1 Peter 5:5-11

1 Peter 5:5-11

Analysis:—Exhortation, addressed especially to the younger, to subjection, and to all, to continued humility, to submissiveness to the hand of God, to faithfulness and vigilance, and thus to resist the devil. God Himself will then perfect and strengthen them.

5Likewise, ye younger,17submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject18 one to another, and be clothed19 with humility:20for God resisteth21 the proud and 22giveth grace to the humble. 6Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand 7of God, that he may exalt you in due time23: Casting24 all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 8Be sober, be vigilant; because25 your adversary the devil, as a roaring 9lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.26 Whom resist steadfast27 in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions28 are accomplished29 in your brethren30 that are in the world.31 10But the God of all grace, who hath called us32 unto his eternal glory by33 Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while,34 make you perfect, 11stablish,35 strengthen, settle36 you. To him be glory37 and dominion for ever and ever.38 Amen.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1 Peter 5:5. Likewise ye younger - - the elder.—ὁμοίως, as in 1 Peter 3:7, leads to the corresponding duty of the younger members of the Church in general. These are not laymen, but the younger members of the Church in general. The antithesis would seem to warrant taking πρεσβύτεροι as describing the aged members of the Church, but this would involve understanding πρεσβύτεροι in a sense different from 1 Peter 5:1; moreover ὁμοίως would conflict with such an interpretation. They are accordingly elders in office, who were, as we have already shown, generally also elders in years. At the same time, it may be assumed that all the elder persons were to take a voluntary part in some, though not in all the functions of presbyters. πρεσβύτεροι and νεώτεροι denote, therefore, the contrast between those who were either bound to lead, or might voluntarily do it, and those who were led and obeying. The view of Weiss, who understands by νεώτεροι or νεανίσκοι, Acts 5:6; Acts 5:10, of young persons who were to assist the elders in outward ministrations, is hardly tenable, at least on the ground on which he puts it. πάντες δὲ in what follows, embraces πρεσβύτεροι and νεώτεροι, and is not antithetical to the latter. Could a small portion of the Church only be exhorted to be subject to the presbyters? This would, at all events, necessitate the idea of official subordination in a narrowed sense. Such an observance in other Churches is also doubtful. [Alford, who takes a similar view, expresses it with more clearness and logical force. He says: “As the name πρεσβύτεροι had an official sense, viz.: superintendents, of the Church, so νεώτεροι likewise describes those who were the ruled, the disciples of the πρεσβύτεροι. Thus taken, it will mean here, the rest of the Church as opposed to πρεσβύτεροι.—M.]—ὑποτάγητε, cf. 1 Peter 2:13; 1 Peter 2:18; 1 Peter 3:1. Calvin:—“Nothing is more repugnant to the mind of man (in his fallen state) than to be subject.”

Yea all.—πάντες δὲ, inferiors are to subject themselves to superiors, wives to their husbands, children to their parents, slaves to their masters, yea, in a certain sense, all to all, cf. Philippians 2:3; Ephesians 5:21; Romans 12:10. This subordination, which is insisted upon as a principal point in the order of the Christian commonwealth, must be founded on humble submission to God, cf. Matthew 20:27; Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14.

And clothe yourselves with humility.—τὴν ταπεινοφροσύνην, lowliness of mind, which to the heathen was vile, brokenness of a proud heart, the opposite of ὑψηλἁ φρονεῖν, Romans 12:16; cf. Philippians 2:3; Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:12.—ἐγκομβοῦσθαι from κόμβος, a string or band to tie something with, to fasten it, a knot, or from ἐγκόμβωμα, explained by Pollux, according to Riemer, of a white apron or frock worn over the clothes to keep them clean, like the dusters used by coachmen and travellers. It was a garment usually worn by slaves. Calvin and others consider it to denote a show-dress, but this cannot be proved. Calov combines the two ideas: “We are to put on humility as a garment (cf. Colossians 3:12) and have it fastened tight to us.” [His language, literally translated, is somewhat ludicrous: “We should be buttoned up tight in it.”—M.]—We should be thoroughly surrounded by it, have it fit close all round, and suffer nobody to tear it away from us (cf. John 13:5, etc.,), even if it should be regarded as a servile garment. [Alford renders ἐγκομβώσασθε, gird on, from ἐγκόμβωμα, used for a kind of girdle by Longus, Pastoralia, 2, 33, and Pollux, 4, 119. See in Wetstein.—M.]

