Acts 1:20 - Exposition

Made desolate for desolate, A.V.; office for bishopric, A.V. The book of Psalms, one of the recognized divisions of the canonical Scriptures, as we find Luke 24:44 , "The law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms," the last standing for the Hagiographa, of which it was the first and principal book. Here, however, as in Luke 20:42 , it may rather mean the Book of Psalms proper. (For similar quotations from the Psalms, see Acts 13:33-35 ; Hebrews 1:1-14 ; Hebrews 2:1-18 ; Hebrews 3:1-19 ; Hebrews 4:1-16 ; Hebrews 5:1-14 ; Hebrews 10:1-39 , etc.) His office let another take. Bishop being the English transliteration of ἐπίσκοπος , bishopric is, of course, the literal rendering of ἐπισκοπή ; if taken in its wider and more general sense, as in the well-known work of Archdeacon Evans? "the bishopric of souls." This same office is called a διακονία (a deaconship), and ἀποστολὴ (an apostleship) in verses 17 and 25. So St. Paul cells himself διάκονος (a minister) in Ephesians 3:7 ; Colossians 1:23 , Colossians 1:25 , etc. So the presbyters of the Church are called bishops ( Acts 20:17 , Acts 20:28 ; 1 Timothy 1:1 , 1 Timothy 1:2 . etc.). The ecclesiastical names for the different offices in the Church only acquired their distinctive use later, and by the gradual growth of custom. In the Septuagint, ἐπισκοπή answers to the Hebrew הדָּקֻףְ , A.V., "oversight" (Numbers, Numbers 3:32 ; Numbers 4:16 , etc.).