Episcopal polity conferences or synods. Their leadership is both sacramental and constitutional; as well as performing ordinations, confirmations, and consecrations, the bishop supervises the clergy within a local jurisdiction and is the representative both to secular structures and within the hierarchy of the church. Bishops are considered to derive their authority from an unbroken, personal apostolic succession from the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Bishops with such authority are said to represent the historical episcopate or historic episcopate. Churches with this type of government usually believe that the Church requires episcopal government as described in the New Testament (see 1 Timothy 3 and
Biblical authority Rogers and McKim, constituted a 19th-century innovation. Woodbridge challenged this thesis in his 1982 book "Biblical Authority: A Critique of the Rogers/McKim Proposal", arguing that for each of those categories, God's Word has authority and is without error. Moreover, Woodbridge asserted that this particular view of biblical authority had been the normative, orthodox position throughout the history of Christianity. Biblical authority The term biblical authority refers to the extent to which commandments and doctrines within the Old and New Testament scriptures are authoritative over humans' belief and conduct, as well as the extent to which Biblical propositions are accurate in