1 Peter 5:1-4

1 Peter 5:1-4

Analysis: Elders are exhorted in sufferings also to tend the flock of Christ aright and to be patterns to them

1     1The elders2which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder3, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:452Feed the flock of God which is among you,6 taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint,7 but willingly; not8 for filthy lucre,9 but of a ready mind;10 3Neither as being lords11 over God’s heritage,12 but being13 ensamples14 to the flock. 4And when the chief Shepherd shall appear,15 ye shall receive16 a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The final exhortation bears on the outward differences of position in the Church.

1 Peter 5:1. Elders among you.—זְקֵנִים. The word occurs for the first time in Exodus 3:16; Exodus 3:18. They were in Israel the heads of the twelve tribes, the chiefs or princes of the tribe, cf. Numb. ii. In the place of this primitive arrangement, at the instance of Jethro, representative elders were chosen, Exodus 18:13, “able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness;” and from their number a select committee (as we should say) of seventy elders was taken, Exodus 24:9; Numbers 11:16. Elders are also mentioned in connection with particular communities, Ruth 4:2; 1 Samuel 11:3; Joshua 20:4. Christianity received these institutions as they existed; they were retained in Jewish-Christian Churches, and introduced into Gentile-Christian Churches. We find them at Antioch, Acts 11:30, in the Church at Jerusalem, Acts 15:2; Acts 15:4; Acts 21:18; James 5:14, and thus in our passage. They were not always (yet doubtless often) those oldest in years, but rather the most experienced and matured among the converted members of the Church. They are also called bishops=overseers, Acts 20:17; Acts 20:28; Titus 1:5; Titus 1:7; Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:1; 1 Timothy 3:8. They were chosen by the Apostles, with the concurrence of the Churches, Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5; their functions were to oversee, to administer order and direct discipline, to watch over pure doctrine and even to teach, although the last was not their exclusive function, 1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11; Romans 12:7. After the Apostolic age, the office of bishop and elder were gradually separated. During the life-time of the Apostles, the supreme direction of the Churches was wielded by them, but they put themselves on a level with the elders, hence Peter calls himself συμπρεσβύτερος, and John describes himself as πρεσβύτερος, 2 John 1:1; 3 John 1:1. “So,” says Grotius, “the Roman generals were wont to call their soldiers, comrades, commilitones.” But the sense is different. The antithesis in 1 Peter 5:5 shows that πρεσβυτέρους refers also to age.—τοὺς ἐν ὑμν.—τοὺς, as Steiger supposes, has no particular significance as rendering ἐν ὑμῖν more emphatic.

I——exhort.—Gerhard says that Peter advances three grounds taken from his own person, on which he bases his exhortation. First, he calls himself a fellow-elder, as a brother in office rightly exhorts his brethren; he calls himself a witness of the sufferings of Christ, not only because he has preached the death and cross of Christ, but also because he had borne witness to Christ in very deed, in having endured various sufferings for Christ’s sake. But it is necessary to add the remark of Grotius, that “Peter had seen Him bound, and probably had been a distant spectator of the crucifixion.” The second ground is his Apostolical vocation, sealed by sufferings, cf. 1 Corinthians 1:23; Colossians 1:24-25; Galatians 6:17. The καί evidently indicates that μάρτυς denotes also his actual testimony, cf. Hebrews 12:1; Acts 22:20; Revelation 2:13. He is also partaker of the future glory, because he was himself partaker of the sufferings of Christ. The readers of this Epistle were to look forward to the future glory with the same assurance in which he was expecting it. This is the third ground of his exhortation. [But compare John 13:36, to which the Apostle not improbably alludes.—M.]. Gerhard:—”The heavenly glory, the reward of fidelity, will be common to you and me, if you also will manifest due zeal in the discharge of your duty.” μελλούσης δόξης, cf. 1Pe 1:5; 1 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 4:13-14.

1 Peter 5:2. Tend the flock.—ποιμαίνω, as distinguished from ἐπισκοπέω, denotes: Lead it to the wholesome pasture of the Divine word, guard it from the poisonous weeds of false doctrine, and go before it by your own example in well-doing, 1 Peter 4:19; cf. John 21:17; Jeremiah 3:15; Jeremiah 23:1-4; Ezekiel 34:2; John 10:12; Acts 20:28; Psalms 23:1. Bernard:—”Tend (pasture) it with thy mind, with thy mouth, with thy work, tend it with prayer, with exhortation, and the exhibition of thy example.” Let the Chief Shepherd be your pattern, John 10:11.

