James gives his spiritual exhortations and practical advice in the unspoken but implicit confidence that there will be elders in the churches to which he writes. Not only so, he clearly expects that these elders will work at their tasks. The most common New Testament name for the person in the office is the one we are familiar with in the Scottish churches, 'elder'. It translates the Greek word presbuteros, from which we get our well-known words, 'Presbytery' and 'Presbyterian'. The word 'bishop' translates the Greek episkopos from which the word 'Episcopal' derives.
Biblical scholars agree that 'bishop' is used synonymously, or interchangeably, with 'elder'.
As we shall see, these titles are not without their own significance. The plurality of the New Testament eldership One of the first things to notice about the working of the New Testament eldership is that it functioned, wherever possible, on the principle of plurality. Paul was on his way to Jerusalem. In this passage and, it would seem, uniformly through the New Testament, the title Presbyter is used of the 'office', and the title Bishop of the function, or work, in which the office obliges the person to engage. The title he uses is exegetical of function, expressive not so much of what those men are as of what they do in the office of the eldership.