The elders which [are] among you I exhort, who [am their] fellow-elder and witness of the sufferings of the Christ, who also [am] partaker of the glory about to be revealed
This letter has spent chapter after chapter preparing believers for suffering. Now Peter turns to the men who must care for them. He introduces himself by what he has seen and by what he will share. Two questions follow: who counts as an elder, and why an apostle appeals instead of giving orders.
Commentators differ here. Is Peter writing to men who hold an office, or to older men of experience? One reading takes the title as a description of the man, not a post he holds:
The apostle returns to practical Christian matters. He exhorts the elders, being an elder himself. It seems that among the Jews this title described a man rather than named an office (compare v. 5).
Others read it as an address to appointed men. Peter starts with them because they carry the most responsibility:
Peter speaks first to the elders, as the ones carrying more responsibility. These were men recognized as holding the office of elder, not just Christian men who were older in years. He claims a right to exhort them as an elder, and as more than an elder — a witness of Christ's sufferings. He could testify to those sufferings because he had seen them; he had been with Christ during His life on earth.
Peter could have written as an apostle. The title he picks puts him beside the men he addresses, not above them:
He is not writing in any official capacity; the word elder here means old in years. He takes on no church authority to give orders. He speaks out of long experience and a heart of love. How different from what ritualistic religion has made him out to be! He takes his place among the other elders and calls himself a fellow-elder, claiming no authority or superiority at all.
Peter had once boasted about his love for Christ, and that love failed. The Lord still handed him the flock. That memory shapes how he writes to shepherds:
Yes, Peter came to feel and admit that his love for the Saviour, which he once boasted of, had failed so completely that only the Lord, who knew all things, could see it under his self-confidence. Even so, the Lord did know that he dearly loved Him! To him then and there He entrusted what was dearest to Himself, His lambs and His sheep, to tend and feed His flock. In the same love, and in his own measure, Peter appeals to elders as a fellow-elder. Though an apostle, he stands on common ground as far as he can, as grace is glad to do to serve its unselfish purposes. True service, and rule too, is built on love; and the servant's love flows from the Saviour's love.
Peter had endured a great deal by this point. Yet the suffering he brings forward is not his own:
Peter had no doubt suffered much, but he will not speak of that. He speaks instead of the sufferings of the Christ that he had seen. What were his own sufferings next to the sufferings of the Christ he had witnessed? But he would indeed share in the glory about to be revealed. And this is God's grace for us also. Who among us can speak at all of suffering when we think of the sufferings of the Christ? But we can exult in the glory that we shall surely share, and this because of Christ's sufferings for us.
Peter names a past he saw and a future he will share. God's people live between the two:
Peter takes the two ends of Christ's history — I have seen His sufferings, and I am going to see His glory. Between these two he finds God's people in this world, and he urges the elders to care for them.
Peter writes of that glory as something he knows. A promise from the Lord lies behind it:
He was a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and he knew he would share the glory that will be revealed. The Lord had given him this assurance (Matthew 19:28-29).
Set beside another apostle, Peter's credentials come out in reverse order:
It has been well noted how distinct a place divine grace gave to Paul. In the sovereignty of God, his part was to be a witness of the glory of Christ, and also a partaker of His sufferings — more so, in both respects, than anyone else.
- Seen. Peter's first credential is his eyes: he watched Christ suffer, and he refuses to put his own suffering next to it.
- Sure. His second is his hope: the glory is not yet revealed, but he speaks of sharing it as a settled thing.
- Between. Suffering behind, glory ahead, and God's people strung out in the middle — that is where the elders' work lies.
- Beside. He writes as fellow elder, not as commander, taking common ground with the men he exhorts.
- Behind it all. The apostle who once boasted and failed is the one Christ trusted with His sheep. Service and rule both rest on love.
shepherd the flock of God which [is] among you, exercising oversight, not by necessity, but willingly; not for base gain, but readily;
Peter writes to elders as one of them. He gives them a single task: care for God's people the way a shepherd cares for sheep. Three questions follow. What does shepherding involve? Whose flock is it? And what motive drives the work?
Older translations use the word "feed" here. Commentators say the command covers much more than that.
The elders are exhorted to shepherd the flock of God. Shepherding is more than feeding; it implies guidance, and every form of care that is needed by the sheep. The Lord clearly wants His people to be visited and cared for. When He was on earth, He felt deep compassion as He saw the sad state of His earthly people, "like sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36). Sadly, there is still so little of this shepherd care, and that shows how low and weak the condition of God's people is.
The same Greek word appears in John 21:16, where the Lord speaks to Peter. That link carries a warning about how people talk about a congregation.
The Greek word used here is the same one we find in John 21:16, and it really means "shepherd" — shepherd the flock of God. It is not to be done for shameful gain, for profit, for money. Believers here are called "the flock of God." Preachers and pastors often call the people they preach to "my flock" or "my people." That language is not scriptural, and we should avoid it. God's children do not belong to anybody but the Lord.
The man writing this had denied the Lord three times. Christ restored him with these very words.
Peter's heart may well have leapt as he wrote the early verses of 1 Peter 2, which recalled the moment when the Saviour gave him his new name. Did it not also swell with deepest gratitude and humble praise as he now wrote to elders, remembering the grace that restored him in front of his brothers — the man who had denied Him three times? Feed My lambs; tend (or, shepherd) My sheep; feed My sheep (John 21:15, 17, 18)... To him then and there He entrusted what was dearest to Himself, His lambs and His sheep, to tend and feed His flock. In the same love Peter in his measure appeals to elders as a fellow-elder.
Two words settle everything else in the verse: the flock is God's. One commentator makes that conviction the first test of fitness for the work.