The flock of God which is among you.—Know that it belongs not to you, but to God, to whom you will have to render account.—τὸ ἐν ὑμῖν, not, as Erasmus: “as far as in you lieth” [quantum in vobis est], but: the flock which is among you, with you, in your immediate region [in your parish, as we would say,—M.], the section of the one Church which is committed to your charge, cf. 1 Peter 1:18-21; Acts 20:28; Joh 10:15; 1 Peter 2:25; Luke 12:32. Do not imagine that the flock is yours, you are only servants. Of like import are the words of Jesus to Peter, John 21:15-16. [Gerhard says: “qui vobiscum est, videlicet cum quo unum corpus, una ecclesia estis.”—M.].

Overseeing it—but zealously.—ἐπισκοποῦντες (Lachmann and Tischendorf, sustained by many authorities, retain this word) defines ποιμάνατε, and denotes, looking after, overseeing, watching with great care something for some one, Hebrews 12:15; Act 20:28; 1 Timothy 4:16; Titus 1:9; Hebrews 13:17. Take heed that no wolves come to devour the sheep, avert, in general, all dangers from them, and watch with great care over every thing that belongs to their welfare.—How must the flock be tended (pastured)? Peter cautions them against three sins of the pastoral office, and exhorts them to the practice of the opposite virtues.—μὴ refers not to the flock, but to the shepherds, and respects at once the acceptance and the conduct of their office. In those days, persuasion, bordering on constraint, was probably necessary in order to induce one to accept or continue in the office of a presbyter. Gregory the Great confesses that he would never compel any one to accept the Episcopate. Steiger expounds: not only because it belongs to our office, but of free will, as God demands it. (Lachmann adds κατὰ Θεόν). “Those pastors are not without censure who, could they do as they would like to do, would rather be any thing than pastors.” Bengel. [Coacte pascit gregem Dei, qui propter rerum temporalium penuriam non habet unde vivat, idcirco prædicat Evangelium ut de Evangelio vivere possit. Bede. “Dum agimus ac necessitatis præscriptum, lente et frigide in opere progredimur.” Calvin.—M.].

Willingly.—Cf. 1 Corinthians 9:17; Ps. 54:8; Exodus 36:2. This willing spirit flows from the love we cherish for the Chief Shepherd and the flock, John 10:12; John 21:15-17.

Nor yet for the sake of sordid gain.—Some turned religion into a trade, 1 Timothy 6:5; the Apostle cautions against that sin. Cf. Titus 1:7; 1 Timothy 3:8; 2 Peter 2:13; Isaiah 56:11; Jeremiah 6:13; Jeremiah 8:10; Micah 3:11; Micah 3:5; Ezekiel 13:19. “Where the love of gain reigns, the shepherds are apt to become hirelings, yea, even wolves.”—”Those who pamper their body—seek the milk and wool of the sheep.” Luther.—προθύμως denotes inward delight and zeal in the salvation and guidance of souls, in opposition to selfish motives. [Bede illustrates the word by the children of Israel, among whom even the workmen gave their services eagerly and gratuitously in the building of the tabernacle.—M.].

1 Peter 5:3. Nor yet as lording it over (the cure committed to them).—[So the German.—M.].—κατακυριεύειν, Matthew 20:25; Mark 10:42; Acts 20:29; cf. James 2:6; Romans 15:16. It denotes more than κυριεύειν, Luke 22:25; 2 Corinthians 1:24, for κατά carries the idea of hostility and pride.—τῶν κλήρων; κλῆρος=lot, portion of inheritance, heritage, Acts 26:18; Colossians 1:12; cf. Deuteronomy 4:20; Deuteronomy 9:29. So the people of Israel are called the heritage of God. In the New Testament the word was applied to those portions of the Christian Church which were assigned to individual elders as their lot. So Gerhard, Calov and others. It is altogether erroneous to expound κλῆρος as denoting the clergy in its orders, for it answers to ποιμνίου, cf. Acts 17:4; 1Co 7:35; 2 Corinthians 2:10.

