1st Peter Chapter 5 verse 1 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 1. - The elders which are among you I exhort. The Vatican and Alexandrine Manuscripts omit the article, and insert "therefore" (the Sinaitic gives both), reading, "Elders, therefore, among you I exhort." The solemn thoughts of the last chapter, the coming judgment, the approach of persecution, the necessity of perseverance in well-doing, suggest the exhortation; hence the "therefore." The context shows that the apostle is using the word "elder" (πρεσβύτερος, presbyter) in its official sense, though its original meaning was also in his thoughts, as appears by ver. 5. We first meet with the word in the Old Testament (Exodus 3:16, 18; Exodus 24:9; Numbers 11:16; Joshua 20:4, etc.). Used originally with reference to age, it soon became a designation of office. Very early in the history of the Christian Church we meet with the same title. It occurs first in Acts 11:30. The Christians of Antioch make a collection for the poor saints at Jerusalem, and send their alms by the hand of Barnabas and Saul to the elders of the Jerusalem Church. We read several times of these elders in Acts xv. as associated with the apostles in the consideration of the great question of the circumcision of Gentile Christians; they joined with St. James in the official reception of St. Paul at his last visit to Jerusalem (Acts 21:18). It appears, then, that the Christian presbyterate originated in the mother Church of Jerusalem. It was soon introduced into the daughter Churches; the apostles Paul and Barnabas ordained elders in every Church during the first missionary journey (Acts 14:23); and the various notices scattered over the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles imply the early establishment of the office throughout the Church. Who am also an elder ὁ συμπρεσβύτερος. St. Peter, though holding the very highest rank in the Church as an apostle of Christ, one of those who were to sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28), claims no supremacy; he simply designates himself as a brother presbyter. So also St. John (2 John 1; 3 John 1). He exhorts the presbyters as a brother, and grounds his exhortation on community of office. The absence of any note of distinction between bishops and presbyters is, so far, an indication of the early date of this Epistle, as against Hilgenfeld and others. And a witness of the sufferings of Christ. This was his one distinction above those whom he addresses. Like St. John, he declared unto them that which he had heard, which he had seen with his eyes. He had seen the Lord bound and delivered into the hands of wicked men; probably he had watched his last sufferings among them which stood afar off. And also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. The thought of the sufferings of Christ leads on to the thought of the future glory (comp. 1 Peter 1:11; 1 Peter 4:13). Perhaps St. Peter was also thinking of the Lord's promise to himself, "Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards" (John 13:36).

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English ReadersV.(1-11) FURTHER EXHORTATIONS SUGGESTED BY THE CRISIS.--The officers of the community are not to flinch from the duties imposed upon them, nor yet to perform them in any spirit of self-assertion. The laity, on the other hand, are to observe discipline. Indeed, mutual submission is the only safe-guard in the face of a common danger. An unbroken front must be presented, and the sense of brotherhood fostered.(1) The elders which are among you . . .--The best text preserves the word "therefore" after "elders." In view, that is, of these hopes and threats, of the present persecution, and of the coming judgment, St. Peter gives his solemn charge to those who shared with him the responsibility of office in the Church. The word rendered "exhort" is that common New Testament word (parakalo), which we miss in English, including encouragement and entreaty, and even consolation, as well as exhortation. (See, e.g., Acts 4:36,) The whole of this Epistle is an example of such paraclesis.Who am also an elder.--St. Peter is giving no irresponsible advice. He knows by experience the dangers which beset the office. The head Christian of the world, and writing from the thick of the persecution already begun in Rome, the Asiatic elders cannot set his advice down as that of some easy layman who is untouched by the difficulty. It can hardly be said, therefore, that this is an example of St. Peter's humility, as though he recognised in himself no higher office than that of these presbyters. The effect is, on the contrary, to make the recipients of the Letter feel that he is using a strong argument a fortiori.And a witness of the sufferings of Christ.--The Greek word calls attention, not so much to the fact of his having been a spectator, an eye-witness, but rather to the fact of his bearing testimony to the sufferings. Here again, too, it is in Greek "the sufferings of the Christ." (See Note on 1Peter 1:11.) Not only did St. Peter know, by bearing office himself, what the dangers of office were, but he was able to testify how the Messiah Himself, the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, had suffered, from which it was natural to conclude that all Christians also were destined to suffer.And also a partaker of the glory . . .--This splendid assurance follows naturally from being a witness of the sufferings of the Christ. "I am in as much danger as any of you," the Apostle says, "but I can testify that the Christ Himself suffered thus, and therefore I knew that we who suffer with Him are even now partakers of the glory, though a veil at present hides. it." St. Peter insists in the same way on our present possession of what will not be shown us for a time in 1Peter 1:5. . . .