Because God opposeth Himself to the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.—The Apostle gives the reason for his exhortation in a citation from Proverbs 3:34, in the LXX., the only variation being the substitution of ό Θεός for κύριος, cf. James 5:6; Proverbs 29:23; Job 22:29.—ὑπερηφάνοις, Heb. לֵצִים, scorners, haughty, insolent men, unmindful of God, and proudly looking down upon others, Luke 1:51; Romans 1:30; 2 Timothy 3:2. “They assault, as it were, the honour of God in seizing that which belongs to God. Other sins fly from God, pride only opposes itself to God; other sins crush men, pride only raises them against God. Hence God also, in His turn, opposes Himself to the proud.” Gerhard. [Alford quotes the saying of Artabamus to Xerxes, Herod., 7:10, ὁρᾷς τὰ ὑπερέχοντα ζῶα ὡς κεραυνοῖ ὁ Θεός, οὐδὲ ἐᾷ φαντάζεσθαι, τὰ δὲ σμικρὰ οὐδὲν μν κνίξει; … φιλέει γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς τὰ ὑπερέ χοντα πάντα κολούειν.—M.].—ἀντινάσσεται, He opposes Himself to them as with an army. This sentiment was known to some extent to the better among the heathen, because the history of the world proves it. See Steiger, cf. Daniel 4:34.—ταπεινοῖς= עָנִי, the lowly, those who acknowledge their vileness, and consider themselves mean and low.—δίδωσι χάριν = חֶן, His good pleasure rests upon them, and He gives them proofs of it, cf. Genesis 6:8; Genesis 18:3; Luke 1:30; Luke 2:52; Acts 2:47.—“The proud who persist in offering Him armed resistance, are struck down by His mighty hand.” Gerhard. “There are, as it were, two hands of God under which we must humble ourselves, the one abases the proud, the other exalts the humble.” Augustine. [“Humilitas est vas gratiarum.” ibid.—M.]

1 Peter 5:6. Humble yourselves therefore.—A new inference drawn from the citation from the Old Testament and the concluding exhortation. The Apostle once more reverts to suffering and causes, says Besser, the light of the citation to shine on the darkness of suffering of the Church.—ταπεινώθητε = bow yourselves in humility, recognize your impotence and the might of God; submit yourselves to Him quietly and willingly.

Under the mighty hand of God.—An allusion to 1 Peter 4:17, to the impending judgments. He can put down and exalt, kill and make alive, wound and heal, Acts 4:28; Acts 4:30; Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:6; 2 Kings 5:7; Deuteronomy 3:24; Exodus 14:31; Exodus 3:19; Exodus 32:11; Luke 1:51. He reveals His chastising hand also to believers in the sufferings which He sends for their refining and trial.

That He may exalt you in His time.—ἵνα ὑμᾶς, in order that in you may be fulfilled that law of the kingdom of God, “he that shall humble himself, shall be exalted,” Matthew 23:12.—ὑψοῦν = to raise from the dust, to comfort and help, to advance to honour from disgrace, to joy from grief, 1 Peter 1:6-7; cf. James 4:7; James 4:10.—ἐν καιρῷ (Lachmann adds ἐπισκοπῆς [A and many versions.—M.], probably a later addition from 1 Peter 2:12) in the time appointed, the right time, here on earth or hereafter without any reference to our time.

