Strong's Concordance
episkopos: a superintendent, an overseer
Original Word: ἐπίσκοπος, ου, ὁPart of Speech: Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: episkopos
Phonetic Spelling: (ep-is'-kop-os)
Short Definition: overseer, supervisor, ruler
Definition: (used as an official title in civil life), overseer, supervisor, ruler, especially used with reference to the supervising function exercised by an elder or presbyter of a church or congregation.
HELPS Word-studies
1985 epískopos (a masculine noun, derived from 1909 /epí, "on/fitting contact," which intensifies 4649 /skopós, "look intently," like at an end-marker concluding a race) – properly, an overseer; a man called by God to literally "keep an eye on" His flock (the Church, the body of Christ), i.e. to provide personalized (first hand) care and protection (note the epi, "on").
"Though in some contexts 1985 (epískopos) has been regarded traditionally as a position of authority, in reality the focus is upon the responsibility for caring for others" (L & N, 1, 35.40).
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
STRONGS NT 1985: ἐπίσκοποςἐπίσκοπος,
ἐπισκόπου,
ὁ (
ἐπισκέπτομαι),
an overseer, a man charged with the duty of seeing that things to be done by others are done rightly,
any curator, guardian, or
superintendent; the
Sept. for
פָּקִיד,
Judges 9:28;
Nehemiah 11:9, 14, 22;
2 Kings 11:15, etc.; 1 Macc. 1:51. The word has the same comprehensive sense in Greek writings from
Homer Odys. 8, 163; Iliad 22, 255 down; hence, in the N. T.
ἐπίσκοπον τῶν ψυχῶν, guardian of souls, one who watches over their welfare:
1 Peter 2:25 ((
τόν παντός πνεύματος κτίστην καί ἐπίσκοπον,
Clement of Rome, 1 Cor. 59, 3 [ET]);
ἀρχιερεύς καί προστάτης τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, ibid. 61, 3 [ET]; (cf. Sir. 1:6)), cf.
Hebrews 13:17. specifically,
the superintendent, head or overseer of any Christian church;
Vulg.episcopus:
Acts 20:28;
Philippians 1:1;
1 Timothy 3:2;
Titus 1:7; see
πρεσβύτερος, 2 b.; (and for the later use of the word, see
Dict. of Chris. Antiq. under the word
