1 Peter 5 – Chapter Study
As Peter now moves to wrap up
the letter, he places several important instructions before his readers.
All of these were
aimed at helping them secure the right kind of mindset in light of the
persecution and pressure they were facing.
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:
2 Shepherd the flock
of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but
willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;
3 nor as being lords
over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;
4 and when the Chief
Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.
Peter speaks first to the
elders and tells them to be diligent to shepherd the flock of God – meaning the
Church.
The word elder and the
word pastor are virtually synonymous in the NT.
Elder refers to the character of the man while pastor
speaks to his function.
Elders
are also called bishops or overseers, which also speaks of their
role and function.
As you track through
scripture, you find that all pastors are elders and all elders are pastors, in
terms of their role in the Body of
Christ.
But a careful study
of scripture, Jewish social life, and the history of the Church reveals that it
was standard practice for there to be one pastor who was the designated chief
shepherd or leader of the local
church.
Today,
we see this in the office of the senior pastor.
The governing of the
nation of
God raised up one man,
Moses, and anointed and authorized him to lead.
To assist him God called his brother Aaron – this is analogous to the
ministry of the associate or assistant pastor.
When
the administration of the nation became too much for Moses, God raised up a
body of 70 judges who helped Moses administer justice and equality of ministry
throughout the nation.
These
judges are like the pastoral and administrative staff of a growing church
working along with the elders who seek to ensure the needs of the entire body
are being taken care of.
Later
in the history of the nation of
Each
synagogue was ruled by a single elder called the arche-synagogous,
who was assisted by several attendants we would call “elders.”
It
appears that when the early church first began and the Body met in small local
groups, they followed this same pattern.
Each
local congregation was overseen and served by a small group of leaders who were
in turn led by one man they recognized as the chief elder, the man called to
lead the flock; and their role was to assist him.
When Peter writes –
1 The elders who are
among you
He
means all of those who hold the office of being an elder and overseer in the
local church.
Notice
the way he phrases it – “The elders WHO ARE AMONG YOU.”
He
pictures the flock of God, not as many
flocks, dispersed here and there in
local congregations – but as one massive flock – He is speaking of the
The
elders are scattered throughout this flock wherever it meets.
It’s
the elders who are among the flock, not the flock among the elders.
Peter
knows that God will ensure that wherever His people meet, there will be men who
are gifted and called to lead and provide what is needed that His flock might
be well served.
1The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow
elder
Notice that Peter sees
himself, not as being above others, but as a peer alongside other elders.
and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a
partaker of the glory that will be revealed:
Peter
is different from most of those who
read this letter in that he was one of the original disciples and witnessed the
Passion of Christ when he was arrested, tried, and then executed.
And
whereas he is unique in this regard
from most of those who would read this letter, he is right with them in that together they will all partake of the wondrous glory that shall be theirs when Christ
comes again.
2Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving
as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but
eagerly;
Now Peter switches the
picture.
After
seeing one flock and the elders as scattered among it, now he see the elders
and how the body has been gathered round their leadership and calling as
ministers of God’s grace.
So
He says to the elders – they are to shepherd
the flock of God they’ve been called to.
A Shepherd’s task is
three-fold;
1)
Lead
2)
Feed
3)
Protect the flock.
1) The Shepherd must first of
all determine where God wants His people to go and then faithfully
follow the direction He lays out.
This
means that the pastor needs to have a vision,
a Spirit-inspired picture of the future that is worthy of pursuing.
Shepherds
aren’t called to lead people into pursuits that are aimed at glorifying or
exalting the shepherd.
The
pastor isn’t to use people to promote himself or his own dreams.
He
is to lead them to pasturage God directs, for God’s glory, not his.
Shepherds
are also called to LEAD, not drive,
the sheep.
This
means the pastor must himself go first.
He
can never ask those in his charge to go somewhere he hasn’t already gone.
It’s
a principle of the
2) The Shepherd must also feed the flock.
And
the best diet for Christians is the Word of God.
3) The Shepherd must then protect the flock.
He
stays on the alert to all that which would seek to harm the people of God,
whether we’re talking about the gopher holes of worldly lusts or the snares of
heresy.
When
the pastor sees a potential threat, he is bold to mark it and warn the flock
away from it.