1 Peter 5:7. Casting all your care upon Him.—Holy freedom from all anxious care is essential to submission to God. “The mighty hand of God is in the service of a Father’s heart for He careth for you.” Besser:—ἐπιῤῥίψαντες from Psalms 55:23. ἐπιῤῥπτω = גָּלַל and שָׁלַךְ to roll a burden, cf. Psalms 22:11; Psalms 37:5; Matthew 6:25-34; Philippians 4:6, to cast upon, to, over, Luke 19:25; Luke 12:22.—”We cast our cares upon God in believing prayer and tell Him the need which excites our care, as children are wont to confide their grief to their father. We implore His help, remembering His mercy and His mighty hand. And He is not implored in vain.” Roos:—“Hence we must not struggle long with the burden of our cares but ease ourselves at once by earnest heart-yearning and fervent sighing.” Calov: “μέριμνα from μέρος, μερίζω, care, as it were, divides the heart into different parts, drawing it hither and thither.—πᾶσαν τὴν, anxiety in its entireness, the whole of it, undivided and without any reserve whatsoever; great cares and small ones, cares seen or hidden, pour them out before Him.

Because He careth for you.—μέλει, because He has you at heart, He has taken it upon Himself to care for you; not a hair of your head shall perish without His will, Luke 21:18; Matthew 10:30.—[περὶ ὑμῶν. περί after verbs of caring denotes about. As to the distinction between περί and ὑπέρ, Weber, Demosth. p. 230, says: “περί solam mentis circumspectionem vel respectum rei, ὑπέρ simul animi propensionem etc. significat.” See Winer p. 390.—M.]. “Believers daily ascend Mount Moriah with Abraham, appropriating as their motto, the words, ‘God will provide,’ Genesis 22:8. The Lord will provide on that mountain, that is on the mountain of Divine Providence, whence cometh our help, Psalms 121:0” Gerhard.

1 Peter 5:8. Be sober, be vigilant.—That freedom from care must not degenerate into apathy, for we are still in the Church militant, not yet in the Church triumphant. To the care which troubles from within must be added the temptations which come from the kingdom of darkness. Hence the Apostle exhorts them anew to sobriety and vigilance, 1 Peter 4:8; 1 Peter 1:13. “Let this be your care.” Bengel.—νήψατε, γρηγορήσατε, go inseparably together, hence no copulative. γρηγοσήσατε cf. Luke 21:34; Luke 21:36. This watching consists, says Calov, in the prudence by which we avoid the lying in wait of Satan, in the shunning of false security and of sins and in the throwing out of sentinels, Ephesians 6:11; Matthew 24:42; Matthew 25:13; 1 Corinthians 16:13. The exhortation based upon the words of our Lord, springs simultaneously from the Apostle’s own experience, Matthew 26:40-41; Luke 22:45; cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:6. [Augustine: “Corde vigila, fide vigila, spe vigila, caritate vigila, operibus vigila.”—M.]

Your adversary.—The exposition which sees in “adversary” human slanderers, (Hensler and others) needs no refutation. Satan is called absolutely the adversary of believers, who stands up as the champion of law when he opposes them, their enemy, Matthew 13:39; John 8:44; Revelation 12:10; the prince of this world, Eph 2:2; 2 Corinthians 4:4; John 16:11; John 12:31; John 14:30; Acts 26:18; 2Th 2:9; 1 John 3:8. He is the declared opponent, both of Christ and of His members. He is the accuser of the brethren, Revelation 12:10; cf. Job 1:6, etc.

Walketh about.—As in Job 1:7, he is said to go to and fro in the earth, so here he is said to walk about, which applies not to visible appearings, but to his operations by his instruments. Scripture indeed teaches that the evil spirits are confined in hell, 2 Peter 2:4; Judges 6:0; Luke 8:31; but they are bound only in respect of their visible appearing, while they rule invisibly in the regions of the air, Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 6:12; in darkness, they roam over desert places, Matthew 12:43-44; Luke 11:24; and influence man mediately and immediately, Luke 22:23; John 13:27.

As a roaring lion.—The lion, according to Pliny, roars most violently, when he is hungry. Elsewhere Satan is compared with a serpent, on account of his cunning, 2 Corinthians 11:3; Revelation 12:9; Revelation 20:2; here, with a lion on account of his cruelty and boldness, his power and strength, and his lust of injury. “When furious Jews and mad heathens began a persecution of the Christians, or attacked individual Christians, or simply threatened them, it was the devil’s work, who then showed himself as a roaring lion. But since such things happened here and there, he is described as a roaring lion who walketh about. His object is to terrify and to tear, but especially to tear. His terrifying consisted of old in menacings, threatening edicts and anathemas, his tearing in executions.”—Roos. [Gerhard: “Comparatur diabolus leoni famelico et præ impatientia famis rugienti, quia perniciem nostram inexplebiliter appetit, nec ulla præda ei sufficit.”—M.]