[1. κλῆρος, in the sense of portion, is the meaning attached to this word, besides the Commentators already cited, by Erasmus (“gregem qui cuique forte contigit gubernandus”), Estius (“gregis Dominici portiones, quæ singulis episcopis pascendæ et regendæ uelut sortito, obtigerunt”), Bengel, Wolf, Steiger, de Wette, Huther, Wiesinger, Alford; 2. κλῆρος, in the sense of heritage of God, is the meaning given by Cyril (on Isaiah 3:2), Calvin (“quum universum ecclesiæ orpus hæreditas sit domini, todidem sunt veluti prædia, quorum culturam singulis presbyteris assignat.”), Beza, E. V., Grotius, Benson, al. The objections to this view are, according to Alford, that κλῆροι could not be taken for portions of Θεοῦ, and that Θεοῦ could in this case hardly be wanting; 3. κλῆρος, in the sense of the clergy, is the anachronistical meaning attached to the word chiefly by Roman Catholic Commentators; so even Oecumenius, Jerome, à Lapide (“jubet ergo S. Petrus Episcopis et Pastoribus, ne inferioribus clericis impericse dominari velint”), Fenardentius, al.; 4. Bodwell arbitrarily explains the word of Church-goods, and is refuted by Wolf, Curæ h. l.—The correctness of the meaning of the text, namely, the first as given above, is evident from τοῦ ποιμνίου, the flock, which corresponds to τῶν κλήρων.—M.]

But (becoming) patterns.—ἀλλὰ τύποι.—Cornelius correctly remarks that Peter opposes this pattern to their lording. They must rule by example, not by ordering. Athanasius:—”The life should command, and the tongue persuade.”

[Wordsworth:—”St. Peter happily uses the plural, κλῆροι; for in Christian times, it is not one nation, as it had been of old, which is the chosen people and heritage of God, but all national Churches, all congregations of Pastors and People are heritages of the Lord; each “Church and each congregation”, which every Pastor serves, is, in a mystical sense, as the English Ordinal declares, “The Spouse and Body of Christ.” By the word κλῆροι, therefore, we may understand here the faithful people of Christ, distributed in regular order into various dioceses, parishes, churches, and congregations, like the companies to which our Lord distributed the loaves and fishes by the hands of His Apostles.”

“Here is another caution from St. Peter’s mouth, which may be commended to the consideration of those who call themselves his successors. ‘The Apostle forbiddeth dominari in cleris.’ But they who claim to be his successors are not afraid to ‘teach that their own judgments are infallible, and to make their definitions an universal Rule of Faith, and to require subjection to their laws and persons, as of necessity to salvation, and to be called ‘Dominus Deus noster Papa,’ (Gloss, in Extrav. Papæ Johann. 22, Tit. 14:4), etc., all which and much more is professed by the Popes and in their behalf. No modest man can deny that this amounts to as much as St. Peter’s dominari in cleris, even to the exercising of such lordship over the Lord’s heritage, the Christian Church, as will become none but the Lord Himself, whose heritage it is.” Bp. Sanderson, 3, p. 283. Apposite are also the following quotations from Bernard: (“Monstrosa res est gradus summus et animus infimus, sedes prima et vita ima, lingua magniloqua et vita otiosa, sermo multus et functus nullus”), Gregory, (“Informis est vita pastoris, qui modo calicem Dei signat, modo talos agitat: qui in avibus cœli ludit, canes instigat etc.”), and Gerhard (“Pastor ante oves vadit”).—M.]

