In the apostolic and primitive church there were two kinds of presbyters who in Latin were called seniores, as we conclude from 1 Tim. 5:17. Some administered the office of teaching, or as the apostle there says, they labored in the Word and doctrine; these were called bishops, pastors, etc. Others, however, were appointed to be censors of morals and guardians of church discipline, since the pagan government did not support the teachers of the church in this manner; these were called governors and leaders (as we conclude from 1 Cor 12:28 and Rom. 12:8). Ambrose comments on 1 Tim. 5 at the beginning: “Also the synagogue and the church had seniors without whose advice nothing was undertaken. I do not know by what kind of carelessness this fell into disuse — perhaps by indolence or rather by the pride of the teachers who alone wanted to be esteemed as being something.”
Both kinds were commonly called elders (Acts 15:22; 1 Tim. 5:17) and rulers (Heb 13:7, 17, 24). Both formed the sacred college that Paul calls the presbytery, saying: “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery” (1 Tim 4:14). From this passage we conclude that at the ordination of ministers, not only the pastors but also the elders chosen from the people laid their hands on the ordained person in the name of the entire congregation, just as not only Aaron but also the elders of Israel laid their hands on the Levites who were ordained (Num 8:10). Some, however, think that here the term presbytery signifies in a special sense those elders who were pastors and bishops. Today the consistory or the church council [senatus ecclesiasticus], over which ecclesiastical and political officials preside and that concerns itself especially with church discipline, corresponds to the presbytery.
— Johann Gerhard, Loci theologici, “De minist. eccl.,” par. 232; qtd. in C. F. W. Walther, Church & Ministry, tr. J. T. Mueller, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, 1875/1987, pp. 264-265
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