Seeking whom he may devour.—Cf. Mat 23:34; 1 Corinthians 15:32; Hebrews 11:36. The comparison relates to both.—καταπίνειν, to drink greedily, to gulp or swallow down. He cannot devour every body, move them to fall away from Christ into sin, but only those who are not sober and vigilant. “The enemy and opponent of the Church despises those who are already in his power, whom he has estranged from the Church and led away captive and conquered. He passes them over, and continues to tempt those of whom he knows that Christ dwells in them.”—Cyprian.

1 Peter 5:9. Whom resist firm in the faith.—How shall we offer resistance to this powerful enemy? 1. In firm faith. 2. In the thought that such suffering is not peculiar, but the universal lot of Christians.—ἀντίστητε. James 4:7, cites the same passage; Proverbs 3:34, has the same exhortation, “Submit yourselves therefore to God;” cf. 1 Peter 5:10, and the charge: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” This circumstance renders the reference of the one Epistle to the other very probable.—”Resist him, in order to drive him back when he attacks us. The Lion of the tribe of Judah is more mighty by far than the lion of hell. His victory and His might become our own through faith.” Calov. Ephesians 3:16; John 15:4; 1 Corinthians 6:17.—“Unbelievers fear the devil as a lion, the strong in faith despise him as a worm.” Isidor. “Victory over Satan lies in faith, because faith unites us to Christ, the victor. By faith the devil is driven to flight as is the lion by fire.” Gerhard.—στερεοί, firm, immovable in faith, in faithful cleaving to Christ and His word; cf. Acts 16:5; Romans 4:20; Colossians 2:5; Colossians 2:7; Ephesians 6:16; Ephesians 4:14.

Knowing that the self-same sufferings—in the world.—εἰδότες, cf. 1 Peter 1:18; 1 Peter 3:9.—τὰ αὐτὰ, the same kind of sufferings of trial. The thought that these sufferings are common to all the brethren, is designed to warn against the conceit that they are rejected by God and man, that they are either extraordinary sinners or uncommon saints; cf. 1 Corinthians 10:13.—ἀδελφότητι, 1 Peter 2:13.—ἐν κόσμῳ, to indicate the reason of their sufferings. You live in an imperfect world, among transitory things, and with the children of unbelief, John 9:5.—ἐπιτελεῖσθαι, used of the payment and discharge of taxes and debts; of the discharge and completion of some business or combat. The ideas of payment of debt and completion may be combined; they are endured by your brethren with a view to their completion (perfecting, so German) by the appointment of God.—τῇ . for ὑπὸ τῆς . De Wette and others take it as the Dative of the more remote object [i. e., the Dative of reference.—M.] as in γίνεσθαι ὑμῖν, 1 Peter 4:12; so Wiesinger. “They not only are partakers of our sufferings, but our confederates in prayer and in combating the enemy.”—Calov.

1 Peter 5:10. But the God of all grace.—A final promise full of rich consolation. χάρις denotes here, as in 1 Peter 4:10, a Divine gift of grace, πάσης involving a plurality of gifts, cf. 1 Peter 3:7; James 1:17; 1 Corinthians 12:6; Hebrews 4:16; 2 Corinthians 5:18; 2 Corinthians 1:3; Romans 15:5. “He is the source of all grace and of all goods.” Gerhard. “With the idea of Him [i. e., God.—M.] there is indissolubly united whatsoever is called grace.” Steiger.

Who hath called you, ὁ καλέσας ἡμᾶς (Lachmann and Tischendorf read ὑμας, which is the more authentic reading). His call discloses to us His gracious disposition. He will complete that which He has begun, cf. 1 Peter 1:15.

