least culpable last; and their compass embraces all that rightly might
come under the ban of the law or incur the just odium of society. To
suffer for such things would disgrace the Christian name; but there is
no shame in suffering as a Christian, but rather a reason for giving
glory to God. That the name was bestowed as a reproach seems probable
from Acts xi. 26, and still more from the mocking tone in which it is
used by Agrippa (Acts xxvi. 28); and in the earliest apologists we
find this confirmed. "The accusation against us," says Justin Martyr,
"is that we are Christians"; and in another place, "We ask that the
actions of all those who are accused before you should be examined, so
that he who is convicted may be punished as a malefactor, but not as a
Christian."
_But if a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let
him glorify God in this name._ That is, let him be thankful and show
his thankfulness that he has been called to bear the name of Christ
and to suffer for it. The Authorised Version, adopting a different
reading, has "on this behalf." But the sense is nothing different. He
is to rejoice that this lot has befallen him, for it is of God's great
mercy that we are purified here by trial; he who has not been tried
has not entered on the way of salvation. "Let me fall into the hand of
the Lord," was the petition of David; and they are more blessed who
feel that hand in their correction than those who are cut away from
it. It is a terrible lot to think of, if we be abandoned by Him to
worldly prosperity. St. Paul congratulates the Philippians "because to
them it had been granted, in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe
on Him, but also to suffer on His behalf" (Phil. i. 29); and to
another Church (Eph. iii. 13) he declares that his own tribulations,
endured for their sakes, ought to be to them a glory, because they
made known how precious those believers were in the sight of their
heavenly Father for whose sake He allowed another to be afflicted that
they might be drawn more effectually unto Him. And if this be so, how
much cause have they to bless and glorify God who may be permitted to
think that He is using their afflictions for a like purpose.
_For the time is come for judgement to begin at the house of God._ The
time is come. Why does the Apostle speak thus? Because the final era
of Divine revelation has begun. God has spoken unto men by His Son,
and He by His incarnation and death has brought life and immortality
to light. The new and living way is opened. We live in the fulness of
time, when the faithful, having the testimony of those who companied
with Christ, can love Him, though they see Him not, can rejoice in
Him, and can receive, with full assurance, the end of their faith,
even the salvation of their souls. Such souls have their judgement
here. With them God's judgement is neither postponed, nor is it penal.
It is disciplinary and corrective both for themselves and others. They
are the house of God, the pillar and ground of the truth, and can be
set forth as the salt of the earth, the light of the world. Of such
judgement and its purpose St. Paul also speaks to the Corinthians:
"When we" (the servants of Christ) "are judged" (by suffering in this
life), "we are chastened of the Lord, that we may not be condemned
with the world" (1 Cor. xi. 32). All chastening while it lasts is
grievous, yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that
have been exercised thereby. And by such chastisement God prepares Him
witnesses to the truth and preciousness of Christianity; and so long
as this time, which is now come, shall continue, so long will God try,
and make judgement of, His servants in every generation.
In St. Peter's words we have an echo of prophecy. When the hand of the
Lord carried Ezekiel in vision back from Babylon to Jerusalem, he
heard the voice of God commanding the destroyers, "Begin at My
sanctuary" (Ezek. ix. 6). Yet in that evil age some were found who had
been sighing and crying for all the abominations that were done in the
midst of the city. These holy ones, living in a naughty world, were
God's witnesses, feeling His judgements, but receiving His mark on
their foreheads, that they should not be destroyed with the sinners.
Years passed away, and at length the Lord of the Temple has Himself
come. He began His judgement at the house of God, casting out all that
defiled it. But it then had become a mere "house of merchandise"; nay,
at a later day He named it "a den of thieves." At last He left it for
ever. Then it ceased to be God's house, and though it was spared some
forty years, its fate was fixed when He went forth from it (Matt.
xxiv. 1, 2) and said that not one stone of it should be left upon
another. Henceforth He will have other temples in the hearts of those
who worship Him in spirit and in truth. These are now the house of
God. With them He exercises judgement constantly for their instruction
and amendment. But it shall turn unto them for a testimony in the end.
Not a hair of their head shall perish; in their patience they shall
win their souls.
_And if it begin first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey
not the gospel of God?_ The Apostle joins himself with those of the
house of God who will feel the pressure of temporal judgement. He is
not forgetful of the Lord's saying, "Simon, behold Satan asked to have
you that he might sift you as wheat, but I made supplication for thee
that thy faith fail not" (Luke xxii. 31). He knows that he will be
tried, but the end to him and all the faithful is that they may be
brought into the Father's home. To those who obey not the Gospel the
doom pronounced against the Temple answers the Apostle's question.
