1 Peter 5

1 Peter 5
←  chapter 4 2 Peter 1  →
1 Peter 5:12–end and 2 Peter 1:1–5 on facing pages of Papyrus 72 (3rd/4th century)
Book	First Epistle of Peter
Category	General epistles
Christian Bible part	New Testament
Order in the Christian part	21

1 Peter 5 is the fifth (and final) chapter of the First Epistle of Peter in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The author identifies himself as "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ" and the epistle is traditionally attributed to Peter the Apostle, but some writers argue that it is the work of Peter's followers in Rome between 70 and 100 CE. ^{[1] [2] [3]} This chapter returns to consider the internal group cohesion of the scattered Christian communities of Asia Minor, and closes the letter. ^[4]

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 14 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:

Greek

• Papyrus 72 (3rd/4th century) ^[5]
• Codex Vaticanus (AD 325–50)
• Codex Sinaiticus (330–60)
• Uncial 0206 (4th century; extant verses 5–13)
• Codex Alexandrinus (400–40)

Latin

• Codex Floriacensis (6th century; extant verses 1–14) ^[6]

Old Testament references

• 1 Peter 5:5: Proverbs 3:34
• 1 Peter 5:7: Psalm 55:22 ^[7]

Submit to One Another (5:1–5)

Verse 1

The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: ^[8]

• "Elders" (Ancient Greek : presbyteroi): church officials (cf. Acts 14:23; James 5:14; 2 John 1; 3 John 1 etc.) ^[9] appointed to take spiritual charge of the church members. ^[10] As noted in KJV, the Jerusalem church had elders early on. ^[10] The term presbyteroi ("elders") indicates the status, whereas the term episkopoi ("bishops"; "overseers") describes their function (verse 2), but Acts 20:28 uses the two words interchangeably. ^[10]

Verse 2

Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; ^[11]

• "Shepherd": from the Greek verb: ποιμάνατε, poimanate , which has the same root as the word Jesus used to charge Peter in John 21:6 after the resurrection. ^[10] Paul also used the word to charge the elders at Ephesus (Acts 20:28). ^[10]

Verse 4

and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. ^[12]

• "Chief Shepherd" is one of the names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, alluding to the principal shepherd, who own the sheep, and have helpers under him, so-called "little shepherds" (רועים קטנים); ^[13] perhaps similar to the "hirelings" (John 10:12) who are retained, or removed, according to their behavior. These, in the Talmudic language, are called (ברזלי), ^[14] or (כרזלי) ; though, according to Guido, ^[15] the word, pronounced in the latter way, signifies a "chief shepherd", who takes care of men, and has other shepherds, servants under him; and such a one used to be called (הרועה הגדול), "the great", or "chief shepherd". According to Jewish commentators ^{[16] [17]} it was the custom for "the chief shepherd" to have servants under them, to whom they committed the flocks to keep, and the shepherd that is under him is obliged to make good any loss. ^[18]
• "The crown of glory that does not fade away": The "crown" alludes to the ones given to the conqueror or the champion, in the Olympic games, which were made of divers flowers, of the olive, wild olive, pine tree, and of parsley, and inserted in a branch of the wild olive tree, ^[19] but they quickly faded away. It could be an allusion to crowns made of amaranthus, ^[20] the so-called "everlasting" plant, because it never fades by the nature of it. ^[18] However, the "crown of glory" or a glorious crown, that never fades away, means the eternal glory and happiness, ever shines in its full lustre; and this faithful ministers shall receive at the hands of the chief Shepherd, as a gift of his, as a reward of grace; when they have finished their work, they will enter into the joy of their Lord, and shine as the stars for ever and ever; they shall reign with Christ, as kings, on a throne of glory, wearing a crown of glory, and enjoying a kingdom and glory to all eternity. ^[18]

Submit to God (5:6–11)

Verse 8

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. ^[21]

Christians can live a care-free life, but not a careless one, because they are involved in a constant spiritual warfare, so they must be watchful of the enemy, the devil, which seeks opportunities to destroy them. ^[22]

Verse 9

But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. ^[23]

Verse 10

After you have suffered a little while, our God, who is full of kindness through Christ, will give you his eternal glory. He personally will come and pick you up, and set you firmly in place, and make you stronger than ever. ^[24]

Verse 11

To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. ^[25]

Epistolary closing (5:12–14)

Verse 12

By Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand. ^[26]