Unto his eternal glory in Christ Jesus.—The Divine act of calling us to that glory contains the earnest, that every thing will so come to pass as to take us forward to the end [τέλος,—M.] of the calling. καλέσας belongs to ἐν χριστῷ Ιησοῦ not to ὀλίγον παθόντας.—αἰώνιον δόξαν, 1 Peter 5:1; 1Pe 4:13; 1 Peter 1:11; 1 Peter 1:5.—ἐν χριστῷ. In His power, for His sake and by His word, Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 3:11; 2 Timothy 1:9, as the calling also takes place with reference to Him, cf. Galatians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:14.

When ye have suffered a little while.—ὀλίγον παθόντας are rightly connected by Steiger with what has gone before in the sense: which glory will come to pass in the natural order, after we have suffered a little, or on condition that we have suffered a little, 1 Peter 3:14; Romans 8:18. So Wiesinger, cf. Philippians 1:6.—ὀλίγον, time as contrasted with infinite eternity, 1 Peter 1:6. Gerhard: “The Apostle shows that from the same fountain of grace proceed both the first calling to heavenly glory and the ultimate consummation of this benefit.”

Himself will perfect you.—(The Fut. Indic. of this and the following verbs is preferable to the Optat.). καταρτίσει from ἄρτιος, complete, perfect of its kind, ready. He will perfect your deficiencies, make you ready in every sense, “so that no defect remain in you.” Bengel. Cf. Hebrews 13:21; 1 Thessalonians 3:10; 2 Corinthians 13:11.

Confirm, στηρίζειν =to prop, make fast, to give firm stay and support to what is tottering, Luke 22:32 : Romans 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 3:2; 2 Peter 1:12; James 5:8. “Nothing shall cause you to shake.” Bengel.

Strengthen, σθενώσει from σθένος, might, bodily strength, hence to impart spiritual might, to strengthen spiritually. Gerhard thinks of the figure of a castle which is fortified, cf. 1 Peter 5:9.

Ground, θεμελιώσει (Lachmann omits ὑμᾶς and θεμελιώσει. Tischendorf also omits the former), θεμελιόω, to found, fasten in the ground (fix as on a foundation), render strong, Matthew 7:25; Luke 6:48; Hebrews 1:10; figuratively, Ephesians 3:17; Col 1:23; 1 Corinthians 15:58; 1 Peter 2:4; 2 Timothy 2:19. Take note of the intrinsic development and rise of these verbs.

To Him is the glory and the might.—αὐτῷ ἡ δοξά. Expression of gratitude for these exhibitions of grace; men dare not take any share of the credit to themselves.—κράτος, the might, the rule, the authority which He employs in our preparation, Ephesians 3:20; 1 Timothy 6:16; Hebrews 13:21. The glory of God is the ultimate purpose of all.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Classical antiquity holds along with the recognition of the truth that God opposes Himself to the proud, the error which the prince of darkness threw into the heart of our parents, that the Deity is an envious Being, who, from jealousy, is impatient of any exaltation (Germ. Höhe) alongside His own. So in Herodotus, Lucanus. Many productions of modern literature, and many opinions of degraded men, exhibit just such suspicious thoughts.

2. Mute resignation, as found among fatalists, is infinitely different from that believing submission to the appointments of God, which Holy Scripture requires.3. The teaching of Peter concerning the influence of Satan, decidedly annihilates the distortion of the truth, which here and there is advanced in our time, that the power of Satan ceased with the advent of Christ. Satan asks, says Calvin, nothing better than to be able to attack and capture us unawares. How could he better gain his end than by deceiving us into the belief of his non-existence, so as to deprive us of all fear of him.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Humility is like Jacob’s ladder, which leads from earth to heaven. 1. Its ground; 2. Its manifestation.—The Christian’s art of casting his care upon God. “Oh, he that can thoroughly learn this casting will experience the truth of Peter’s assertions. But he that does not learn this casting remains a cast-away, a broken and subjugated man, an outcast and cast off.” Luther.—Grace is a river which flows downwards.—Humility, the most precious attire.—The mighty hand of the wrath and grace of God.—The Christian’s way leads from the crowd to open space, from the depth to the height.—As the devil tempts men especially to unbelief, so he can only be resisted with firm faith.—The most powerful consolation is in the cross.

