An ELDER — literally an 'older man' (comparative of presbys, 'old'), then a title of office: the senior men who governed the synagogue, and, taken over by the church, its leaders. ⚠ At Titus 1:5-7 something important shows — Paul tells Titus to appoint presbyteroi, 'elders', and then, giving their qualifications, calls the same man an episkopos, 'overseer' (v7). The two words name one office, evidence that in the earliest church 'elder' and 'overseer/bishop' were not yet distinct ranks; the later bishop-over-elders is not visible here (the same interchange occurs at Acts 20:17, 28). English 'priest' descends, by contraction, from presbyteros; 'presbyterian' is built on it directly. → first discussed at Titus 1:5