They have had their days of probation, and are like to Jerusalem at
the time of the Lord's lamentation, "If thou hadst known in this day
the things which belong unto peace! but now they are hid from thine
eyes" (Luke xx. 42). They cannot be said to disobey a law of which
they have not heard; the glad tidings have been preached unto them,
but have found no welcome. As of the doomed city, so of them, it may
be said, "Ye would not." After their hardness and their impenitent
heart, they have treasured up for themselves wrath in the day of the
revelation of the righteous judgement of God.
_And if the righteous scarcely is saved, where shall the ungodly and
sinner appear?_ The righteous is he who follows after righteousness,
but who feels that, in the midst of his efforts of faith, he needs to
cry, "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief." It is of God's mercy
that He accepts the aim and purpose of our lives, and counts not by
their results. All men are beset with temptation; in many things we
all offend. Works of righteousness bear the taint; they come many a
time from wrong motives. The best of us need both the Father's
chastisement, and, like Peter, the Saviour's prayers, and the Holy
Spirit's guidance. This is what the Apostle means by "scarcely saved."
By Divine help Christ's servants are brought nearer and nearer to the
ideal, "Be ye holy." But though they live not in sin, sin lives in
them; and the warfare with evil is not ended till the burden of the
flesh is laid aside. And as there are degrees in the progress of the
righteous up the hill of faith, so are there in the falling away of
the wicked; and St. Peter in his language appears to have had this in
mind, for of the ungodly and sinner he uses a verb in the singular
(φανεῖται). Where shall _he_ appear? The man begins as the
ungodly, a negative character: he thinks not of God; has no reverence
for His law; puts Him away from all his thoughts. But in this state
he will not long remain. There is no standing still in things
spiritual. He who does not advance goes backward, and the ungodly soon
becomes the wilful sinner. So sure is this development that the
Apostle combines the two aspects of the wicked man's life, and asks,
not, Where shall they, but Where shall he, appear?
For the judgement which for the righteous begins at God's house, and
is wrought out in the trials of this life, awaits the disobedient when
life is ended. The Apostle leaves his solemn question unanswered; but
at that day there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, only a fearful
expectation of judgement. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands
of the living God then. Hence the greater blessedness of those who are
taken into God's hand of judgement now. And thus the Apostle comforts
the sufferers.
_Wherefore let them also that suffer according to the will of God
commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful Creator._ Again St.
Peter goes back in thought to the words of Christ, "Father, into Thy
hands I commend My spirit" (Luke xxiii. 46); and on these he builds
his final exhortation, which contains within it consolation in
abundance. The test of the faithful is his perfect trust. "Though He
slay me, yet will I trust in Him" (Job xiii. 15), was the confession
which marked Job as more righteous than his advisers. The Revised
Version has varied the rendering of the final words in that passage in
such wise as to explain how the trust is to be exhibited: "I will wait
for Him"--wait, sure that the event will be for my comfort and His
glory. This is the spirit which waxes strong in trial. "They that wait
upon the Lord shall renew their strength" (Isa. xl. 31), says the
prophet. "None that wait on the Lord shall be ashamed," is an
oft-repeated testimony of the psalmists (Psalms xxv. 3; xxxvii. 34;
lxix. 6); and one whose name is a synonym for suffering tells us, "The
Lord is good unto them that wait for Him" (Lam. iii. 25). To such
trust St. Peter here exhorts, bidding specially them that suffer to
rest on the Lord. Though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is
their hope full of immortality, for the souls of the righteous are in
the hand of God, a trust which they repose in Him while they live
here, a treasure guarded by Him in the world to come. St. Paul knows
of the efficacy of this perfect trust, for he writes to Timothy, "We
labour and strive," counting bodily suffering as nothing, "because we
have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all men,
specially of them that believe" (1 Tim. iv. 10).
The Apostle links a holy life most closely with this trust in God. In
well-doing commit your souls unto Him. No otherwise can His
guardianship and aid be hoped for. But the Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous, and with Him to know is to watch over and help. Nor should
men sorrow when they suffer according to God's will. Rather it is
cause for gladness. For conscience must tell them that they need to be
purged from much earthly dross which clings about them. So the fire of
trial may be counted among blessings.
And with two words of exceeding comfort St. Peter strengthens the
believers in their trust. God is faithful; His compassions fail not:
they are new every morning. In moments of despair the sorrowing
Christian may feel tempted to cry out, with the Psalmist, "Hath God
forgotten to be gracious? hath He in anger shut up His tender
mercies?" (Psalm lxxvii. 10), but as he looks back on the path where
God has led him he is convinced of the unwisdom of his questioning,
and cries out, "This is my infirmity; I will remember the years of the
right hand of the Most High."
