Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Peter 5:1

"The elders among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:" — 1 Peter 5:1 (ASV)

The elders which are among you . . .—The best text preserves the word “therefore” after “elders.” In view, that is, of these hopes and threats, of the present persecution, and of the coming judgment, St. Peter gives his solemn charge to those who shared with him the responsibility of office in the Church. The word rendered “exhort” is that common New Testament word (parakalô), which we miss in English, including encouragement and entreaty, and even consolation, as well as exhortation. (See, for example, Acts 4:36.) The whole of this Epistle is an example of such paraclesis.

Who am also an elder.—St. Peter is giving no irresponsible advice. He knows by experience the dangers that beset the office. As the foremost Christian leader, and writing from the midst of the persecution already begun in Rome, the Asiatic elders could not regard his advice as that of some comfortable layman untouched by the difficulty. It can hardly be said, therefore, that this is an example of St. Peter’s humility, as if he recognized in himself no higher office than that of these presbyters. The effect is, on the contrary, to make the recipients of the Letter feel that he is using a strong argument à fortiori.

And a witness of the sufferings of Christ.—The Greek word calls attention not so much to the fact of his having been a spectator, an eyewitness, but rather to the fact of his bearing testimony to the sufferings. Here again, too, it is in Greek “the sufferings of the Christ.” (See Note on 1 Peter 1:11.) Not only did St. Peter know, by holding office himself, what the dangers of office were, but he was able to testify how the Messiah Himself, the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, had suffered, from which it was natural to conclude that all Christians also were destined to suffer.

And also a partaker of the glory . . .—This splendid assurance follows naturally from being a witness of the sufferings of the Christ. “I am in as much danger as any of you,” the Apostle says, “but I can testify that the Christ Himself suffered in this way, and therefore I knew that we who suffer with Him are even now partakers of the glory, though a veil at present hides it.” St. Peter insists in the same way on our present possession of what will not be shown to us for a time in 1 Peter 1:5.

On verses 1-11:

FURTHER EXHORTATIONS SUGGESTED BY THE CRISIS.—The officers of the community are not to flinch from the duties imposed upon them, nor to perform them in any spirit of self-assertion. The laity, on the other hand, are to observe discipline. Indeed, mutual submission is the only safeguard in the face of a common danger. An unbroken front must be presented, and the sense of brotherhood fostered.