why do protestants not have bishops if the bible says they are necessary?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chris_McAvoy
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

Chris_McAvoy

Guest
Over and over “non-denominational” protestants attempt to tell me I should join them in prayer. Whenever I ask who there bishop is they tell me it is Christ not a man or else that they have none. I tell them that the bible says you must have a bishop overseer as your authority to be a christian. When they hear this and they tell me I am confused and dont understand the bible.

What is going on here? How can protestants claim to be based on the biblical teachings yet ignore biblical teachings?
 
Many (though not necessarily a majority) of these churches have self-proclaimed bishops.
 
Chris_McAvoy said:
When they hear this and they tell me I am confused and dont understand the bible.

What is going on here? How can protestants claim to be based on the biblical teachings yet ignore biblical teachings?
Click to expand...
They know that they themselves are confused 😃 but they don’t want to admit it, and so they say that you are confused! :rotfl: Ask them to explain that scripture to you and see what response you get. Let us also know!

A protestant once told me that you don’t need a pastor or priest. And then I showed him 1 Cor 12:28 and he couldn’t answer!
 
Chris_McAvoy said:
why do protestants not have bishops if the bible says they are necessary?
Click to expand...
Another reason is that they do not have the authority to appoint bishops! As Yerusalyim said, they can have only self-proclaimed bishops, but we know from scripture that bishops have to be ordained by people who have been given the authority. (Acts 1:24-26, 1 Tim 5:17,22)
 
The should be authority in church to oversee the congregration, otherwise every members will go wild man!!!
 
Some Protestant denoms do have bishops, e.g., the United Methodist Church, and some of the African-American denominations.

And many have overseers, but they are not called bishops. Names shouldn’t become an arguing point, IMO.

Even most of the non-denominational churches have some kind of internal authority system.

So yes, I would say that most of the Protestants DO have an authority system in place, and therefore, they ARE obedient to the Scriptures, even if they don’t choose to call the ones in charge “bishops.”
 
Is the real issue that in many Protestant churches they are not called “bishops”?

In some denominations they are called “overseers” in others they are “district superintendants”…in others they may have a different title…would it matter to any Catholics if the word “bishop” was used?

I read various threads sometimes and shake my head at some of the pettiness displayed. Bishop Schori of the ECUSA…“she’s not really a bishop” has been said here by Catholics. So my question…do you want Protestants to use the title “bishop” or not?
 
Publisher said:
Is the real issue that in many Protestant churches they are not called “bishops”?

In some denominations they are called “overseers” in others they are “district superintendants”…in others they may have a different title…would it matter to any Catholics if the word “bishop” was used?

I read various threads sometimes and shake my head at some of the pettiness displayed. Bishop Schori of the ECUSA…“she’s not really a bishop” has been said here by Catholics. So my question…do you want Protestants to use the title “bishop” or not?
Click to expand...
well, the problem is that some Protestant will ask a Catholic where in the bible does it say you need a “pope”? so, the same thing they will be asked - how come you don’t have one called “bishop”.

Check out this post:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=3879154#post3879154
 
water said:
well, the problem is that some Protestant will ask a Catholic where in the bible does it say you need a “pope”? so, the same thing they will be asked - how come you don’t have one called “bishop”.
Click to expand...
What is the “modern” word meaning of “bishop”? If the term “overseer” or “superintendant” is used instead of “bishop” does it change the function of what it is he does…administrativly at least since we will disagree on “authority” anyway?

Does it really make a difference? In some of the moder translations of scripture the word “bishop” isn’t used…so is “bishop” dependent on what translation one uses or language useage?

To claim that Protestant officers don’t hold the title “bishop” but “overseer” or “district superintendent”…yet administrativly they serve the same function PROVES Protestants don’t really follow the Bible is a hollow arguement to me…it really means nothing other than a point of Catholic vs Protestant points of arguement…and to simply argue to argue isn’t part of my faith tradition…

I was simply offering an explanation that Protestants do have “bishops”…but may not call them “bishops”…that the explanation isn’t agreed with is no big surprise…it was an explanation not an arguement.

If the issue is whether “pope” is used in the Bible, let’s start a thread on that…I thought we were discussing the word “bishop.”
 
water said:
well, the problem is that some Protestant will ask a Catholic where in the bible does it say you need a “pope”? so, the same thing they will be asked - how come you don’t have one called “bishop”.

Check out this post:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=3879154#post3879154
Click to expand...
The word itself has never been the issue. Just as the word “Pope” was never an issue; it is the duties and theology behind the words that matters. The term overseer (bishop) described in 1 Timothy 3 lays out the qualifications for the position but doesn’t describe the duties thereof. Many Protestant churches take the term overseer and apply the duty of overseeing to one of the elders/presbyters and call him a teaching elder or some other variation.

Historically, the bishop was just that, the head elder in a local parish. By the time of Ignatius it had grown to being overseer of several churches and then filtering down history to being the head of a diocese. The problem with Pope is that function of the church office is not laid out in Scripture anywhere.
 
The term overseer (bishop) described in 1 Timothy 3 lays out the qualifications for the position but doesn’t describe the duties thereof.
Click to expand...
I do not understand why non-denominational protestants would not like to use the word Episcopos for the head of their local Church. When I talk to the old greek lady she always calls her bishop “episocopos” The original greek bible uses the word Episcopos in it. If it is true that the duties of an Episcopos are not described in the bible what relevance does this have for today. What reason is there to disagree on the role of an episcopos if during the first three hundred years of christianity there was agreement on the role?

The Pope of Rome is a different case altogether. One can understand that part of his role is truly a development which was not agreed to by the entire Catholic Church. Once he stopped using the bishops staff he became something new and unknown. A bishop however is basic. A degree of Apostolic authority and sucession can not exist without either a Bishop, Patriarch or Pope in your church.
 
Chris_McAvoy said:
I tell them that the bible says you must have a bishop overseer as your authority to be a christian. When they hear this and they tell me I am confused and dont understand the bible.
Click to expand...
In cases like that, it’s always a good idea to point out exactly what verses discuss that. When they can’t explain, that’ll show who’s *really *confused and doesn’t understand it.
 
Did you ever hear the saying that if something walks like a duck and looks like a duck, it’s probably a duck? (That’s very likely even if it’s called a fish, a squijamajig or whatever). If the religion does good things and promotes loving and/or better people who are more interested in helping others than hurting them, what difference does it make if the duck looks like a fish?
Chris_McAvoy said:
Over and over “non-denominational” protestants attempt to tell me I should join them in prayer. Whenever I ask who there bishop is they tell me it is Christ not a man or else that they have none. I tell them that the bible says you must have a bishop overseer as your authority to be a christian. When they hear this and they tell me I am confused and dont understand the bible.

What is going on here? How can protestants claim to be based on the biblical teachings yet ignore biblical teachings?
Click to expand...
 
Lutherans have bishops, although when I was Lutheran, we never talked about them. The only group we heard about was this council that votes on things and even then we didn’t know much about them. 🤷
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top