Under this head we may place the sliare taken by the elders (a) at Jerus. , in the deliberations oi the apostles (Ac 15") and in the reception held by James (Ac 21"); (6) elsewhere, in the laying of hands on Timothy, 1 Ti 4".
(2) Teaching. — 1 Th 5" irpoiaTiiievoi admonishin" Ln the Lord, 1 Ti 3^ the bishop apt to teach, o^ elders who toil in word and teaching. Tit 1' the elder or bishop must be able to teach, and to con- vince the gainsayers.
Preaching is rather connected with the unlocal ministry ; but in its absence the whole function of public worship would necessarily devolve on the local. This may be hinted He 13'- "•" (no officers named but rryovnevoi), and in any case it is plain enough in Teaching, xv., and Clement speaks of bishops TTpouipipovTes tA dwpa, which must not be limited to the Lord's Supper.
(3) Pastoral Care. — This is everywhere so con- spicuous that references are hardly needed.
To it we may refer («) visiting of the sick, with a view (Ja 5") to anointing and cure ; (b) care of strangers and d fortiori of the poor, 1 Ti 3', Tit 1', the bishop to be i^iX6ff»os.
So far we have not discriminated the duties of bishops and elders. But was there any difference at all? Harnack thinks that while bishops and deacons had the care of public worship and tlie poor, elders rather formed a court attached to the church, and as such were occupied with govern- ment and discipline. The apparent identity of the offices would then be no more than an identity of persons. The weightiest members of the church would naturally hold both offices, and give the tone to both. This theory explains points like the ditierence of names and the marked separation between the two classes. It may contain more than a germ of the truth ; but it cannot be accepted without important reservations. (a) It is not likely that duties were (juite so definitely separated. If the elders began with discipline and general oversight, they would be likely soon to take up more spiritual duties, as the Seven did. Those who had gifts to minister the word and teaching, would rather be honoured than hindered ; so tliat many of them might easily be doing pastoral work (esp. if they were bishops also) before the end of the apostolic age. In any case (b) bishops and elders are identical in the Pastoral Epistles, so that the distinction must by that time have been nearly lost. This, however, depends on their date. Harnack (Chronologic, 1897, p. 484) still places the relevant passages in the middle of the 2nd cent.
LlTERATTTRB. — Loenin^, Oemeitulever/as^tng d. Urchristen. thuing ; Lightfoot, Philipjiiam, pp. 181-269; Gore, Chriilian Ministry, esp. note K ; Hatch, Bampton Lectures (1880), tr. into Germ, with excursuses by Hamack flSS'i) ; artt. on Origin of the Christian Ministry by Sanday, Hamack. Gore, Rendel Harris, Macphereon, Simcox, and Milligan in Kxporitor, 3rd series, vols. v. and vi. ; Weizsacker, Apoet. Zeitalter, pp. 699-612.
H. M. GWATKIN.
BISHOPRICK Ac 1» 'His b. let another take'
(RV 'office' with inarg. ' Gr. overseership.') The Gr. is iirurKOTrl), which here and in 1 Ti 3' means the office or work of an iTriaKoiros (see Bl.sHOP) ; but primarily and chiefly in NT describes God's visi- tation, as Lk 19" ' the time of thy visitation,' 1 P 2'^ ' the day of v.' The same office is described in Ac 1^ as ' ministry and apostleship ' (SinKovla (tai arotrroX?)). J. HASTINGS.
BIT, BRIDLE (jd-i, iny, Dteno, xaX"'is)- — The dis- tinction between these words is not maintained in AV and RV. 1. [51 resen (Arab, rasan) is a halter. Thus in Job 30" RV, 'they have cast off the bridle before me,' the reference is to a horse or mule that has slijit off the halter with which he was tied, and is frisking aliout in the rough glee of discovered freedom. Such had become the behaviour of the
BITHIAH
BITTER, BITTEKNESS
303
rabble before Job. So in Is 30^, instead of ' a bridle in the jaws of the people,' read ' a halter on the jaws of the peoples' (c-sv ';n^ Si' |e-i).
2. jn; metlieg; xoXii/is (2 K 19*», Pr 26', Is 37'*, Ja 3' itV, Rev 14*) is a bridle, which includes the bit, as the primitive bridle was simply a loop on the halter-cord jiassed round the lower jaw of the horse. Uence in I's 32" KV, ' whose trappings must be bit and bridle,' the meaning is rather bridle and halter, as the two means of holding them in. The Psalmist had been speaking of willing service that only needed a directing eye, and the contrast is to the disinclination of the horse and mule that needed bridle and lialter to bring them near.
3. ctr- inii/i.miii, is a muzzle. Hence, ' I will keep my mouth with a bridle' (Ps 39') should
MODBRM sraiAM MUZZLB.
clearly be 'with a muzzle,' as in liVm. To lose the distinction is here to lose the meaning, which is enforced silence. A bridle is not u.scd to kee|> a horse from biting. The muzzle is the basket of rope network that was not to be |)ut on the o.\cn of the threshinglloor, but must be put over the mouth of the horse, mule, or donkey that bites its companions, the other baggage-animals, and causes disarrangement of their loads. G. M. Mackie.