1 Peter 5:4. And when—amaranthine crown of glory.—”Instead of sordid gain, and the empty honour of ruling, the Apostle shows to them noble gain and a true crown of honour.” Besser. Cf. Daniel 12:3; Matthew 24:45; Mat 25:21; 2 Timothy 4:8.—ἀρχιποίμενος, 1 Peter 2:25; Hebrews 13:20; cf. Ezekiel 34:15; Ezekiel 34:23; Ps. xxiii.; John 10:11.—καί=then also.—φανερωθἐντος, like ἀποκαλύπτεσθαι, relates to the visible return of Christ, 1Pe 1:5; 1 Peter 1:7; cf. Colossians 3:4; 1 John 2:28; 1 John 3:2.—κομίζεσθαι, see 1 Peter 1:9.—ἀμαράντινος ἀμάραντος, 1 Peter 1:4.—τὸν τῆς δόξης στέφανον.—The crowns (wreaths) with which warriors and the successful competitors in the games used to be adorned were made of flowers, herbs, ivy, laurel leaves, and olive branches. Holy Scripture speaks of a crown of righteousness, 2 Timothy 4:8, a crown of life, James 1:12; Revelation 2:10, and here of a crown of glory. Instead of a crown of thorns, the Christian victor shall hereafter be adorned with a living, heavenly crown. Whether there is a difference between these crowns, or whether they are all one and the same crown, will only be disclosed in eternity. Besser explains it as a token of the royal dignity of believers, of which Zechariah 6:13 may be regarded the type, cf. 1 Corinthians 9:25. Hugo, Thomas Aquinas, Salmero understand by it a higher stage of eternal life.—δόξης must not be diluted into “the wreath which is glory”—or a very glorious crown, but the crown which reflects the glory of God, cf. 1 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 5:10. [The glory of Christ is probably this amaranthine crown, cf. 1 Peter 5:1; 1 Peter 4:13; 1 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 5:10 below; also 1 John 3:2, etc.—M.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The title of Chief Shepherd which is here ascribed to Christ in relation to the under-shepherds, His servants, involves the Divine origin of the pastoral office. It describes Christ not only as superior in dignity to the other shepherds, but as their superior in power, in whose name and in whose stead they hold the pastoral office, to whom belong both the sheep and the shepherds, because He has given His life for them, John 10:11; Acts 20:28, to whom the shepherds are consequently responsible, and from whom they have to expect the reward or the punishment of the conduct of their office, 1 Corinthians 4:5; so Calvin, Calov and others.

2. To give, as Schwegler does, 1 Peter 5:4, a polemical reference to then existing hierarchical tendencies, and thence to argue against the genuineness of the Epistle, is a decided perversion of the right stand point.

3. The institution of the presbyterate is not stated explicitly, but it was already in existence before the death of the elder James, and before Paul’s first missionary journey to Jerusalem, Acts 11:30. It appears, says Weiss, to have everywhere originated with the founding and more independent establishment and organization of the Christian Church, especially in Jewish-Christian congregations, which followed the precedent of their mother Church. Paul on his first missionary journey ordained elders everywhere, Acts 14:23.

4. This Epistle does not yet refer to different offices in the Church. We have before us the most simple form of Church-constitution, under which all other offices were as yet included in the Apostolate and the Presbyterate. As in 1 Peter 2:25, the Lord is called the Shepherd and Bishop (overseer) of the Church, so the elders were to continue under Him these His functions, that is, on the one hand to teach and exhort, and to arrange Divine worship, and on the other to take care that all things should be done honestly and orderly, to administer the discipline and to provide for the support of the poor.

5. Peter considers self-sacrificing love and self-abasing humility the most essential qualifications of true spiritual pastors.

6. The declarations of Holy Scripture concerning the glory of the life to come, and its crowns of honour, ought to be dealt with as having more reality than common theology is wont to do. “The full import of these crowns we shall never understand in our bodily life. But from their very names, we may conclude that they constitute a great glory, and indicate a title to live with Christ after death and royally to reign with Him after suffering, 2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 22:5.” Roos.

7. [The Commentators justly observe that if Peter had been the prince or chief of the Apostles, as the Papists affirm, he would in this place and in the inscription of his two Epistles, have assumed to himself that high prerogative.—Macknight.—M.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The pastoral office a gift of God to the Churches. 1. The extent of its duties; 2. the mind in which it must be administered.—Preachers should give testimony drawn from their own experience.—How to avoid the three capital faults of unfaithful pastors. Look through shame and death to the crown of honour and the crown of life prepared for those who overcome.

Starke:—A lofty saying: Who would gladly neglect the flock and sheep of Christ? 1 Corinthians 4:2.—We may be fully assured of our salvation: witnesses and testimonies of it abound, Romans 8:16.—Rich cross-bearers! which are the riches, and where are they? They are more than those of earth, and well secured in heaven. Believe, hope and desire, and you will know it, 1 John 3:2.—A minister must lead his flock as a shepherd to wholesome pasture, rule it with the rod of his mouth, Isaiah 11:4, with the staves beauty and bands, Zechariah 11:7 (German, “gentleness and pain”), and in all respects be watchful, that they suffer no injury whatsoever, Isaiah 62:6.—Hearers should possess the characteristics of good sheep to acquire the mind of Christ their Chief Shepherd and to hear His voice and that of faithful under-shepherds with ready obedience.—No rule whatsoever belongs to the office of a preacher; preachers are servants, not rulers, Matthew 20:25-26.—Teacher, thou oughtest not only to teach rightly, but also to live rightly, lest thou do not build up with one hand and tear down with the other, 1 Thessalonians 2:10. If all believers are indiscriminately a royal priesthood, this distinction is especially true of faithful teachers whose dignity is indicated by the erown, and although they possess this dignity already in the new man, it will increasingly appear at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Roos:—“Let us belong only to those who, leading an honest life, may indulge the hope of receiving such crowns, although as yet we do not understand their nature.”