In our day, this role of the
pastor is often labeled as being judgmental and mean-spirited.
I
know several good, godly pastors who’ve been roundly criticized because they
sought only to protect the flock.
There
is a lot of junk that is being taught in the church today and several well
known Christian celebrities who are teaching things that are rank heresy.
When
a pastor, in genuine concern over the welfare of the Body raises a word of
caution about these people, there is usually someone who takes great offense
and questions their motive.
In our pluralistic society,
it seems the only person who cannot air his/her opinion is the evangelical
Christian.
We
are labeled as intolerant if we dare
to say that a person is wrong.
But the Christian is only
being consistent with our professed belief in Christ!
Because
to say we believe in Christ means that truth is absolute and that there are
consequences, eternal consequences for what a person believes.
If
evangelical Christians say they believe in Christ as THE Way, Truth and Life,
then we have only two options:
1)
Proclaim Christ as the only way and every other way a dead end, and so face the
charge by the world of being intolerant.
2)
Keep silent and let people go on believing whatever they want,
and so face the charge from the Lord of being unfaithful hypocrites.
Personally, I think we can reason with the world to see that we are
only being consistent when we declaim
error and proclaim Christ.
If
we are gentle and respectful of those who oppose and disagree with us, then we
will eventually win their ear, and hopefully their hearts and minds.
We ought to expect opposition
form the world, but what’s sad is when people IN THE CHURCH castigate
pastors for warning their flock of heresy.
2Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving
as overseers,
At first reading that seems
almost an oxymoron: SERVING & OVERSEEING.
The
overseer is one who is OVER and his/her task is to tell others what to do.
But serving means putting others first and
appears as the position of being beneath
or under others.
It’s the way of the world to
see authority and oversight as something that is directive and privileged.
The
overseer is almost always understood as being the top position, the one everyone works for.
In
fact, the overseer usually sees him/herself as “too good” to serve- that’s for
those below him/her.
But Peter turns this idea on it’s head for the people of God.
By
the time he wrote this, Peter had come to a full appreciation for what Jesus
had taught about who was greatest in the kingdom.
Those
who are called to lead, are called to lead by serving!
Leadership
is service!
The
elder oversees by serving those committed to his care.
There
is no task that’s beneath him because
there is no person who is beneath
him.
He
is the last and all others are first; he is the servant of all.
You can tell a lot about the
character of a church by spending some time with the leadership and listening
to them talk about the people of the congregation.
Take
a look at the offices of the staff and where they’re located.
Have
the world’s marks of status and success infiltrated the lifestyles of the
elders and staff?
Do
the elders and staff sequester themselves and place a heavy barrier between
themselves and the flock?
Do
they leave the “menial” tasks of the fellowship to others?
Are
cooking and cleaning deemed beneath them?
Do
they park in the spot closest to the door and make others walk?
Not too many years ago, CCCM
remodeled the restrooms just off the foyer of the sanctuary.
Those
bathrooms get a lot of use almost every day of the week and literally thousands
pass through the doors of CC.
Guess
who installed the urinals and toilet bowls?
Pastor Chuck.
Over the years, CC has seen
many men come through the doors who say God has called them to pastor a church
so they will show up at the office and ask to speak to a pastor.
What
they expect is that they are going to be given a name and address and they will
go out and take over the pastorate at some church somewhere – or they want to
be put on staff at CCCM.
Pastor
Romaine, who passed away just a couple weeks ago, used to deal with these guys
this way – he would say, “Great! Follow me,” and then lead them out to the back
of the property where there was a shed – the janitorial shed.
He
would then hand them a broom and say, sweep the parking lot.
Over
the years, hundreds of men stopped by to say they were called to pastor, but
only a very small number every pushed that broom.
When someone tells me that they
think God is calling them to be a pastor, I immediately look to see what
they’re doing in serving the flock.
Being
a pastor, being an elder means to serve
– and if you aren’t serving, you’re no elder.
Peter says about this service
as an overseer that it is to be -
not by compulsion but willingly,
This is so crucial! The pastor’s heart has to be in his ministry or it will turn into a drudgery and
pain that will lead to resentment, first toward the people, and ultimately
toward God.
