Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Peter 5:2

The command laid upon St. Peter, shepherd my sheep (John 21:19) became the charge delivered to succeeding elders (v. Acts 20:28) and a familiar description of the Christian pastor (e.g., 1 Corinthians 9:7) who must copy the good Shepherd who obeyed where His predecessors fell short (Ezekiel 34). τὸ ἐν ὑμῖν ποίνιον τοῦ θεοῦ. Christendom is God's flock among you not yours but God's. ἀναγκαστῶς. As a matter of constraint contrasted with ἑκουσίως, willingly not as pressed men but as volunteers. In times of persecution lukewarm elders might well regret their prominence; hence the need for the aphorism if any aspire to oversight he desireth a noble work (1 Timothy 3:1). So of gifts of money St. Paul requires that they be μὴ ἐξ ἀνάγκης (2 Corinthians 9:7). It is possible that St. Paul's words, ἀνάγκη μοι ἐπικεῖται (1 Corinthians 9:16) had been wrested. αἰσχροκερδῶς. If the work be voluntarily undertaken, the worker has a reward according to St. Paul (1 Corinthians 9:16 f.). Base gainers are those who wish to make gain whence they ought not (Aristotle, Nic. Eth., ver 1, 43). προθύμως. The adverb occurs in 2 Chronicles 29:34, LXX, where the Levites eagerly purified themselves; Heb. the Levites upright of heart to … The verb προθυμεῖν is used in Chron. to render נדב offer freewill offerings.

1 Peter 5:3. Application of the saying, the reputed rulers of the nations lord it (κατακυριεύουσιν) over them … not so among you; but whosoever would be great among you he shall be your servant … for the Son of Man came … to serve (Mark 10:42 f.). τῶν κλήρων, the lots, i.e., the portions of the new Israel who fall to your care as Israel fell to that of Jehovah (Deuteronomy 9:29, οὗτοι λαός σου καὶ κλῆρός σου). The meaning is determined by the corresponding τοῦ ποιμνίου. and supported by the use of προσεκληρώθησαν were made an additional portion in Acts 17:4. So it is said of God's servant that He κληρονομήσει πολλούς. (Isaiah 13:12). The Vulgate has dominantes in cleris, and Oecumenius following the usage of his time explains the phrase likewise as equivalent to τὸ ἱερὸν σύστημα, i.e., the inferior clergy. τύποι γεινόμενοι, i.e., as servants according to Mark l.c.; cf. 1Th 1:7; 1 Timothy 4:12.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Peter 5:2

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