And this faithful God is our Creator. In the council of the Godhead it
was said in the beginning, "Let us make man in our image." And God
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, which made of him a
living soul. From God's hand he came forth very good, but sin entered,
and the Divine image has been blurred and defaced. Yet in mercy the
same heavenly conclave planned the scheme for man's restoration to his
first estate. The love which spake to Zion of old speaks through
Christ to all mankind. "Can a woman forget her sucking child? Yea, she
may forget; yet will I not forget thee" (Isa. xlix. 15). In the
fulness of time God has sent His Son to take hold upon the sons of
men, to wear their likeness, to live on earth and die for the souls
which He has made. Trust, says the Apostle, in this almighty,
unchanging love; trust God, your Father, your Creator. He will succour
you against all assaults of evil; He will comfort and support you when
it is His desire to prove you; He will crown you, with your Lord, when
trials are no more.
XVI
_HOW TO TEND THE FLOCK_
"The elders therefore 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: Tend the flock of God which
is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but
willingly, according unto God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a
ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to
you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock. And when the
chief Shepherd shall be manifested, ye shall receive the crown of
glory that fadeth not away."--1 PETER v. 1-4.
St. Peter's last lesson was full of consolation. He showed that it was
from God's hand that judgements were sent upon His people to purify
them and prepare them for His appearing. With this thought in their
minds, he would have the converts rejoice in their discipline,
confident in the faithfulness of Him who was trying them. He follows
this general message to the Churches with a solemn charge to their
teachers. They are specially responsible for the welfare of the
brethren. On them it rests by the holiness of their lives and the
spirit in which they labour to win men to the faith. _The elders
therefore 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: Tend the flock of God which is among you.
Therefore_--because I know that the blessed purpose of trial is not
always manifest, and because the hope of the believer needs to be
constantly pointed to the faithfulness of God--I exhort you to tend
zealously those over whom you are put in charge. "Elders" was the name
given at first to the whole body of Christian teachers. No doubt they
were chosen at the beginning from the older members of the community,
when the Apostles established Churches in their missionary journeys.
"They appointed for them elders in every Church" (Acts xiv. 23); and
it was the elders of the Church of Ephesus that Paul sent for to
Miletus (Acts xx. 17). And St. Peter here contrasts them very
pointedly with those of younger years, whom he addresses afterwards.
But after it became an official title the sense of seniority would
drop away from the word.
It is clear from this passage that in St. Peter's time they were
identical with those who were afterwards named bishops. For the word
which follows presently in the text and is rendered "exercising the
oversight" is literally "doing the work of bishop, or overseer." And
in the passage already alluded to (Acts xx. 15-28) those who at first
are called elders are subsequently named bishops: "The Holy Ghost hath
made you bishops to feed the Church of God" (R.V.). As the Church grew
certain places would become prominent as centres of Christian life,
and to the elders therein the oversight of other Churches would be
given; and thus the overseer or bishop would grow to be distinct from
the other presbyters, and his title be assigned to the more important
office. This had not come about when St. Peter wrote.
The humility, which he is soon about to commend to the whole body, the
Apostle manifests by placing himself on the level of those to whom he
speaks: "I, who am a fellow-elder, exhort you." He has strong claims
to be heard, claims which can never be theirs. He has been a witness
of the sufferings of Christ. He might have made mention of his
apostleship; he might have told of the thrice-repeated commission
which soon supplies the matter of his exhortation. He will rather be
counted an equal, a fellow-labourer with themselves. Some have thought
that even when he calls himself a witness of Christ's sufferings he is
not so much referring to what he saw of the life and death of Jesus,
as to the testimony which he has borne to his Master since the
pentecostal outpouring and the share which he has had of sufferings
for Christ's sake. If this be so, he would here too be reckoning
himself even as they, as he clearly intends to do in the words which
follow, where he calls himself a sharer, as they all are, in the glory
to which they look forward. Thus in all things they are his brethren:
in the ministry, in their affliction, and in their hope of glory to be
revealed.
He opens his solemn charge with words which are the echo of Christ's
own: "Feed My sheep"; "Feed My lambs." Every word pictures the
responsibility of those to whom the trust is committed. These brethren
are God's flock. Psalmists and prophets had been guided of old to use
the figure; they speak of God's people as "the sheep of His pasture."
But our Lord consecrated it still more when He called Himself "the
good Shepherd, that giveth His life for the sheep." The word tells
much of the character of those to whom it is applied. How prone they
are to wander and stray, how helpless, how ill furnished with means of
defence against perils. It tells, too, that they are easy to be led.
But that is not all a blessing, for though docile, they are often
heedless, ready to follow any leader without thought of consequences.
