IV. The Episcopate, of Divine Origin¶
Is the episcopate, or order of bishops, essential to the Church’s life, or not? Are bishops merely useful to the well-being of the Church, or are they necessary to its very existence?
To these important questions there is but one answer, and it is this;—The episcopate is of divine institution in the Church, and therefore a necessity. The old saying ‘No Church without a bishop,’ not only expresses a fact of history, but a great truth also. There never has been a Church without a bishop, and there never can be.
To quote the words of Sanderson,[1] the learned Bishop of Lincoln (A.D. 1660): “My opinion is that episcopal government is not derived merely from apostolical practice or institution, but that it is originally founded in the person and office of the Messiah, our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, who, being sent by his heavenly Father to be the great Apostle,[2] Shepherd, and Bishop[3] of his Church, and anointed to that office immediately after his baptism by John, with power and the Holy Ghost[4] descending then upon him in a bodily shape,[5] did afterwards before his ascension into heaven, send and empower his holy apostles, giving them the Holy Ghost likewise, as his Father had given him, in like manner as his Father had before sent him[6] to execute the same apostolical, episcopal, and pastoral office, for the ordering and governing of his Church, until his coming again; and so the same office to continue in them and their successors unto the end of the world.”[7]
This teaching is in accord with the testimony of the whole Church from the first, which sets forth the order of bishops as a divine institution, both permanent and necessary.
The episcopate was instituted for four great ends, viz., to be:
i. The Fount of the Ministry.
ii. The Bond of Unity.
iii. The Guardian of the Truth.
iv. The Instrument and Pledge of Grace.