Lisco:—The Christian pastoral office: 1. Its duties; 2. Its motives; 3. Its reward.

Richter:—“Christian teachers and preachers must not rule by authority, but guide and direct by the power of truth and love and the force of example. Let no pastor be a pope.” The pastors of a Church should seek their preëminence in that they first keep the commandments of Christ, and thus incite others to emulation, Philippians 3:17; 2Th 3:9; 1 Timothy 4:12; Titus 2:7.

[Leighton:

1 Peter 5:1. The blessing of a faithful pastor. “Satius solem non lucere quam Chrysostomum non docere.” 1 Peter 5:2. Had I, says Bernard, some of that blood poured forth on the cross, how carefully would I carry it, and ought I not to be as careful of those souls that it was shed for?—All believers are God’s clergy (κλῆρος).—M.]

Footnotes:

1 Peter 5:1; 1 Peter 5:1. [πρεσβυτέρους without the article, simply elders.—M.]

1 Peter 5:1; 1 Peter 5:1. [Receptus omits οὖν after πρεσβυτέρους but supplies τοὺς so K. L. (and Lachmann); on the other hand the important Codd. A. B. insert οὖν, so Alford; also Sinait.—M.]

1 Peter 5:1; 1 Peter 5:1. [ὁ συμπρεσβυτέρος=the fellow-elder.—M.]

1 Peter 5:1; 1 Peter 5:1. [μελλούσης =the glory which is about to be revealed. Translate the whole verse; “Elders therefore among you I, a fellow-elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, also a partaker of the glory which is about to be revealed, exhort.”—M.]

1 Peter 5:2; 1 Peter 5:2. [ποιμάνατε=tend, pasture better than feed which only expresses one office of a shepherd; the Greek denotes all his duties, and it is impossible to convey in English the force of ποιμάνατε τὸ ποίμνιον.—M.]

1 Peter 5:2; 1 Peter 5:2. [ἐπισκοποῦντες, omitted in B. and Sinait.,=overseeing it. Those who remove this word do it perhaps “for ecclesiastical reasons, for fear πρεσβύτεροι should be supposed to be as they really were, ἐπίσκοποι.” (Alford). “Ipsum episcopatus nomen et officium exprimere voluit.” (Calvin).—M.]

1 Peter 5:2; 1 Peter 5:2. [ἀναγκαστῶς=constrainedly.—M.]

1 Peter 5:2; 1 Peter 5:2. [μηδὲ=nor yet, stronger than not; “it brings in a climax each time.” (Alford).—M.]

1 Peter 5:2; 1 Peter 5:2. [αἰσχροκερδῶς=for the sake of sordid gain.—M.]

1 Peter 5:2; 1 Peter 5:2. [προθύμως=zealously, eagerly.—M.]

1 Peter 5:3; 1 Peter 5:3. [κατακυριεύοντες=lording it over; see note below.

1 Peter 5:3; 1 Peter 5:3. [τῶν κλήρων, κλῆρος=lot, portion. Simply the lots or portions committed to their care; that is, of the universal flock of Christ, subdivisions such as dioceses, parishes, etc. Erasmus: “Cleros autem vocat non Diaconos aut Presbyteros, sed gregem qui cuique forte contigit gubernandus.” Estius: “Gregis Dominici portiones, quæ singulis episcopis pascendæ et regandæ uelut sortito, obtigerunt.” So Bengel, Wiesinger, de Wette, Alford, and others.—M.]

1 Peter 5:3; 1 Peter 5:3. [γινόμενοι=becoming.—M.]

1 Peter 5:3; 1 Peter 5:3. [τύποι=patterns.—M.]

1 Peter 5:4; 1 Peter 5:4. [φανερωθέντος=when (the Chief Shepherd) is manifested.—M.]

[16]

1 Peter 5:4. [τὸν =the amaranthine crown, not=ἀμάραντος, but the adjective derived from it; the crown made of everlasting flowers. The literal translation might be retained with advantage: the expression is poetical and very beautiful and used by Pope and Cowper.

The only amaranthine flower on earth

Is virtue; the only lasting treasure, truth.—Cowper.——M.]