1. Rise

In distinction from Jewish Christianity, whose leaders were the 12 apostles and local elders (Acts 11:30; 15:2, 4, 22–23, etc.), the Pauline churches gradually developed a constant leadership consisting of bishops and deacons (Phil. 1:1). In secular Greek the term for bishop (episkopos) denoted the work of supervision or administration. Bishops, then, exercised administrative oversight over congregational life. A later stage finds reflection in Acts 20:…