Introductory remarks:
In this chapter Peter addresses the elders of this first church giving them warning on how they should exercise their God-given authority. "Peter admonishes the elders to lead God's people, not out of obligation or for money or lording it over them, and God will reward them. The younger should submit to the elders and be humble and serve each other and God will exalt them. He warns them to beware of their adversary the devil. Peter prays that as they faithfully endure suffering a while, God will perfect them. He mentions Silvanus and sends greetings from the church at Babylon and Marcus" (A survey of 1 Peter - By Brenda). This chapter may be outlined as follows: Tending the flock of God vv. 1-11: Final greeting vv. 12-14.
Tending the Flock of God
Verse 1, "The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed."
LGT "Elders who therefore among you I exhort who [am] a fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, who also of the glory about to be revealed [am] partaker."
Elders who therefore among you I exhort: the elders were the older members, and therefore the leaders and teachers in the first church endowed with special spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit. Who am a fellow elder: Peter does not claim superiority over the other elders, and he certainly was not the first Pope as the church in Rome teaches. And witness of the sufferings of Christ: this set Peter apart from the rest of the elders in that he was also an apostle, that is, he was an eyewitness to the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ; this was a pre-requisite in order to be an apostle. There are no more apostles, or any other titles setting men apart for authority of the church; Christ is our only head since the Word of God is complete. Who also of the glory about to be revealed am partaker: Peter was an heir of eternal life, and he was looking forward to his eternal reward.
Verse 2, "Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but a ready mind."
LGT "Shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not by constraint, but willingly; not for base gain, but readily."
Peter has four positive injunctions to the elders of the flock, and two negatives. The first positive is Shepherd the flock of God among you: the best way an elder can shepherd the believers, that is, building them up toward spiritual maturity is to feed them Bible doctrine on a daily basis. In John 21:17, Jesus made a point to Peter that if he loved Him, he would feed His sheep. Another interesting fact here is that it is God's flock, not Peters' (Robertson). If you listen to the modern day preachers today they speak as if it is their flock and not purely God's flock. The second positive is Exercising oversight: this means that the elders were to jealously guard the welfare of God's flock as not to allow any false teaching or false teacher in to spoil the grace teaching of God's Word. The third positive is willingly: this means that the elder is to teach Bible doctrine freely with no restraints. This is to be his passion, to see the flock of God grow in grace and the knowledge of truth. And the fourth and final positive is readily: this means that the elder is to teach for the wonderful pleasure in helping God's flock learn the truth. He is not to do it as a job, laboring under it, but with an attitude that he would not want to be doing anything else. And now these are the two negatives: the first is not by constraint: the elder was not to teach the Word as if he were obligated, and under great pressure to do so, but graciously and proudly, and with an attitude of wanting the best for God's flock. And the second negative is not for base gain: the elder was not to be motivated by money, power, approbation lust, or self-importance.
Verse 3, "Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock."
LGT "Not as exercising lordship over [your] possessions, but patterns being of the flock."
Not as exercising lordship over your possession: the KJV as "God's heritage" which is not in the Greek text. The idea is that the elders were not to lord it over the assembly as if it were his personal possession, but as we learned in the last verse, it is God's flock. But patterns being of the flock: the elders were to treat God's flock as joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, and that he is the same as they are in the eyes of the Lord. The only authority in the church is Jesus Christ. "Peter has drawn here great beauty, the appropriate character of the minister of the gospel, and described the spirit with which they should be actuated in the discharge of the duties of their office. But how different it is, from the character of many who have claimed to be ministers of religion; and especially, how different from that corrupt communion, which professes in a special manner, to recognize Peter as the head, and the vicegerent (the administrative deputy of a king - Webster) of Christ" (Barnes).
Verse 4, "And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."
LGT "And the Chief Shepherd shall be manifested, ye shall receive the unfading crown of glory."
And the chief shepherd shall be manifested: the Chief Shepherd of course, is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. The Roman Catholic Church erroneously and tragically, applies this verse to Peter and not to Christ. "The last thing Peter could have dreamed of as possible would be its misapplication to himself or his so-called successors" (Cook - quoted by Vincent). This means when Jesus Christ shall appear the second time to set up His Kingdom. Ye shall receive the unfading crown of glory: the elders are promised a crown of glory when Christ appears for their teaching doctrine as outlined above; what these crowns consist of is not recorded, so I would be speculating as to what they are.
Verse 5, "Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble."
LGT "Likewise, [ye] younger [ones], be subject to [the] elder [ones], and one to another, bind on all humility, because God sets Himself against the proud, but gives grace to [the] humble."