Starke:—Humility, the most lowly virtue, is the highest in value, for it brings grace; rain moistens the deep valleys; lowly violets are fragrant. Pride, the portrait of Satan, and an abomination to God; a poison which mars and corrupts whatever is good. Flee, soul, from this serpent, which has bitten many saints, and, as it were, cast them out of heaven.—Art thou high, God is higher; strong, God is stronger; mighty, God is more mighty; eminent, God is majestic. Thou art under (less than) God, humble thyself under Him. Sir 3:20.—We must suffer before we can come to honour, and God tests our humility by suffering, to see whether it be worthy of honour, Proverbs 15:33.—Humility is not a meritorious cause of exaltation, but a way to it, Colossians 3:3-4.—We must cast our care upon God not only in things temporal but also in things spiritual, especially in what belongs to the state of grace. Then we may feel assured that in God’s might, through faith, we shall be preserved unto salvation, 1 Peter 1:5.—Man is like a pilgrim passing through a forest inhabited by bears and lions, and lodging at a place which is the home of robbers and murderers. Satan, holding unbelievers already in his power and in his claws, directs his most earnest endeavours against the godly.—Burdening oneself with eating and drinking, cares of living, and fleshly security, opens the gate and the door to the devil, that he may catch and ruin men.—Satan is strongly armed, but vincible. Faith is the best weapon, arm thyself with it for offensive and defensive warfare, Ephesians 6:16.—Nobody suffers anything new, singular or strange. Others before you also have made experience of it; the devil does not remit it to any.—Believers must always be combating, if not with men, yet with the devil and his angels. Earthly weapons are of no avail, but faith conduces to victory, Job 7:1; Hebrews 11:30, etc.—High calling of men! not to a royal wedding, not to the receiving of a transitory heritage but to the eternal glory of God. O what riches! what honour and grace! 1 Thessalonians 2:12.—Thou thinkest that thou hast to suffer a long time: vain conceit! Is not thy whole life short, how then can thy suffering be long? 2 Corinthians 4:17.—Everything with God, from God, to God! Isaiah 40:29.—He who always talks of his human weakness as presenting a barrier to earnestness in the Christian life is virtually denying the God of all grace. Revelation 21:8.

Roos:—Confirming is opposed to being overpowered by outward sufferings and inward temptations; strengthening to weakness, timidity and want of courage exhibited in the confession of the name of Christ, and in doing His will. Grounding is an exhibition of grace, whereby Christ and the Gospel preached by the Apostles, are made so clear to the soul, that it always knows why it does or suffers anything.

Herberger:—1. What should be our deportment in adversity, and in evil days? 2. What should be our deportment in prosperity and in good days? 3. What we ought to say, if fortune smiles or frowns on us?

Stier:—The way in which we must persevere, after having come to Christ, and the great perils of this way. These are: 1. The pride of our own heart; 2. the temptation and seduction in the world around us.

Kapff:—The great blessing of humility. 1. It finds favour with God and with men; 2. it is a power against Satan; 3. it imparts strength in suffering.

Staudt:—How one resists the adversary: 1. By humility; 2. by freedom from care; 3. by sobriety; 4. with a firm faith; 5. with the remembrance of these sufferings of the brethren, of the calling to glory and of the faithful and mighty God.

[Leighton:

1 Peter 5:5. The hoary head is indeed a crown; but when? when found in the way of righteousness, Proverbs 16:31. There it shines and has a kind of royalty over youth: otherwise a graceless old age is a most despicable and lamentable sight. What gains an unholy old man or woman, by their scores of years, but the more scores of guiltiness and misery? And their white hairs speak nothing but whiteness for wrath.

