherds are the same spiritual office. As James White writes: “by comparing the use of these terms in parallel passages we are able to discover that the apostles used these terms in a basically interchangeable fashion.”^[6]

^[1] Nehemiah Coxe, Biblical Elders and Deacons: A Sermon Preached by Nehemiah Coxe in 1688. (Pensacola, FL: by Chapel Library, 2015).  

^[2] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 862.

^[3] Ibid. 379.

^[4] Ibid. 843.

^[5] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 842.

^[6] James R. White, “The Plural-Elder-Led Church” in Perspectives on Church Government: Five Views of Church Polity (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2004), 270.