They have to bear in mind first that the flock is God's. If a man does not carry the sense in his soul that it is God's flock, I do not think he is fit to be an elder, or to hold any other office of spiritual trust. He stands far from the right ground for being a blessing to what, after all, is God's flock.
God still lets men feed what belongs to Him, and that permission answers any claim of ownership.
Moreover it was the flock of God which they were to feed. What a solemn as well as sweet thought! How impossible it is for anyone to think of it as his own flock, once he has grasped that it is the flock of God, and that God allows us to feed it!
Oversight means guarding the flock against real dangers, and it will not always be welcome.
He calls the elders to pastoral ministry: "shepherd the flock of God that is among you" (v.2). He knows that this work can be hard (he himself was a "fellow elder"). Shepherding the flock involves protecting it from various dangers (cf. Acts 20:28-30). This needs constant watchfulness. Exercising "oversight," as Peter also calls this ministry, is not always welcome, because sometimes people have to be corrected and urged on.
after_note: DELETE
Peter names two wrong motives: pressure and profit. Both were foreseen.
It is most important that the "elder" uses his spiritual authority in the right way and spirit. That is why three things are set out in verses 2 and 3. He is to take up his service willingly, readily, and as himself a model to the flock. The Holy Spirit who inspired these words foresaw how strong the pull would be to take up such work — either from compulsion, or from love of gain, or from a desire for power and influence.
The other side of the verse is gladness in the work itself.
"Not for shameful gain, but eagerly" — this is a spontaneous, blessed desire to serve Christ and care for His people. And what is more blessed than being allowed, in any measure, to care for Christ's people?
- Whose — The flock is God's, never the elder's. Forget that, and a man is not fit for spiritual trust.
- What — Shepherding is wider than feeding: guidance, visiting, protection, and every care the sheep need.
- How — Oversight means constant watching for real danger. It includes correction, which is never welcome.
- Why — Not from pressure and not for money, but willingly and gladly. The work is a privilege, not a burden.
- Who — Peter himself was restored with the words "shepherd My sheep." He hands on what is dearest to Christ.
not as lording it over your possessions, but being models for the flock.
Peter's warning to the elders is blunt: the shepherd is not the owner. Behind the phrase "those in your charge" lies a Greek word that later split the church into two classes.
The older King James wording, "neither as being lords over God's heritage," adds a word that is not in the text. The italics in that version give it away.
The elders are told to shepherd the flock of God which was among them... They must remember first that the flock is God's. If a man does not carry that sense in his soul, I do not think he is fit to be an elder, or to hold any other office of spiritual trust... Notice that "God's" is printed in italics. We can say without hesitation that the phrase does not mean God's heritage at all. It means something completely different. The true sense is this — "Nor as lording it over your possessions." The elders are not to treat the flock as if it belonged to them.
One Greek word in this verse explains how the church came to be divided into two ranks.
The Greek word for heritage in this text just quoted is klēros, from which the English word, clergy, is derived. The Bible clergy consisted of ALL Christians, and the laity (Greek, laos, the people) were the heathen outside the Christian circle. The clergy have stolen a word that belongs to all God's people. They claim it as the name of a class, which Scripture never authorized. And they have handed the rest of God's people a title, laity, which once described the heathen world outside.
The safeguard against domineering is not a rule but a fact: the flock belongs to God.
The elders were to feed the flock of God with a ready mind, not because they were forced to. They were not to do it for gain, nor as men governing an inheritance of their own, but as examples to the flock... Moreover it was the flock of God which they were to feed. What a solemn as well as sweet thought! How impossible it is for anyone to think of it as his own flock, once he has grasped that it is God's flock, and that God allows us to feed it!
Kelly shows what this fact changes in ordinary church life, and what the opposite claim costs.
It is God's flock, not yours; and you are not to lord over it as if it were your own belongings. If it were your heritage, you would have certain rights... When this is fully weighed, it makes a wonderful change in the mind, tone, and temper. It changes both those who tend the flock and those they care for. For then they look to God, and no petty feeling about trespassing on another's rights remains... The truth is that the assumption of "my flock," or "yours", is the root of endless mischief.
If even a believer's own property really belongs to the Master, so does a congregation. And a trust calls for an account.
To the man of faith, the property that flesh counts our own is not really ours. It is the Master's goods, entrusted to his care. How much more, then, must elders beware of lording it over the charge allotted to them as if it were theirs? No, they are to become models of the flock. They must always remember that it is God's flock, and that they must give account to the Lord for how they guided His sheep, and for their own daily walk.
The positive half of the verse replaces one method of moving people with another.
They are warned not to lord it over God's heritage. They are not to drive the flock but to lead it as "examples to the flock."
Bellett sets service against patronage.
They prove what they teach, and they labour in the spirit of service, not of patronage. They are not lords of the heritage, but examples of the flock. They claim no dominion over the faith; they are helpers of the joy.
Writers note that the danger Peter names is what later history produced.
The Holy Spirit who inspired these words foresaw how strong the pull would be to take up such work. It might be from compulsion, or for love of gain, or from a desire for power and influence. Church history proves how much these words were needed. It tells us how the simple "elders" or "bishops" of the apostles' day were slowly turned into "princes of the church," who lorded it over God's people as though they were their own possessions.
- Ownership — The flock is God's, not the shepherd's. Every other instruction in the verse follows from that one fact.
- Wording — Older translators added the word "God's." The sense is "not lording it over your own possessions."
- Clergy — Kleros, the word here, gave us "clergy," yet Scripture uses it of all God's people, never of a separate class.
- Method — The elder does not drive the flock. He leads it, proving what he teaches by how he lives.
- Account — Nothing here is owned, only entrusted. Elders will answer to the Lord for how they guided His sheep.