Jesus said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
Whenever
we’re feeling burdened and weighed down, it means we’re shouldering things the
Lord has not laid on us.
It
may be our own standards of perfectionism
or our own expectations.
It
may be the expectations of others – but it isn’t the Lord, for His burden is
light.
This is one of the biggest
dangers that pastors and elders face – the temptation to minister to the
expectations and demands of people
rather than simply being faithful to the Lord’s direction.
And
it’s one of the primary reasons I think the best form of church government is
the Senior Pastor led church as
opposed to the Presbyterian or Congregational models.
In the Presbyterian form of church government, it’s the elders or deacons
who run the church and they hire the
pastor.
The
problem with this is that the pastor often then seeks to keep his job by bending to the will of the elder board.
They
hired him, and they can fire him.
Keeping
his job is a matter of pleasing them instead of the Lord.
Rare
is the man who can balance that kind of pressure and only follow the Lord’s
leading for the church.
The Congregational form of church government presents the same problem,
though now the pastor has even more
people to try to please.
In the Senior Pastor led church, the pastor is usually freer from trying
to please man to stay focused on the vision and mission the Lord has given him.
not for dishonest gain but eagerly;
It’s clear from this that
Peter is thinking specifically about those elders who are serving full-time in
their capacity as pastors.
Because
they are not engaged in some other career or employment, they draw their
sustenance and support from the giving of the people.
But
Peter warns them they must never serve FOR THE INCOME it brings.
The pastorate is not a career – it’s a vocation, a calling.
Unless
the Lord has called and anointed him with the gifts needed to shepherd the
flock, then he cannot, ought not serve.
Sad
to say, there are some men who enter seminary and seek to pastor churches who aren’t called or gifted.
Some
of these men seek out the pastorate because in certain denominations, it’s a
pretty cushy job.
Peter
says all such motivation in ministry is nothing less than mercenary and makes
the salary they receive a form of robbery – it’s dishonest gain, because it
ought to be going to a man truly called and anointed.
Rather than serving FOR THE
BUCKS – Peter says that pastors ought to serve eagerly – out of simple faithfulness to fulfill their calling by
God.
3nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but
being examples to the flock;
Peter is here remembering
something Jesus had said to the disciples and which fits so perfectly in with
what we’ve been studying in our Sunday series on servanthood.
In Mark 10 we read -
42But Jesus called them to Himself and said to
them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord
it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43Yet
it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you
shall be your servant. 44And whoever of you desires to be first
shall be slave of all. 45For even the Son of Man did not come to be
served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
Peter reminds his readers
that authority in the Kingdom is not like authority in the world.
Pastors
and elders are not lords who sit in
some position above the flock.
They
don’t “lord it over” the people, ordering them here and there and telling them
to do this and that.
They
aren’t rulers, they’re servants!
And leadership in the Body of
Christ is always and only about example!
Jesus
was the perfect example.
Though
He was God incarnate, when He came He did not take some earthly throne and
demand that the human race come and prostrate itself before Him.
He
came in humility as a servant and went all the way, as far as a person can go
in service, to offer Himself up in death.
We get so hung up on
recognition!
We
know we’re called to serve others and we will, for a season.
But
when no one notices or appreciates our service and when we fail to get any
kudos or thanks, then we become resentful and feel people are taking advantage
of us.
So
we draw a line and say, “No more.”
We condition our service on the
acknowledgement of others.
We
limit it to the degree we are honored and respected for serving.
The
idea of serving quietly to the point of death is totally foreign to us – and
yet this is what Jesus did and calls you and I to emulate.
If anyone is to example this
– it’s those in the Body of Christ who are supposed to be the most mature – the
elders.
But there’s something here we
need to take careful note of.
It’s
Peter’s understanding of the position and authority granted by God to elders!
If
the office of shepherd was so powerless that a shepherd didn’t rule and lead,
then there was little potential for him being
a lord.
Because
Peter gives this warning, it reveals that in his mind, there was the potential
for abuse for the very reason that God has
given tremendous authority to elders.
And
that God-given authority then means the people are to adopt a posture of
submission to those the Lord has placed in the role of shepherding the flock.
We’ll
take a closer look at this when we get to v. 5.
4and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive
the crown of glory that does not fade away.
