1 Peter 5:2

feed the flock of God The word for "feed," here as elsewhere, implies the whole work of the shepherd guiding, directing, protecting, as well as supplying food (comp. Luke 17:7; John 21:16; Acts 20:28; 1 Corinthians 9:7). The shepherd's work had been from a very early period a parable of that of rulers and of teachers. Kings were to Homer the "shepherds of the people" (ποίμενες λαῶν). David was taken from the sheepfold to feed Israel as the flock of Jehovah (Psalms 78:70-71). The sin of the kings and rulers of Judah had been that they did not feed the flock, but scattered and destroyed it (Jeremiah 23:1-4; Ezekiel 34:2-31). In St Peter's use of the word we note a reproduction of the words that had fallen on his ears with a three-fold, yet varied, iteration, "Feed my sheep" (John 21:16). The comprehensiveness of the word must not be lost sight of. It includes more than preaching or teaching, and takes in the varied duties of what we rightly call the pastoral office. In the words "the flock of God" men are tacitly reminded who is the Chief Shepherd whom they serve, and to whom they will have to render an account (comp. Acts 20:28). It may be noted as a characteristic difference that in the Old Testament the shepherds of the people are always the civil rulers of the nation (e.g. Psalms 78:71; Ezekiel 34:2), while in the New that thought falls into the background, and the shepherd of the flock is its spiritual guide and teacher.

taking the oversight thereof The first three words are the English equivalent of the Greek participle of the verb formed from Episcopos, the "bishop," or "overseer" of the Church. In its being thus used to describe the office of the elders of the Church we have a close parallel to St Paul's addressing the "elders" of the Church as being also "overseers" (Acts 20:28). The two terms were in fact interchangeable, and what is now the higher office of the Bishop in relation to the Presbyters was discharged by the Apostle or his personal representative.

not by constraint, but willingly The words that follow indicate the three great conditions of true pastoral work. (1) It must not be entered on reluctantly and as under pressure. In one sense indeed the truest and best work may be done by one who feels, as St Paul felt, that a "necessity is laid" upon him (1 Corinthians 9:16), but there the necessity was that of a motive essentially spiritual. What St Peter deprecates is the drawing back from the labour and responsibility of the care of souls. The Nolo episcopari, which has been so often the formula of the pride or the sloth that apes humility, would have been in his eyes the sign of cowardice and weakness. Here, as in other things, the true temper is that of cheerful and willing service. The history of the Church presents, it is true, not a few instances, among which Chrysostom and Ambrose are preeminent, of the pastoral and episcopal office being forced upon a reluctant acceptance, but in such cases the reluctance left no trace in the after life. The work once entered on was done "willingly," not as a forced and constrained service. It may be noted that the memorable treatise of Chrysostom, On the Priesthood, is in its form an apologiafor his unwillingness to enter on the priestly office on the ground of its infinite dangers and responsibilities. Some of the better MSS. add the words "according to God," to "willingly," the phrase having the same meaning ("according to the will of God,") as in chap. 1 Peter 4:6; 2 Corinthians 7:9-10.

not for filthy lucre The adverb is not found elsewhere in the New Testament. The corresponding adjective meets us in 1 Timothy 3:3; 1 Timothy 3:8; Titus 1:7. The words are interesting as shewing that even in the troubled times in which St Peter wrote there was enough wealth in the Church to make the position of a Bishop-presbyter a lucrative one. There was the double stipend for those who were both pastors and preachers (1 Timothy 5:17). There was, for baser natures, the temptation of using spiritual influence for secular ends, "devouring widows" houses," as the Pharisees did in Judæa (Matthew 23:14), "leading captive silly women," as did the false teachers at Ephesus (2 Timothy 3:6) and Crete (Titus 1:11). It may be noted that the term which both the Apostles use of the man who enters on the work of the ministry of souls from such a motive, is one which Greek writers commonly use of one who seeks gain in base and sordid ways. In their eyes the calling of a presbyter might be made, so followed, as disreputable an occupation as that of the usurer, or the pander, or the slave-dealer. In contrast with this temper, eagerly catching at emoluments, the Apostle points to the cheerful readiness that seeks eagerly for work.