20240820

a fellow elder

1 Peter 5:1-4 (JDV)

1 Peter 5:1 I encourage the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed:
1 Peter 5:2 Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but enthusiastically.
1 Peter 5:3 not lording it over those entrusted to you but being examples to the flock.
1 Peter 5:4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading glorious crown.

a fellow elder

Peter could most certainly have encouraged the elders as their superior — as an apostle, called and appointed by Christ himself. But he encouraged them as a fellow elder. In other words, he found common ground with these church and community leaders.

What he encouraged them to do was to shepherd God’s flock. That does not mean they were “pastors” in our modern sense of the word. At this time in church history, elders were not paid professional church managers. The led Christian communities similar to the way Jewish elders led Jewish communities.

Throughout our study of this epistle, we see less emphasis on obedience to a hierarchy and more emphasis on shared faith and a shared future. Peter speaks as a fellow elder who has the sacrificial suffering of Christ as a backdrop, and the second coming in triumph as a future hope.