Likewise, ye younger ones: be subject to the elder ones: this verse is proof that the word elder referred to the age of the man and not the office. Peter is teaching the younger members to listen to the older members so they might learn something. Today, in our corrupt society, the young people think they know it all, and they dabble in all sorts of terrible pursuits, like drugs and illicit sex, and some go out and demonstrate in our big cities trying to teach our leaders how to lead; however all they turn out to be are chances for these young people to sin openly. Thank God some of the young people are born again, and they eventually grow up and become good citizens. And one to another: they are not only to respect the elder members, but also respect one another. Bind on all humility: being humble is the only way a young person is able to show genuine respect, not just by saying 'yes sir, or no sir.' Because God sets Himself against the proud, but gives grace to the humble: Peter is quoting Proverbs 3:34 from the Septuagint. Pride is most destructive; nothing in the heart of man will lead to his destruction faster that a proud and haughty spirit.
Verse 6, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time."
LGT "Be humbled therefore under the mighty hand of God, in order that you He may exalt in due time."
Be humble therefore under the mighty hand of God: Keeping God in view can only humble the proudest of Christians. We are but a speck in God's great universe, and He still has placed us in a position of the greatest of all His creation, united with His blessed Son for all eternity. In order that you He may exalt in due time: All of Peter's teaching in this epistle is in the light of the soon coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our exaltation will be when we are united forever with the Lord.
Verse 7, "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."
LGT "Having cast all your care upon Him, because He with Him there is care about you."
No one on this earth cares about you as much as our Heavenly Father. Peter is teaching these new believers that they need to go often to the throne of Grace because that is where all their worries can be handled; and I might add, they are handled much better than anything we can devise. This verse should be read with verse six, for Peter is saying that pride keeps us from casting our cares on the Lord, because our pride does not want to admit that we need to be taken care of.
Verse 8, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."
LGT "Be sober, watch: your adversary [the] devil as a roaring lion, is walking around, seeking [someone] to swallow up."
Be sober, watch: to be watchful is to be sober minded. Your adversary: our enemy who is in opposition to our Christ. The devil: Satan is the commander in chief of all our opposition that comes in the form of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. This is the threefold basis of appeal that the devil uses on us continuously. As a roaring lion: the roar of the devil is a sound to destroy all who are opposed to him. Is walking around: the Greek word for 'walking around' is paripetei like the peripatetic philosophers wandering around while they taught their gibberish. Seeking someone to swallow up: the Greek word for 'devour' is to swallow up. Satan seeks to greedily eat up all that oppose him, or should I say, the children of the One who opposes him.
Verse 9, "Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world."
LGT "Whom withstand firm in the faith, knowing the same sufferings are being accomplished in your brotherhood which is in the world."
Whom withstand firm in the faith: standing firm in the faith is in Christ our solid Rock foundation. Daily Bible study is the only way I know personally to be able to stand firm in the faith. We must know what our faith is in, before we are able to stand firm in it. Knowing the same sufferings are being accomplished in your brotherhood which is in the world: Peter says, that your faith is the only thing that can possibly see you through your suffering; and he adds, you have a brotherhood in the world that is standing firm, or accomplishing, that is, winning the war on suffering. This suffering is not peculiar to you alone, all those who are part of the way are also sharing it.
Verse 10, "But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you."
LGT "But the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ [Jesus], a little while ye have suffered, may Himself perfect you, He will establish, He will strengthen, He will reinforce [you]."
All believers are called by the grace of God to share in Christ's eternal glory, by being united to Him by the Holy Spirit. All our suffering on this earth is designed to strengthen us, and to draw us closer to our heavenly Father. The important issue here is that it is Christ's glory, and that being joint-heirs with Him, we will share in His eternal glory throughout eternity.
Verse 11, "To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever."
LGT "To Him [be] the might unto the ages of the ages."
This doxology is aimed at Christ.
Final Greetings
Verse 12, "By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand."
LGT "By Silvanus, the faithful brother to you, as I reckon, I wrote briefly, exhorting and testifying this to be [the] true grace of God, in which ye stand."
Peter wrote this Greeting while Silvanus wrote the epistle as Peter dictated it to him; Silvanus was Peter's amanuensis, that is, his personal secretary. Peter is personally testifying that his epistle was directly from God, that is, it is the inspired Word of God, reflecting the true grace of God.
Verse 13, "The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so does Marcus my son."
LGT "She, elected with [you] in Babylon salutes you, and Mark my son."
She: 'the church' is not in the original but was supplied by the translators from the feminine 'she'. Elected with you in Babylon: This epistle was addressed to the five churches of Asia Minor (see the introduction), so I believe that Peter had written it from Babylon. And Mark my son: Peter is using the term 'my son' most probably in the spiritual sense.
Verse 14, "Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen."
LGT "Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace [be] with you all, the ones in Christ."
Greet one another with a kiss of love: It was the custom in the Orient to greet one another with a kiss on the cheek. "The abuse of this custom led to its confinement to men with men and women with women and to its final abandonment" (Robertson). McGee has this humorous quip, "A kiss to a young girl is hope, to a married woman is faith, but to an old maid is charity." Peace be with you all, the ones in Christ: this greeting includes all believers. This concludes this epistle.
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