# Thomas Goodwin on elders and deacons



## Reformed Covenanter (May 26, 2022)

... Two Sorts of Officers in the Church are ordinary, and they are Bishops and Deacons, Phil. i. 1. That these are ordinary, and that these are all, may appear by the Direction of the Apostle to Timothy, how to carry himself in the Church of God in constitution of Officers: He nameth these Two, 1 Tim. iii. 1, 8. Bishops and Deacons: Whom he doth mean by the Bishops? you may see, Acts xx. 17, with 28, the Flock over which God hath made you ἐπισκόπους, Overseers; those he calleth Elders, ver. 17. calleth Bishops, ver. 28. Tit. i. 5,7. and the same he calleth Elders, ver. 5. are called Bishops, ver. 7. For Deacons, see Acts vi. 2, 3, 4. the Deacons for the Church at Jerusalem; and Paul giveth Directions to Timothy about them, and it is a perpetual Charge to the Church. Compare 1 Tim iii. 14, 15. with 1 Tim. vi. 13, 14. Bishops and Deacons must be kept to the Coming of Christ in the Church, not so Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists. …

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