Expositor's Bible Commentary 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” (GK 4565) are the leaders of the local congregations. The institution of a group of older and wiser men providing direction and rule goes back to the early days of Israel as a people. This was done both nationally and locally. Thus there were “elders” of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem as well as “elders” of local synagogues. The institution of elder-ship was adopted by the Jerusalem church (Acts 11:30; Acts 21:18), and Paul and Barnabas applied it to the local congregations they founded on their missionary journeys (Acts 14:23; 1 Timothy 3:1–7; Tit l:5ff.). Peter, therefore, addresses the elders because of their vital role in the life of the congregation.

In the Greek, this verse begins with “therefore.” Because of suffering and persecution, the need of pastoral leadership was important for the local churches. The early church utilized more people than the church today does (cf. Ephesians 4:12) and so put spiritual leadership in the hands of a plurality.

The basis of Peter’s exhortation to the elders is threefold: (1) He is their fellow elder. In Jn 21:15–19, Jesus charged Peter with the care of his sheep. (2) He is a witness (GK 3459) of Christ’s sufferings. It is possible Peter is referring here to the sufferings of Jesus that he had seen, though the stress is on the testimony (or witness) he gives to those sufferings (cf. Lk 24:45-48; Acts 1:8). (3) He is a sharer of the coming glory. It is notable that Peter does not issue commands as an apostle (much less as a “pope”) but speaks as a fellow elder (cf. also John in 2Jn 1; 3Jn 1).