1 PETER CHAPTER 5 1 PETER 5:1 The elders are exhorted to feed the flock of Christ conscientiously, looking to the chief Shepherd for a reward. 1 PETER 5:5 The younger are required to submit to the elder, and all to practise humility toward each other, 1 PETER 5:6,7 with resignation to God, 1 PETER 5... [ Continue Reading ]
FEED; teach and rule, MATTHEW 2:6 1 THESSALONIANS 21:15 ACTS 20:28. THE FLOCK OF GOD; the church. WHICH IS AMONG YOU; which is with you, or committed to your charge; intimating that the flock not being their own, they were to give an account of it to him that had set them over it. TAKING THE OVERSIG... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER AS BEING LORDS; not exercising any such lordship or dominion over the people, as temporal lords and magistrates exercise over their subjects, MATTHEW 20:25,26, &c.; LUKE 22:25: compare 2 CORINTHIANS 1:24. OVER GOD'S HERITAGE; the Lord's clergy, the same as _flock_ before; the Greek word is p... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE CHIEF SHEPHERD; the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Prince of pastors, called the _great Shepherd of the sheep, _ HEBREWS 13:20, as here _the chief Shepherd, _ not only for his supereminent dignity over all other pastors, but because of the power he hath over them, they being all subject to... [ Continue Reading ]
YE YOUNGER; either he means those that were inferior to the church officers, and then he here prescribes the people their duty, as he had done the ministers; or rather, those that were younger in years, and then he passeth from the more special to the general. SUBMIT YOURSELVES: under subjection, he... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MIGHTY HAND OF GOD; by this he means God's omnipotence, which sometimes is called _a strong hand,_ EXODUS 3:19, _a mighty hand,_ EXODUS 32:11 DEUTERONOMY 3:24, _the right hand of power,_ MATTHEW 26:64; by which he is able to beat down those that are proud and high, and to defend or exalt those t... [ Continue Reading ]
CASTING, as a burden, ALL YOUR CARE UPON HIM; your care for all sorts of things, even which concern this life, that care which will otherwise cut and divide your hearts, (as the Greek word in Matthew imports), and be grievous and tormenting to you. FOR HE CARETH FOR YOU; God concerns himself in the... [ Continue Reading ]
BE SOBER: see 1 PETER 1:13, 1 PETER 4:7: q.d. Ye have to do with a mad enemy, a raging devil; ye had need yourselves be sober; not only in meats and drinks, &c., but as to the cares of this life, and whatsoever it is that is apt to intoxicate your minds, and expose you to him. BE VIGILANT; spiritual... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOM RESIST; by not yielding to his temptations, EPHESIANS 4:27, and by employing your spiritual armour against him, EPHESIANS 6:11, &c.: see JAMES 4:7. STEDFAST IN THE FAITH; either: 1. Hold your faith, persevering in it, which the devil would fain bereave you of, (as soldiers used in war to look... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE GOD OF ALL GRACE; i.e. the author and giver of all grace, from whom ye have received what you have, and expect what you want. WHO HATH CALLED US UNTO HIS ETERNAL GLORY; that eternal glory whereof believers at the last day shall be made partakers, which is called God's glory, because it is th... [ Continue Reading ]
TO HIM; to God. BE GLORY AND DOMINION; see 1 PETER 4:11. The verb _be_ in the text is not in the Greek, and so it may be read with a supply of a verb either of the imperative mood, and then it is a doxology, as we render it; or of the indicative, he hath glory and dominion; or, to him belongs glory... [ Continue Reading ]
BY SILVANUS; either Silas, ACTS 15:1 16:1-40, whom Peter therefore here calls A FAITHFUL BROTHER to them, that they might the more readily receive him, though a minister of the uncircumcision; or else this _Silvanus_ was some other that had preached to them, and is therefore said to be _a faithful b... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHURCH THAT IS AT BABYLON; Babylon in Chaldea, where it is most probable the apostle was at the writing of this Epistle; the Jews being very numerous in those parts, as having settled themselves there ever since the captivity, and Peter being an apostle of the circumcision, his work lay much the... [ Continue Reading ]
GREET YE ONE ANOTHER WITH A KISS OF CHARITY: see ROMANS 16:16 1 CORINTHIANS 16:20 2 CORINTHIANS 13:12. IN CHRIST JESUS; united to him by faith, and members of him.... [ Continue Reading ]