Humility.—That the Christian put on that (the thing itself), not the appearance of it, to act in as a stage-garment, but the truth of it, as their constant habit, be clothed with humility. It must appear in your outward carriage. … It is seen as a modest man’s or woman’s apparel, which they wear not for that end, that it may be seen, and do not gaudily flaunt and delight in dressing; though there is a decency as well as necessity, which they do and may have respect to, yet that in so neat and unaffected a way, that they are a good example, even in that point. Thus humility in carriage and words is as the decorum of this clothing, but the main end is the real usefulness of it.—Rebecca’s beauty and jewels were covered with a veil; but when they did appear, the veil set them off and commended them, though at a distance it hid them.—O humility! the virtue of Christ, (that which He so peculiarly espoused) how dost thou confound the vanity of our pride!—One says well, “that he who carries other graces without humility, carries a precious powder in wind without a cover.”

But He giveth grace.—Pours it out plentifully upon humble hearts. His sweet dews and showers of grace slide off the mountains of pride and fall on the low valleys of humble hearts and make them pleasant and fertile.

1 Peter 5:6. His gracious design is to make much room for grace by much humbling. …. It is necessary time and pains that is given to the unballasting of a ship, casting out the earth and sand, when it is to be laden with spices. We must be emptied more, if we would have of that fulness and riches which we are longing for.

1 Peter 5:7. The whole golden mines of all spiritual comfort and good are His, the spirit itself. Then will He not furnish what is fit for thee, if thou humbly attend on Him and lay the care of providing for thee upon His wisdom and love? This were the sure way to honour Him with what we have, and to obtain much of what we have not; for certainly He deals best with those that do most absolutely refer all to Him.

1 Peter 5:8-9. That we may watch, it concerns us to be sober. The instruction is military, and a drunken soldier is not fit to be on the watch.

1 Peter 5:10. As the first, perfect, implies more clearly than the rest, their advancement in victory over their remaining corruptions and infirmities and their progress towards perfection. Stablish has more express reference to both the inward lightness and inconstancy than is natural to us, the counter-blasts of persecutions and temptatations and to outward oppositions, and imports the curing of the one and support against the other. Strengthen, the growth of other graces, especially gaining of further measures of those graces wherein they are weakest and lowest. And settle, though it seems the same, and in substance is the same with the other word stablish, yet it adds somewhat to it very considerably; for it signifies to found or fix upon a sure foundation, and so indeed may have an aspect to Him who is the foundation and strength of believers, on whom they build by faith, even Jesus Christ, in whom we have all both victory over sin and increase of grace, establishment of spirit, and power to persevere against all difficulties and assaults, Isaiah 28:16; Matthew 7:24-29.—M.]

[1 Peter 5:5. Beware of the pride of humility. 1 Peter 5:7. Most of our cares are either imaginary or about unnecessaries. Faith and trust in God, the infallible remedy for them.

1 Peter 5:8. Our enemy is expert in the variation of his tactics; defeated, he is even more dangerous than victorious. οὐ δίδωσιν , οὐδέ νικών, οὐδέ νικώ μενος. Plato in Vita Marcel.

1 Peter 5:9. The motives to resistance are thus strongly put by Tertullian, Lib. ad Martyr, 1 Peter 3:0 : “Stat conflictus conspector et victoriæ, Agonothetes, Deus vivus: Xystarches, Spiritus Sanctus: Epistates, Christus Jesus: Corona, æternitatis brabium, angelicæ in cœlis substantiæ politia, gloria in secula seculorum.”

1 Peter 5:10. The God of all grace.—Mohammed heads every surat or chapter (with the exception of one) of the Korân with the words Bismillahi, arrahmani arraheemi, signifying, “In the name of the most merciful God,” or, as some prefer, “In the name of the God of all grace.” Savary says: “This formula is expressly recommended in the Korân. The Mohammedans pronounce it whenever they slaughter an animal, at the commencement of their reading and of all important actions. It is with them that which the sign of the cross is with Christians. Gidab, one of their celebrated authors, says, that when these words were sent down from heaven, the clouds fled on the side of the east, the winds were lulled, the sea was moved, the animals erected their ears to listen, the devils were precipitated from the celestial spheres,” etc.—M.]

[1 Peter 5:5. Parkhurst: The original word, here rendered “be clothed,” is very beautiful and expressive. It signifies to clothe properly with an outer ornamental garment tied loosely upon the wearer with knots. And it implies, that the humility of Christians, which is one of the most ornamental graces of their profession, should constantly appear in all their conversation, so as to strike the eye of every beholder, and that this amiable grace should be so closely connected with their persons, that no occurrence, temptation or calamity should be able to strip them of it.—M.]

