About the Elders
1 I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness y to the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed: z 2 Shepherd God’s flock among you, a not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but eagerly; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd b appears, you will receive the unfading crown c of glory. 5 In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because
God resists the proud
but gives grace to the humble. ,d
Conclusion
6 Humble e yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand f of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you. g 8 Be sober-minded, h be alert. i Your adversary the devil j is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. 9 Resist him, k firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.
10 The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory l in Christ, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while. 11 To him be dominion forever. Amen.
12 Through Silvanus, ,m a faithful brother (as I consider him), I have written to you briefly in order to encourage you and to testify that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it! 13 She who is in Babylon, n chosen together with you, sends you greetings, as does Mark, my son. 14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. o Peace p to all of you who are in Christ.
5:1–5. Peter’s self-designation in 5:1 hints at this deeper concern. He is a “fellow elder”—not an exalted apostle—and with them a witness to Christ’s sufferings. He therefore enters into all that that means, sharing those sufferings himself and thus participating in the glory to be revealed. Peter urges the elders to be aware of their special responsibility as shepherds. The imperative, “shepherd” (5:2a), has an urgency about it—get on with the job! Then in three pairs of balancing phrases (“not . . . but,” 5:2b–3) Peter tells them how they should exercise their pastoral care as far as inner motivation and outward incentive are concerned.
5:6–11. Now Peter summarizes everything that he desires for his readers. Here is the framework on which he wants the house of our Christian life to be founded. For all that he has urged us to submit to our earthly circumstances, however trying, it is really to God himself that we submit (5:6), in hope of his deliverance. We humble ourselves before him, not as before an earthly master, awaiting instructions, but so as to feel the burden of anxiety lifted from our shoulders (5:7). The readers may be consumed with anxiety about their earthly enemies, but Peter tells them that the spiritual foe is far more deadly (5:8–9). And we feel his pressure on us not just through our earthly trials but especially through the temptation not to face those trials with faith.
5:12–14. In his final greeting, Peter associates with himself not just his two closest helpers, Silvanus and Mark (5:12, 13b), but also the whole church to which he belongs. “Babylon” (5:13a) is almost certainly a reference to Rome, which was increasingly called “Babylon” by both Jews and Christians at this time. Using this term here fits beautifully with Peter’s theme. It reminds us of the true (satanic) nature of secular power. Christ, however, has conquered it. But also it reminds us of the place of Israel’s exile and of the fact that we too are aliens and strangers in the world. The letter thus ends on the same note with which it began, when Peter saluted his readers as God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered. For though exiles, we are yet God’s chosen, his elect people, destined for glory.