3, 4. (a) What was the original sense of the Latin word mi·nisʹter, and so what use was made of it in translating the Bible? (b) What change took place in the use of the term, and due to what circumstances?

³ Back in the early centuries of the Common Era the Greek word di·aʹko·nos and the Latin word mi·nisʹter meant basically the same thing: a servant, such as an attendant, a waiter, or other personal servant. And so, when the Bible began to be translated into Latin, mi·nisʹter was the word generally chosen for rendering diaʹko·nos. But in course of time the idea of humble service began to disappear from the term as it was used. In considerable measure this was because of the apostasy from true Christianity that took place.

⁴ Speaking to Ephesian elders, the apostle Paul forewarned them that, after his going away, “oppressive wolves will enter in among you and will not treat the flock with tenderness, and from among you yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things to draw away the disciples after themselves.” Such selfish men would not operate on the principle that “there is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving.” (Acts 20:29, 30, 35) Their course would betray that they were not God’s servants but servants of his adversary.​—2 Cor. 11:12-15, Int.

5. What did the Scripturally foretold apostasy result in, and what effect did it have on the superintendence and direction of the Christian congregations?

⁵ This foretold apostasy is what eventually produced Christendom, with its many religions and its clergy and laity divisions. However, there were no such distinctions in the early congregation, as M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopaedia (Vol. VIII, pp. 355, 356) points out with regard to “elders”:

“As no specific account is given of the mode of their first appointment, we are left to infer that it may have occurred as a natural designation of respect for seniority . . . , somewhat after the analogy of eldership among the Jews.”

The Cyclopædia goes on to say that later “the apostles recognized, possibly appointed,” elders, and adds:

“There would exist in every body of elders the necessity of a presidency or primacy for the purpose of general superintendence and direction. Thus one of the number would be designated, either by seniority or formal choice, as a primus inter pares [first among equals], who should serve as overseer (ἐπίσκοπος of the body and the flock under them.”

Further, the Cyclopædia states concerning the overseer’s position:

“Nothing in its original character would prevent its being held in rotation by several elders in the same church or diocese, yet a successful administration of it would tend to its perpetuation in the same individual. Hence it soon became an office for life.”

So, one elder or overseer came to exercise permanent primacy over the others, excluding others from privileges enjoyed. In this way congregational direction by a body of elders was gradually eliminated.a

6. (a) What is meant by a “monarchical” arrangement as regards the congregations, and what contributed to the development of such an arrangement? (b) Do the Scriptures show that concentration of authority in one person is the Christian way to maintain genuine unity of faith and belief? If not, then what is the means by which to do so?

⁶ Thus a “monarchical” arrangement developed, that is, a system where administrative authority and privilege were vested in one person to the exclusion of others. (Compare 1 Corinthians 4:8.) Jerome (of the fourth century C.E.) is quoted as saying that the supremacy of a single overseer (e·piʹsko·pos) came about ‘by custom rather than by the Lord’s actual appointment,’ being a means used to prevent divisions. Hence, the view was that unity could best be maintained by placing great authority in one person who would, by his increased power, be able to ‘keep in line’ any who disagreed. (Compare 1 Samuel 8:4-7, 19, 20.) By contrast, the apostle Peter urged fellow elders to shepherd the flock in their mutual care, not “as lording it over those who are God’s inheritance, but becoming examples to the flock,” humbly submitting to one another. (1 Pet. 5:1-6) The apostle Paul also shows that it would be by ‘holding firmly to the faithful word in his teaching’ that an overseer would be able to “exhort by the teaching that is healthful and to reprove those who contradict.” They were to show faith in the power of the truth and of God’s holy spirit.​—Titus 1:7, 9-11, 13; compare 2 Timothy 2:24-26.

7. What effect did the apostasy have on the use of the Scriptural terms for those having congregational assignments of responsibility? And how was this true of the Greek term for “overseer”?

⁷ Because of the apostasy, the Bible terms used for those serving their brothers in responsible positions in the congregation in time came to take on a different meaning. The Greek term e·piʹsko·pos, meaning “overseer,” originally described each and all of the elders who had the duty of looking out for or overseeing the interests of the congregation, caring for their spiritual welfare like a shepherd. (Acts 20:28) But the English word “bishop” (drawn from e·piʹsko·pos through the Latin e·piʹsco·pus) came to stand for a religious official who exercised dominant authority over many congregations in a wide area. This culminated in the development of the papacy in which one overseer, the bishop of Rome, claimed primacy and the sole right to preside over and direct all Christian overseers and congregations everywhere.

Also, the Jerusalem Bible, in its footnote on Titus 1:5, says that “in the earliest days each Christian community was governed by a body of elders,” and refers to “the transformation of a local assembly ruled by a body . . . into an assembly ruled by a single bishop [overseer].”