to be in charge of something and look after it: to lead, to manage, to take the lead in
The picture behind this word is standing out in front of something. In ordinary Greek it covers a person set over a task or a group, and it also covers the patron who stands in front of weaker people to protect them and provide for them. Both halves of that picture, being in charge and looking after, run through its eight uses in the New Testament.
That is why one verb covers a father running his home and an elder guiding a congregation. 1 Timothy 3:5 puts the two side by side deliberately: a man who does not know how to run his own household is asked how he will look after God's church, and the second half of that sentence uses a plain word for tending and caring (ἐπιμελέομαι). Leading, in this word, is a job of work rather than a rank, which is also why it appears in Romans 12:8 in a list of things believers do for one another.
Titus stretches the picture in a different direction. There the thing being stood in front of is not people at all but good works, and English versions render the phrase as devoting oneself to good works, being careful to practice them, or taking the lead in them.
Two of the uses are argued over. In Romans 12:8 the word sits between giving generously and showing mercy, and that company has led some readers to take it as caring for people, or acting as their patron, rather than leading them; the same question hangs over 1 Thessalonians 5:12. Nearby words keep the two ideas close: the general Greek verb for holding the leading position (ἡγέομαι) says nothing about looking after anyone, and the word for shepherding (ποιμαίνω) says nothing about rank, while this word holds both together.
Nuances
What "good works" means in the phrase this verb governs in Titus 3:8 and 3:14: good deeds in general, or honorable trades and occupations.
- majorityGood deeds in general, so the sentence tells believers to make doing good their settled business.; BDAG (Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich), s.v. προΐστημι; I. Howard Marshall, The Pastoral Epistles, ICC (1999)
- minorityHonorable occupations, so the sentence tells believers to practice respectable trades and support themselves by them.; Martin Dibelius and Hans Conzelmann, The Pastoral Epistles, Hermeneia (1972)
What "good works" means in the phrase this verb governs in Titus 3:14 and 3:8: good deeds in general, or honorable trades and occupations.
- majorityGood deeds in general, which fits the stated purpose of meeting urgent needs.; BDAG (Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich), s.v. προΐστημι; I. Howard Marshall, The Pastoral Epistles, ICC (1999)
- minorityHonorable occupations, so that believers are told to practice respectable trades and so have something to give.; Martin Dibelius and Hans Conzelmann, The Pastoral Epistles, Hermeneia (1972)
Disputed
Whether the New Testament also uses this word for caring for people or acting as their patron, alongside its clear sense of leading and managing.
- majorityIt means leading or being in charge throughout the New Testament, though in these small communities leading naturally involved providing for people.; BDAG (Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich), s.v. προΐστημι; C. E. B. Cranfield, The Epistle to the Romans, ICC (1979); Abraham J. Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians, Anchor Bible (2000)
- minorityIn Romans 12:8 and 1 Thessalonians 5:12 it means caring for others or acting as their patron, on the strength of the related noun for a patron and of the company the word keeps in those lists.; Bo Reicke, "προΐστημι," in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT) 6:700-703