1 Peter

Chapter 5

vs 1

Not only is Peter an elder of the early NT church, but he's a witness to Christ's sufferings and one who will share in glory. These make him worth listening to, and are appeals to his authority.

vs 2

Wow, this one verse has a lot of advice for church leaders. If you aren't involved in church leadership because you want to, then you shouldn't be involved at all. I know it's easy sometimes to think that if someone actually wants to be involved, they probably have bad motives, and therefore it's best to have leaders who are unwilling but see the necessity of leadership. Peter says no - if you're not willing, don't do it. Makes me feel better to aspire to church leadership. God wants willing servants.

If you've ever wondered why elders don't get paid, you can read this verse and wonder a little more. The suggestion that someone could enter the church leadership for the purpose of making money implies that the positions were at least compensated, probably more than compensated. But anyway, your willingness to lead a church should be based on your desire to serve, not for any other reason.

vs 3

This is the whole idea of servant leadership. I've called them church leaders above, but we shouldn't focus on the leadership aspect, we should focus on the servant aspect. Leadership through lordship is only really applicable to God and Jesus - and even then Jesus humbled himself! Instead, we should lead by example. Practice what you preach and all that. It's not as easy as it sounds.

vs 4

One of those verses that promises some sort of reward. Now true, everyone who gets to heaven is probably given a crown that will never fade away. But I do think Peter is suggesting here that leadership positions in the church are a special honour and will be especially rewarded. No reason to be jealous though - after all, what is a crown but one more thing to put before Jesus' feet when you get there? Something worth striving for.

vs 5

What does "in the same way" link back to? It could be to Peter's authority or to the reward, but I think it most comfortably links back to a willingness to serve, an eagerness to serve, and being an example. So young people's submissiveness should be willing and eager, and they should not have an attitude of lording it over the oldies, I mean, elders.

All of you I think is inclusive, not exclusive to "all you young men". And the command about humility links to my point above, that both leaders and young men should be humble to one another. Backed up by another Proverb.

vs 6

Notice that our humility is primarily to God and because of God. In reality, whether we're a leader or a youngun, we're all equally humble before God in the first place, so there's no reason to go around having chest-beating competitions among ourselves. We will be exalted - we just need to wait for God's timing.

vs 7

In the NIV this is linked to verse 6, where I think it more comfortably starts a new idea with verse 8. In any case, it's a sister verse to verses like Philippians 4:6-7, and shows that it's ok to be anxious, and that it's expected. But instead of getting a mental complex about it, we should cast these problems before God. If we are certain of God's care for us, this should be our first response.

vs 8

The self control and awareness are directly linked to the fact that the devil prowls. These are your protection against him.

vs 9

Peter's call to resist the devil based on the suffering of our brothers elsewhere in the world is an interesting idea. When you're being tempted to something bad, do you think about the many other Christians all over the world who are undergoing sufferings of a similar nature? It's probably entirely relevant to think about mission workers or poor Christians and their sufferings the next time you're going to spend some money on something unnecessary. Not that it's all about money, but it's as good an example as any.

vs 10

For clean reading, I'd suggest that the suffering for a little while doesn't need a comma before it, and that it's linked directly with our glory in Christ rather than being linked with our restoration and strengthening etc. The only reason I say that is because otherwise it means that God, who called us to glory, will give us restoration, strength, steadfastness and firmness, but only after we've suffered a little first. It could well mean that, referring to our eternal restoration. But I think God's promise of strength through suffering is not contingient on us suffering a little bit first before he helps us. He's with us all the way.

vs 11

Amen.

vs 12

Silas was probably his amenuensis, so that doesn't necessarily mean that Silas helped him develop the ideas. But it was not uncommon for an amenuensis to do that. Anyway, does it matter? It's the word of God first, the word of Peter (and possibly Silas) second. The early church fathers didn't seem to mind Silas' involvement.

I personally would prefer if Peter had put his reason for writing at the beginning of the letter, but hey, he gives it to us at the end. And it is an encouraging letter.

vs 13

Who's that? Obviously those who got the letter first knew. Mark could be Peter's actual son, but is more likely to be Mark the author of the Gospel according to Mark. Mark wasn't an apostle remember, so the reason his Gospel was accepted was because of his link to Peter.

vs 14

Curse that kiss. Thank God for his cultural appropriateness. And to all you who aren't in Christ - you don't deserve any peace. I don't think Peter's saying that, but it sounds cool.