But they are God's flock. This adds to the dignity of the elder's
office, but adds also to the gravity of the trust, a trust to be
entered on with fear and trembling. For the flock is precious to
Christ, and should be precious to His shepherds. To let them perish
for want of tending is treachery to the Master who has sent men to His
work. And how much that tending means. To feed them is not all, though
that is much. To provide such nurture as will help their growth in
grace. There is a food store in God's word, but not every lesson there
suits every several need. There must be thoughtful choice of lessons.
The elders of old were, and God's shepherds now are, called to give
much care how they minister, lest by their oversight or neglect--
"The hungry sheep look up, but are not fed."
But tending speaks of watchfulness. The shepherd must yield his
account when the chief Shepherd shall appear. Those who are watchmen
over God's flock must have an eye to quarters whence dangers may come,
must mark the signs of them and be ready with safeguards. And the
sheep themselves must be strengthened to endure and conquer when they
are assailed; they cannot be kept out of harm's way always. Christ did
not pray for His own little flock of disciples that they should be
taken out of the world, only kept from the evil. Then all that
betokens good must be cherished among them. For even tiny germs of
goodness the Spirit will sanctify, and help the watchful elder, by his
tending, to rear till they flourish and abound.
To his general precept St. Peter adds three defining clauses, which
tell us how the elder's duty may be rightly discharged, and against
what perils and temptations he will need to strive: _exercising the
oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according unto God_. How
would the oversight of an elder come to be exercised of constraint in
the time of St. Peter? Those to whom he writes had been appointed to
their office by apostolic authority, it may have been by St. Paul
himself; and while an Apostle was present to inspire them enthusiasm
for the new teaching would be at its height: many would be drawn to
the service of Christ who would appear to the missionaries well fitted
to be entrusted with such solemn charge and ministry. But even an
Apostle cannot read men's hearts, and it was when the Apostles
departed that the Churches would enter on their trial. Then the
fitness of the elders would be put to the test. Could they maintain in
the Churches the earnestness which had been awakened? Could they in
their daily walk sustain the apostolic character, and help forward the
cause both by word and life? Christianity would be unlike every other
movement whose officers are human if there were not many failures and
much weakness here and there; and if the ministrations of elders grew
less accepted and less fruitful, they would be offered with
ever-diminishing earnestness, and the services, full of life at the
outset, would prove irksome from disappointment, and in the end be
discharged only as a work of necessity.
And every subsequent age of the Church has endorsed the wisdom of St.
Paul's caution, "Lay hands hastily on no man." Fervid zeal may grow
cool, and inaptitude for the work become apparent. Nor are those in
whom it is found always solely responsible for a mistaken vocation.
As St. Paul's words should make those vigilant whose office it is to
send forth men to sacred ministries, so St. Peter's warning should
check any undue urging of men to offer themselves. It is a sight to
move men to sorrow, and God to displeasure, when the shepherd's work
is perfunctory, not done willingly, according to God.
In some texts the last three words are not represented, nor are they
found in our Authorised Version. But they have abundant authority, and
so fully declare the spirit in which all pastoral work should be done
that they might well be repeated emphatically with each of these three
clauses. To labour _according to God_, "as ever in the great
Taskmaster's eye," is so needful that the words may be commended to
the elders as a constant motto. And not only as in His sight should
the work be done, but with an endeavour after the standard which is
set before us in Christ. We are to stoop as He stooped that we may
raise those who cannot raise themselves; to be compassionate to the
penitent, breaking no bruised reed, quenching no spark in the smoking
flax. The pastor's words should be St. Paul's, "We are your servants
for Jesus's sake," his action that of the shepherd in the parable:
"When he findeth it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing." Such
joy comes only to willing workers.
_Nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind._ We do not usually
think of the Church in the apostolic age as offering any temptation to
the covetous. The disciples were poor men, and there is little trace
of riches in the opening chapters of the Acts. St. Paul, too,
constantly declined to be a burden to the flock, as though he felt it
right to spare the brethren. The lessons of the New Testament on this
subject are very plain. When our Lord sent forth His seventy
disciples, He sent them as "labourers worthy of their hire" (Luke x.
7); and St. Paul declares it to be the Lord's ordinance that they
which proclaim the Gospel should live of the Gospel (1 Cor. ix. 14).
To serve with a ready mind is to seek nothing beyond this. But it is
clear both from St. Paul's language (1 Tim. iii. 3; Titus i. 7) and
from this verse that there existed temptations to greed, and that some
were overcome thereby. It is worthy of note, however, that those who
are given up to this covetousness are constantly branded with false
teaching. They are thus described by both the Apostles. They teach
things which they ought not (Titus i. 11), and with feigned words make
merchandise of the flock (2 Peter ii. 3). The spurt of self-seeking
and base gain (which is the literal sense of St. Peter's word) is so
alien to the spirit of the Gospel that we cannot conceive a faithful
and true shepherd using other language than that of St. Paul: "We seek
not yours, but you."