[1 Peter 5:8. Stanhope: Be sober; the advice comprises not only a temperate use of the creatures appointed for our sustenance and refreshment, but the government of our passions and desires in general, with respect to any objects or events whatsoever, which in this present life are wont to provoke them to violence and excess.—M.]

Footnotes:

1 Peter 5:5; 1 Peter 5:5. [ὑποτάγητε=be subject.—M.]

1 Peter 5:5; 1 Peter 5:5. [Rec. after ἀλλήλοις inserts ὑποτασσόμενοι, with K. L.; A. B., Sinait. and many versions omit it.—M.] So also Lachmann and Tischendorf; in that case, translate, “yea, all gird on humility to one another.”

1 Peter 5:5; 1 Peter 5:5. [ἐγκομβώσσθε, to bind a thing on oneself, wear it constantly; the sense is, wear humility as a garment, and retaining the translation of E. V., render: “clothe yourselves with humility.” For the etymology of the word, see note below.—M.]

1 Peter 5:5; 1 Peter 5:5. [ὄτι=because.—M.]

1 Peter 5:5; 1 Peter 5:5. [ἀντιτάσσεται=setteth himself in opposition to, i. e., opposeth himself to.—M.]

1 Peter 5:5; 1 Peter 5:5. [δὲ=but, not ‘and.’—M.]

1 Peter 5:6; 1 Peter 5:6. [ἐν καιρῷ=in His time (Germ.), in the time appointed, καιρός, an anarthrous concrete, Winer, p. 136.—M.]

1 Peter 5:7; 1 Peter 5:7. [πᾶσαν τήν μέριμναν=all your care, that is, in its entironess, once for all, so as to render the recurrence of it impossible.—M.]

1 Peter 5:8; 1 Peter 5:8. [Rec., with L., inserts ὅτι before ἀντίδικος.—M.]

1 Peter 5:8; 1 Peter 5:8. [K. L. and others have τίνα καταπιεῖν; Sin. καταπῖν.—M.]

1 Peter 5:9; 1 Peter 5:9. [στερεοί=firm, better than stedfast.—M.]

1 Peter 5:9; 1 Peter 5:9. [τὰ αὐτὰ τῶν παθημάτων=the self-same sufferings; this construction occurs no where else in the New Testament.—M.]

1 Peter 5:9; 1 Peter 5:9. [ἐπιτελεῖσθαι=are being accomplished, in course of accomplishment.—M.]

1 Peter 5:9; 1 Peter 5:9. [ἀδελφότητι=brotherhood.—M.]

1 Peter 5:9; 1 Peter 5:9. [Translate the whole verse: “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour; whom (to whom offer resistance) resist, firm in the faith, knowing that the self-same sufferings are being accomplished by your brotherhood in the world.”—M.]

1 Peter 5:10; 1 Peter 5:10. [Rec., with K. and several versions, reads ἡ μᾶς, but A. B. L. and others have ὑμᾶς; so also Sinait.—M.]

1 Peter 5:10; 1 Peter 5:10. [ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ=in (not by) Christ Jesus.—M.]

1 Peter 5:10; 1 Peter 5:10. [ὀλίγον παθόντας=when ye have suffered a little while.—M.]

1 Peter 5:10; 1 Peter 5:10. [Rec., with K. L., inserts ὑμᾶς after καταρτίσει; A. B. and others omit it. στηρίξει=to confirm, establish.—M.]

1 Peter 5:10; 1 Peter 5:10. [θεμελιώσει=ground you, fix you on a foundation.—M.]

1 Peter 5:11; 1 Peter 5:11. [Translate: “To Him is glory,” preferable to the Subjunctive. Rec., with K. L., etc., reads ἡ δόξα καὶ before τὸ κράτος.—M.]

1 Peter 5:11; 1 Peter 5:11. [εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων=unto the ages of the ages. B. omits the last words.—M.]