Peter reminds pastors and
elders that in the end, they are only under-shepherds and the flock they are
serving belongs to another – so they will give account for how they have led God’s
flock.
If
they have led well, meaning they’ve seen themselves as servants who serve
willingly and eagerly as good examples, then they will receive a special reward
– a crown of unfading glory.
5Likewise
you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you
be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for
Here peter quotes Proverbs
3:34 -
“God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”£
6Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of
God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7casting all your care upon
Him, for He cares for you.
As Peter has written to the
elders about how to lead the flock – now he speaks to the flock about how to respond to that leadership.
When he says, “You younger
people” he means those who aren’t
elders; for you’re either younger or elder.
If
it’s the elders’ duty to lead, then it’s the duty of the people to follow and
this means being in a posture toward leadership that’s submissive.
This speaks powerfully to our
times and to the Church in the West, especially here in the
We
have so many churches, that it’s easy for people to move from fellowship to
fellowship and never really settle down to a serious commitment to one local
church.
Many people look at church in
the same way they look at shopping.
They
have a consumer-mentality when it comes
to Faith – where can they get the most bang for their
buck – if you will?
They
don’t look at Church as a place to get plugged in and commit to so much as a place to scratch their religious itch.
They
judge their church experience on how rewarding
it is, and consider the reward in terms of entertainment and excitement.
The
thought of being committed to a
church and to a group of people is anathema to them.
Having
a regular ministry where others depend
on them is unthinkable.
Let’s be frank – there are good
churches and there are those that aren’t so good.
That
judgment needs to be made, not on how exciting or entertaining they are but on
whether or not they are being faithful to the vision and mission God has given
them.
Some
people remain committed to a bad church long after they ought to have left
because their commitment is not so much to the Lord as to tradition and what
they’re comfortable with.
Other
people refuse to make any kind of
commitment whatsoever, even to a really good
church, because they don’t understand what God wants the Church to be in their
lives.
Peter’s word here is a corrective to these attitudes.
He
calls the people of the church to be submissive to those the Lord has placed in
the role of leading the flock.
This
means first of all that the people will be looking to their elders to lead and
serve as Peter has characterized godly leadership.
They
will recognize God’s call in the humility, willingness, and eagerness of the
elders and pastors.
Where
these are lacking – they need to seriously question their continued
participation in that ministry.
But
when they see these qualities in the elders and pastors, they need to settle
down and get plugged in – trusting the leadership and direction they provide.
Peter then expands on the
idea of submission and extends it as the basic posture all of us are to have
toward one another.
Submission
means to rank or arrange under.
Again,
as we saw last Sunday, this doesn’t mean we’re to focus on ourselves being last or under so much as it means we are to
treat others as above us.
Submission
isn’t me-centered; it’s simply a concern to put you first.
Then Peter says we are to be clothed with humility.
The
word he uses here for “clothed” was an unusual word that referred to the act of
a slave when putting on an apron to perform some menial task.
It’s
the word used in John 13:4 when Jesus rose from the table to tie a towel around
His waist as He bent to wash the disciples’ feet.
The only other time this word
is used in classical Greek is to describe the act of placing the royal robes of
office on a king’s shoulders.
What
a fitting picture – for a good king sees his role as the servant of the people and his office as one of example.
That
royal robe is a thing of duty and
responsibility more than privilege
and power.
I’m sure Peter has both
images in mind as he selects this word – for he has come to understand that in
the
The
servant’s apron becomes an honored, royal garment.
In quoting Proverbs 3:34,
Peter reminds his readers that pride and arrogance lead to nothing less than
opposition from God – while the humble, those who are honest and open, get more
grace from the Lord.
Grace and pride are eternal enemies.
Pride
is preoccupied with the self and demands that God bless me in light of what I
think I deserve.
But
grace will only deal with me on the basis What and Who
God is, not on the basis of anything in me. [1]
What would heaven be like if
our salvation and standing before God were based on our merits?
It
would be little different from earth, or even from hell, because it would be a
place populated by beings who were pre-occupied with themselves.
It
would be an eternal brag-fest – with
each person parading him/herself before others, showing off their rewards
because of what they’d done.
Those
who barely made it would be eternally envious of those who’d acquired more
crowns and rewards.
