1Pe 5:2-4 | JFB | e4.org | 2. Feed — Greek, "Tend as a shepherd," by discipline and doctrine. Lead, feed, heed: by prayer, exhortation, government, and example. The dignity is marked by the term " elder "; the duties of the office, to tend or oversee, by " bishop. " Peter has in mind Christ's injunction to him, "Feed ( tend ) My sheep . . . Feed ( pasture ) My lambs" ( ). He invites the elders to share with him the same duty (compare ). The flock is Christ's. which is among you —While having a concern for all the Church, your special duty is to feed that portion of it "which is among you." oversight — Greek, "bishopric," or duty of bishops, that is, overseer. not by constraint —Necessity is laid upon them, but willingness prevents it being felt, both in undertaking and in fulfilling the duty [BENGEL ]. "He is a true presbyter and minister of the counsel of God who doeth and teacheth the things of the Lord, being not accounted righteous merely because he is a presbyter, but because righteous, chosen into the presbytery" [CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA ]. willingly —One oldest manuscript, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic, add, "as God would have it to be done" ( ). not for filthy lucre — ( ). of a ready mind —promptly and heartily, without selfish motive of gain-seeking, as the Israelites gave their services willing-heartedly to the sanctuary.

‏ 1 Peter 5:2-4

2. Feed—Greek, "Tend as a shepherd," by discipline and doctrine. Lead, feed, heed: by prayer, exhortation, government, and example. The dignity is marked by the term "elder"; the duties of the office, to tend or oversee, by "bishop." Peter has in mind Christ's injunction to him, "Feed (tend) My sheep . . . Feed (pasture) My lambs" (Joh 21:16). He invites the elders to share with him the same duty (compare Ac 20:28). The flock is Christ's.

which is among you—While having a concern for all the Church, your special duty is to feed that portion of it "which is among you."

oversight—Greek, "bishopric," or duty of bishops, that is, overseer.

not by constraint—Necessity is laid upon them, but willingness prevents it being felt, both in undertaking and in fulfilling the duty [BENGEL]. "He is a true presbyter and minister of the counsel of God who doeth and teacheth the things of the Lord, being not accounted righteous merely because he is a presbyter, but because righteous, chosen into the presbytery" [CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA].

willingly—One oldest manuscript, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic, add, "as God would have it to be done" (Ro 8:27).

not for filthy lucre— (Isa 56:11; Tit 1:7).

of a ready mind—promptly and heartily, without selfish motive of gain-seeking, as the Israelites gave their services willing-heartedly to the sanctuary.

3. being lords—Greek, "lording it": implying pride and oppression. "Not that we have dominion over your faith."

God's heritage—Greek, "the inheritances," that is, the portions of the Church committed severally to your pastoral charge [BENGEL]. It is explained by "the flock" in the next clause. However, in 1Pe 5:2, "flock of God which is among you," answering to "(God's) heritages" (plural to express the sheep who are God's portion and inheritance, De 32:9) committed to you, favors English Version. The flock, as one whole, is God's heritage, or flock in the singular. Regarded in relation to its component sheep, divided among several pastors, it is in the plural "heritages." Compare Ac 1:17, 25, "part" (the same Greek). BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, wrote to Pope Eugene, "Peter could not give thee what he had not: what he had he gave: the care over the Church, not dominion."

being—Greek, "becoming."

ensamples—the most effective recommendation of precept (1Ti 4:12). Tit 2:7, "patterns." So Jesus. "A monstrosity it is to see the highest rank joined with the meanest mind, the first seat with the lowest life, a grandiloquent tongue with a lazy life, much talking with no fruit" [BERNARD].

4. And—"And so": as the result of "being ensamples" (1Pe 5:3).

chief Shepherd—the title peculiarly Christ's own, not Peter's or the pope's.

when . . . shall appear—Greek, "be manifested" (Col 3:4). Faith serves the Lord while still unseen.

crown—Greek, "stephanos," a garland of victory, the prize in the Grecian games, woven of ivy, parsley, myrtle, olive, or oak. Our crown is distinguished from theirs in that it is "incorruptible" and "fadeth not away," as the leaves of theirs soon did. "The crown of life." Not a kingly "crown" (a different Greek word, diadema): the prerogative of the Lord Jesus (Re 19:12).

glory—Greek, "the glory," namely, to be then revealed (1Pe 5:1; 1Pe 4:13).

that fadeth not away—Greek, "amaranthine" (compare 1Pe 1:4).