5 The elders  presbuteros (πρεσβύτερος,4245) which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: ² Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; ³ Neither as ^kbeing lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.^[2]

presbuteros (πρεσβύτερος,4245)^[1] In the Christian churches those who, being raised up and qualified by the work of the Holy Spirit, were appointed to have the spiritual care of, and to exercise oversight over, the churches. To these the term “bishops,”episkopoi, or “overseers,” is applied (seeActs 20, v.17 with v.28, and Titus 1:5 and7), the latter term indicating the nature of their workpresbuteroi their maturity of spiritual experience. The divine arrangement seen throughout the NT was for a plurality of these to be appointed in each church,Acts 14:23;20:17;Phil. 1:1;1 Tim. 5:17;Titus 1:5. The duty of “elders” is described by the verbepiskopeo. They were appointed according as they had given evidence of fulfilling the divine qualifications,Titus 1:6 to9; cf.1 Tim. 3:1–7 and1 Pet. 5:2; <sup>[2]


[1]</sup> Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). In Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Vol. 2, p. 195). T. Nelson.
^[2] Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). In Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Vol. 2, p. 195). T. Nelson.