We can be thankful that
salvation and our standing before God is all of grace because it guarantees we
are all equal before God and all the attention will be on Him!
As Paul writes in Ephesians
2:8-9
8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not of works,
lest anyone should boast.
Then Peter tells them in v. 6
to humble themselves under the powerful hand of God – and as they do, He will lift them up.
Note
that – humility is something we are to seek out ourselves.
Being
humble is a choice we can make.
Either
we humble ourselves – or we will BE humbled.
Those
who exalt themselves will be brought low-but those who humble themselves will
be exalted.
Then in v. 7, Peter shows us
one of the main ways we can humble ourselves – by casting our cares on God.
When
we’re anxious and worried, what we’re doing is thinking that our lives are in
our own hands and that it’s through our own efforts that we live.
That’s
nothing less than pride.
As we saw last Sunday, the
humility the Lord wants from us is most perfectly illustrated in a little
child.
We
saw that the character of a child’s humility is that it is unable to deceive.
But
there’s another important way a little child reveals humility – he/she trusts
explicitly in his/her parents.
A
little child doesn’t worry because he/she has absolute confidence in mom &
dad to take care of them.
With
human parents, that trust may be misplaced- and yet it’s real and intense.
Being
the children of God means being humble to the point that we trust Him explicitly!
We
can cast all our cares on Him – because He cares for us!
And
if He would prove that care to the point of sending His Son to died for our sins, will He withhold anything else we need?
What an amazing thought
– God cares for us!
At
their best, the religions of Greek culture could imagine a God who was
good.
Yet
they never came to the place where they believed in a God who cared.
The
God of the Bible - the God who is really there - is a God who cares for you.[2]
You know, we often judge the
parents by the children.
When
we see a child who’s well-behaved, it reflects on the quality of parenting and
tells us something about that parent.
Conversely,
when we see some snot-nosed little brat behaving badly, we wonder about the
parent; why haven’t they been more diligent in their parenting?
When a child of God is full
of worry and fear, doesn’t the world have reason to believe that their Father
in heaven doesn’t care for them?
Our
worry and fear reflects poorly - in an unfair way - upon God.[3]
8Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the
devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9Resist
him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced
by your brotherhood in the world.
Peter now issues a stern and
bold warning.
Be
sober! Be clear-headed.
In light of what he’s just said to them. he means that they need to
not allow their thinking to be clouded by the unreality of pride.
Pride
is a kind spiritual inebriation that distorts reality.
And
Peter says that we need to be clear-headed in light of the fact that we are at
war.
We
need to stay vigilant, which means on
the lookout, because we have a real adversary who is constantly on the prowl,
just like a lion stalking prey.
The Book of Revelation tells
us that the time will come when the devil will be bound for a 1000 years – but
that time is yet to come.
Right
now we live in a time when he is free to prowl the earth and do mischief.
Therefore,
we need to be sober and watchful, lest we fall to his attack.
Those of you who have served
in the military know what an important responsibility guard duty is.
A
sentry who is caught napping at his post is subject to the severest kind of
punishment.
In
fact, in wartime, if an officer finds a sentry asleep at their post, they can
be executed on the spot!
The
reason for this is because one sentry who is derelict in his duty at keeping
watch may allow an access point to the enemy that could result in the deaths of
an entire battalion and lead to ultimate defeat in the war.
As Christian, we yearn for
peace – but as long as we are in these bodies, we find ourselves at war with a
very real adversary who will make no compromises and offer no quarter.
He
has one agenda in mind; your destruction and the thwarting of the plan and
purposes of God.
He
is ever on the prowl, looking for some way to slip in and do his evil work.
But what is his work – how
does he accomplish his agenda?
Notice
what Peter says here – he is like a lion – what kind of lion?
A
roaring lion!
In Colossians
The
word disarmed means to take away
their weapons.
The
only thing the powers of evil have left in their arsenal is their lying mouths!
The
only power the devil has left is his roar,
his mouth and speech.
He
lies to us, just as he did to Eve, and by so doing seeks to regain power by
using the power WE GIVE TO HIM when we believe his lies.
Therefore, the best way to
deal with the devil is to be a diligent student of the Word of Truth, and then
be attentive to the leading of the Holy Spirit telling us when the devil is at
work trying to deceive us.
