Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Peter 5:2

"Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to [the will of] God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;" — 1 Peter 5:2 (ASV)

Feed the flock of God. Discharge the duties of a shepherd towards the flock. On the word feed, see Barnes' notes on John 21:15.

It is a word which Peter would be likely to remember, from the solemn manner in which the injunction to perform the duty was laid on him by the Savior. The direction means to take such an oversight of the church as a shepherd is accustomed to take of his flock. See Barnes' notes on John 10:1 and following.

Which is among you. The marginal reading is, as much as in you is. The translation in the text is more correct. It means the churches which were among them, or over which they were called to preside.

Taking the oversight of it—episkopountev. The fair translation of this word is, discharging the episcopal office; and the word implies all that is ever implied by the word bishop in the New Testament. This idea should have been expressed in the translation. The meaning is not merely to take the oversight—for that might be done in a subordinate sense by anyone in office—but it is to take such an oversight as is implied in the episcopate, or by the word bishop.

The words episcopate, episcopal, and episcopacy are merely the Greek word used here and its correlatives transferred to our language. The sense is that of overseeing, taking the oversight of, looking after (as of a flock); and the word originally has no reference to what is now spoken of as peculiarly the episcopal office.

It is a word strictly applicable to any minister of religion or officer of a church. In the passage before us, this duty was to be performed by those who, in 1 Peter 5:1, are called presbyters or elders. This is one of the numerous passages in the New Testament which prove that all that is properly implied in the performance of the episcopal functions pertained to those who were called presbyters or elders. If so, there was no higher grade of ministers to whom the peculiar duties of the episcopate were to be entrusted; that is, there was no class of officers corresponding to those who are now called bishops. Compare to Barnes' notes on Acts 20:28.

Not by constraint, but willingly. Do not act as if you felt that a heavy yoke was imposed on you, or a burden from which you would gladly be discharged. Go cheerfully to your duty as a work which you love, and act like a freeman in it, not as a slave. Arduous as the labors of the ministry are, yet there is no work on earth in which a person can and should labor more cheerfully.

Not for filthy lucre. This means shameful or dishonorable gain. See Barnes' notes on 1 Timothy 3:3.

But of a ready mind. This means cheerfully and promptly. We are to labor in this work, not under the influence of the desire for gain, but from the promptings of love.

There is all the difference conceivable between one who does a thing because he is paid for it and one who does it from love—between, for example, the manner in which one attends on us when we are sick who loves us, and one who is merely hired to do it. Such a difference exists in the spirit with which one who is actuated by mercenary motives, and one whose heart is in the work, will engage in the ministry.