• "Silvanus (Greek name for "Silas")": a helper of Peter, either in the writing of the epistle or the delivery or both. ^[27] He may be the same person noted in Acts 15–18 and mentioned in 2 Corinthians 1:19; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1. ^[27]
• Brevity: 1 Peter is longer than some of the other letters in the New Testament, but the author "regards it as short when measured by the greatness of its theme". ^[28]

Verse 13

She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you; and so does Mark my son. ^[29]

• "Babylon": identified as the ancient capital of Babylonia, or a Roman garrison town in Egypt (now: Cairo), or Rome, with the last one seeming most likely. ^[27]
• "Mark": may refer to Mark the Evangelist, to whose home Peter went after being liberated from prison (Acts 12:12), and had accompanied Paul the Apostle (first in Acts 12:25–13:13, then later as noted in Colossians 4:10; Philemon 24 and 2 Timothy 4:11). ^[27] Eusebius the historian noted a quotation from Papias that Mark compiled a written record of Peter's recollections about the deeds and words of Jesus Christ, known today as the Gospel of Mark, which from early times is associated with the church at Rome. ^[27]

See also

• Books of the Bible
• Gospel
• Related Bible parts: Psalm 22, John 13, John 21, Revelation 12

References

1. Eve 2007, pp. 1263–64.
2. Davids, Peter H. (1982). Howard Marshall, I.; Ward Gasque, W. (eds.). The Epistle of James. New International Greek Testament Commentary (repr. ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. ISBN   0-8028-2388-2.
3. Evans, Craig Alan; Combes, Isobel AH; Gurtner, Daniel M (2005). Evans, Craig Alan (ed.). John, Hebrews-Revelation. Bible Knowledge Background Commentary. Colorado Springs, CO: Victor. ISBN   0-7814-4228-1.
4. Eve 2007, pp. 1269.
5. Aland, Kurt and Barbara Aland. "The Text of the New Testament". 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995. p. 100.
6. Gregory, Caspar René (1902). Textkritik des Neuen Testaments. Vol. 2. Leipzig: Hinrichs. p. 609. ISBN   1-4021-6347-9.
7. Kirkpatrick, A. F. (1901). The Book of Psalms: with Introduction and Notes. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. Vol. Books IV & V: Psalms XC–CL. Cambridge: At the University Press. p. 839. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
8. 1 Peter 5:1 NKJV
9. Coogan 2007, p. 399 New Testament.
10. Wheaton 1994, p. 1383.
11. 1 Peter 5:2 NKJV
12. 1 Peter 5:4 NKJV
13. Aben Ezra. Comment. in Zech. xi. 8.
14. T. Bab. Bava Kama, fol. 56. 2.
15. Dictionar. Syr. Chald. p. 102.
16. Bartenora in Misn. Bava Kama, c. 6. sect. 2.
17. Maimonides in Misn. Bava Kama, c. 6. sect. 2.
18. John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible – 1 Peter 5:4
19. Vide Paschalium de Coronis, l. 6. c. 1. p. 339. c. 16. p. 391. c. 18. p. 399. c. 19. p. 413.
20. Vide Paschalium de Coronis, l. 3. c. 11. p. 178.
21. 1 Peter 5:8 NKJV
22. Wheaton 1994, p. 1384.
23. 1 Peter 5:9 NASB1995
24. 1 Peter 5:10 TLB
25. 1 Peter 5:11 EHV
26. 1 Peter 5:12 NKJV
27. Wheaton 1994, p. 1385.
28. Maclaren, A., Expositions of Holy Scripture on 1 Peter 5, Bible hub accessed 10 September 2021
29. 1 Peter 5:13 NKJV

Sources

• Coogan, Michael David (2007). Coogan, Michael David; Brettler, Marc Zvi; Newsom, Carol Ann; Perkins, Pheme (eds.). The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version, issue 48 (augm. 3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-528881-0.
• Eve, Eric (2007). "77. 1 Peter". In Barton, John; Muddiman, John (eds.). The Oxford Bible Commentary (first (paperback) ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 1263–70. ISBN   978-0-19-927718-6 . Retrieved February 6, 2019.
• Wheaton, David H. (1994). "1 Peter". In Carson, D. A.; France, R. T.; Motyer, J. A.; Wenham, G. J. (eds.). New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Ed (4, illustrated, reprint, revised ed.). Inter-Varsity Press. pp. 1369–85. ISBN   978-0-85110-648-9.

External links

• 1 Peter 5 King James Bible - Wikisource
• English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate Archived 2019-06-17 at the Wayback Machine
• Online Bible at GospelHall.org (ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
• Multiple bible versions at Bible Gateway (NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.)