So
Peter says that we are to “Resist him, steadfast in the faith,” a faith
that’s rooted and grounded in the Scriptures and a resistance that is
clear-headed and watchful.
The
word “resist” comes from the two Greek words for stand & against.
Peter
tells them to stand against the
devil.
This
is wonderful - Satan can be rebuffed and set to flight by the resistance of even
the lowliest of believers who come in the authority of what Jesus did for them
on the cross.
Then Peter says, “Knowing that the same sufferings are
experienced by your brotherhood in the world.”
One
of the enemy’s chief lies is the idea that no one knows what we’re going
through.
The
age-old tactic of divide and conquer
is an effective strategy and the devil uses it on us all the time.
He
tempts you, or fills your life with anxiety and trouble and then makes you feel
as though no one cares or no one can relate to what you’re enduring.
Some
inordinate desire will sweep over you, some totally wretched thought that
haunts and nags at you and you think that no one else faces such things.
You
wonder if maybe it wouldn’t be best for you to just give up this Christian
thing, because surely, Christians don’t every have those kinds of desires or
thoughts.
That’s all just part of the
campaign of deceit the devil uses to cut you out of the herd so he can devour
you.
This
is precisely what a lion does.
It
will sneak up through the tall grass on the unwatchful herd.
When
it gets close to the fringe of the herd, it selects one prey and then springs
forward in such a way as to try and cut the individual out of the herd.
Sometimes,
a lion will just sit at a distance and roar loudly.
The
herd is spooked by this and will frantically stampede, sometimes leaving one
lone individual all by itself – easy pickings for the lion.
You are not alone – your
struggle is common to the Body of Christ.
Don’t
let the enemy cut your out and divide you from your spiritual family.
10But may the God of all grace, who called us to His
eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect,
establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11To Him be the
glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Peter ends with a prayer – that the God of all grace would pour out that grace in such
abundance that it would bring them through their season of suffering into a
settled and secure place of genuine spiritual maturity.
There is something here we
must not miss.
Peter says - “May the God of
all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have
suffered a while . . .”
We
are only called to eternal glory
after we have suffered a while.
We wish we were called to glory on the “no
suffering” plan.[4]
But
the fact is, the path to glory lies through a world
which is in direct rebellion against God and to live for God means to walk
against the wind.
It’s
the legacy of the people of God that they have been hated, mocked, scorned,
rejected, despised, abused, belittled, mistreated, misunderstood, tortured and
put to death.
Though
they have lived honorable lives and sought only to love and serve the lost,
they have been dishonored, hunted, hounded and rejected.
We
ought not think it strange that we would be treated
the same way.
If
they treated Jesus that way, why should we who follow Him expect anything
different?
Yet, our suffering is only a
little while – the glory that God bestows is eternal.
12By 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.
It was the custom of that
time to dictate a letter to someone
who was skilled as a scribe, and Peter had done that with Silvanus.
Silvanus
is a form of the name Silas who was
the traveling companion of Paul for his second and third missionary journeys.
Peter
adds this little comment about the grace of God as a way to signify that he
knows what he’s dictated isn’t merely a nice idea,
it’s the counsel and direction of the Holy Spirit.
13She who is in Babylon, elect together with you,
greets you; and so does Mark my son.
The “She” refers to the
Church.
As
the bride of Christ, this was a common idiom in that day for the Church.
By
The
ancient city of
Another
possibility is either
However
Peter means this, one church is greeting another.
Mark is the same one who
wrote the Gospel of Mark and who we read about in the Book of Acts – he
accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey and then when
Paul and Barnabas split up, went with Barnabas while Paul took Silas.
Reliable church tradition
says that Mark became the companion of Peter and that it was from Peter that
Mark got the content of his gospel.
14Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.
As in some European and Middle
Eastern countries today, it was
customary in Bible times that if you wanted to greet someone affectionately,
you did it with a kiss.
Peter
says that affection ought to mark the
way we treat one another – and that our greetings ought to demonstrate
something more than just a casual acquaintance.
We’re
family, and ought to greet one another as such.
Kissing is not really
a cultural norm for us, but a hearty hug is – so this is probably the best way
to translate this idiom into our time and experience.