Chapter 5

Theophylact of Ohrid, Exposition of the First Epistle of Peter — Chapter Five

¹ CHAPTER FIVE. The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of Christ which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, according to God; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.[1] Since it lay before him to treat of humility — which he had already struck up beforehand, when he said in well-doing — he calls himself a fellow-elder, either on account of his age or on account of the honor of the episcopate. For the Book of Acts likewise calls bishops “elders.” Then, wishing to set forth his own preeminence even while for humility’s sake he calls himself a “fellow-elder,” he adds his own dignity, that he is “a witness of the sufferings of Christ”; as though to say: If I, who am the expounder to you of such sights, do not disdain to call myself a “fellow-elder,” neither is it right that you should exalt yourselves over those who are subject to you.[2] This the Lord too declares, speaking of humility: If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet. And the words “a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed” he adds in order to set forth what is choicest in humility, as Paul also says: When Christ shall appear, then shall we also appear. — He shepherds “not by constraint” who, setting himself before those under him as an “ensample” of well-doing, spurs on his disciples to a zeal for their Teacher in their dealings with one another. And he is free of “filthy lucre” who does not advance through arrogance and exalt himself over his subordinates, but lives in frugality, if one does not seek after costly garments and a table to match — things which produce arrogance and the supply that comes from base gain. By “heritage” he means the sacred body of the Church; and by adding “being ensamples to the flock,” he means not to shepherd by constraint. In the phrase “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear,” the “and” stands as a causal conjunction, in the sense of “in order that”; for the “and” is equivalent to: that, “when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive the crown” of incorruption. — Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.[3] The word “be clothed” stands for: wrap yourselves about, put on; or gird up, tuck up.

² Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. By “due time” he means the fitting time, as David also says: He that shall give his fruit in his season. And the phrase “in due time” is added advisedly; for he defers it to the exaltation in the age to come, which alone is the true exaltation, as being unchangeable and everlasting. For the exaltation here is neither secure nor sure, but is brought low sooner than it is raised. Of this humbling, which produces exaltation, the Lord himself also says: Every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted; and, Whosoever will be first among you, let him be last of all. And he hinted, by the phrase “in due time,” as we have said, that the exaltation which comes from humbling is promised for the age to come. For the season of unchangeable things is in the age to come. Then, taking away the fear that attends humbling, he says: Be not afraid, having cast all your care upon the Lord. For to Him it is a concern, that is, the care of all these things rests upon Him.

³ Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith. Upon those who are wont to sleep in the spiritual sense — and this means to gape after vain things — and who thereby weigh down the soul’s sobriety, the wicked beast of despair sets itself. Therefore, guarding against this, the disciple of Christ exhorts us to be ever watchful, and to be on guard against the sower of the tares, lest, while we sleep — that is, while we live carelessly and slothfully — he secretly sow evil thoughts and thus lead one truly astray from life.[4] For he does not cease, Peter says, to go about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Concerning such relentless plotting, Justin the holy martyr too, setting forth the cause of the devil’s assiduous cunning, says that before the coming of the Lord the devil did not so plainly know the force of his own punishment — since the divine prophets had declared it only in riddling fashion (as Isaiah, under the person of the Assyrian, dramatized in tragic strain and so veiled the whole drama touching the devil) — but that, once the Lord had come and it was plainly made known that the eternal fire was laid up and prepared for the devil and his angels, he ceases not to plot against the faithful, wishing to have many partners in his own apostasy, that he may not be put to shame alone in bearing it, propping himself up with this cold and envious consolation.[5]Knowing that the same afflictions of sufferings are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. It seems that those to whom Peter wrote these things were held fast by many afflictions for Christ’s sake; and throughout the Epistle, above and below, he consoles them in this matter: there, by their becoming partakers of the Lord’s sufferings and heirs of the glory that is revealed; here, by their not suffering alone, but together with all the faithful throughout the world.

⁴ But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Both at the beginning of the Epistle he said that the Father had shown us mercy through the Son, and now, in concluding, he teaches that the same Father has called us through the Son; for this is their aim, to proclaim the mystery, even though they do this together with exhortation.

⁵ By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand. The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son. Greet ye one another with a kiss of love. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.[6] Exceedingly faithful was this Silvanus, and he strove eagerly for the preaching of the Gospel, seeing that Paul also makes mention of him and takes him as a fellow-worker together with Timothy in his Epistles, writing: Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus. — And he names Rome “Babylon,” on account of the renown which Babylon too possessed for a long time; and by “elect” he means the Church of God that was established in Rome. By “Marcus” he means the Evangelist, whom he also calls “son” according to the Spirit, not according to the flesh. To him also he entrusted the writing of the Gospel. And whereas Paul, writing “Salute one another,” says “with an holy kiss,” this man says “with a kiss of love,” meaning the same thing as Paul. For Paul too knows that love according to the Lord is greater than all the virtues, and greater even than martyrdom for Christ’s sake. The one, then, says “an holy kiss,” that is, the kiss in God; and this one says “a kiss of love,” the kiss of true love. Therefore he also adds: Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus; not speaking of the common peace that is among men, but he prays that they may attain that peace which Christ also vouchsafed to them as He went forth to His Passion, saying: Peace I leave with you; and adding the difference, not as the world giveth. For we must be at peace not through carnal passion, but because, being bound together by love, we may thus await the darts of the adversaries. And everywhere the disciples of the Lord, setting their closing prayer like a seal at the end, and so displaying the genuineness of their own holiness — some of those before us ventured to declare this Mark to be the son of the divine Peter[7], taking as evidence what is said by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, that this Peter, when he had been marvelously cast out of the prison by an angel of God into which Herod had thrown him, and was released from the angel’s charge, came to the house of the mother of John whose surname was Mark; as though he had returned to his own house and to the wife who bore the same name.[8]

⁶ The First Catholic Epistle of the Apostle Peter; written from Rome; 216 stichoi.[9]