Titus 1:5

wanting

It is not at all a question of the presence in the assembly of persons having the qualifications of elders, made overseers by the Holy Spirit (Acts 20:28) that such persons were in the churches of Crete is assumed; the question is altogether one of the appointment of such persons.

These assemblies were not destitute of elders; but were "wanting," in that they were not duly appointed. There is a progress of doctrine in respect of the appointing of elders.

Compare (Titus 1:5), note.

elders

Elder (Greek, "presbuteros") and bishop (Greek, "episcopos" means "overseer") designate the same office, (compare (Titus 1:7); (Acts 20:17); (Acts 20:28), the former referring to the man, the latter to a function of the office. The eldership in the apostolic local churches was always plural.

There is no instance of one elder in a local church. The functions of the elders are: to rule; (1 Timothy 3:4); (1 Timothy 3:5); (1 Timothy 5:17) to guard the body of revealed truth from perversion and error (Titus 1:9) to "oversee" the church as a shepherd his flock; (Acts 20:28); (John 21:16); (Hebrews 13:17). (1 Peter 5:2). Elders are made or "set" in the churches by the Holy Spirit, (Acts 20:28), but great stress is laid upon their due appointment. (Acts 14:23); (Titus 1:5).

At first, they were ordained (Greek, "kathistēmi", "to elect," "to designate with the hand,") by an apostle; for example, (Acts 14:23), but in Titus and First Timothy, the qualifications of an elder become part of the Scriptures for the guidance of the churches in such appointment. (1 Timothy 3:1).