faithfulness (MN bys, Έσι Ίο) 18
the faithful Creator to whom the soul He gave and redeemed (Ps. /.c.) may confidently return.
CuapreR V.—Ver.1. οὖν, therefore —since your suffering is according to God's will and calls only for the normal self-devotion, which Christ required of His disciples—go on with the duties of the station of life in which you are called. -πρεσβυτέρους, not merely older men as contrasted with younger (ver. 5),
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παρακαλῶ 6 συµπρε
παθηµά 4 δόξης κοινωνὸς Trot
ἀναγκαστῶς ἀλλὰ ἑ . but εἶάενς, such as had been appointed by Paul and Barnabas in the Churches of Southern Asia (Acts xiv. 23). The col- lective τῶν κλήρων (νετ. 3) and the ex- hortation, shepherd the flock (ver. 2) prove that they are the official heads of the communities addressed. Similarly St. Paul bade the elders of the Church (Acts xx. I7) at Ephesus take heed to them- selves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit appointed you overseers. The use of the term in direct address here Carries with it a suggestion of the natural meaning of the word and perhaps also of the early technical sense, one of the first generation of Christians. Both Jews and Gentiles were familiar with the title which was naturally conferred upon those who were qualified in point of years ; the youthful Timothy was a marked exception to the general rule (i Tim. iv. 12).--ἐν ὑμῖν. Peter does not address them as mere officials, your elders, but prefers a vaguer form of ex- pression, elders who are among you ee, τὸ ἐν ὑμῖν ποίµνιον, which also evades any impairing of the principle, ye are Christ’s—6 συμπρεσβύτερος... κοινωνός. This self-designation justi- fies Peter’s right to exhort them. He is elder like them, in all senses of the word. If their sufferings occupy their mind, he was witness of the sufferings of Christ ; of his own, if any, he does not speak. He has invited them to dwell rather on the thought of the future glory and this he is confident of sharing —papTvus εκ. παθηµάτων. Such experience was the essential qualification ot an Apostle in the strict sense; only those who were companions of the Twelve in all the time from Fohn’s baptism to the Assumption or at least witnesses of the Resurrection (Acts i. 22) were eligible; as Jesus said, the Paraclete shall testify and do you testify because ye are with Me from the beginning (John xv. 27). That he speaks of the sufferings and not of the resurrection which made the sufferer Messiah, is due partly to the circum- stances of his readers, partly to his own experience. For him these sufferings had once overshadowed the glory; he could sympathise with those oppressed by per- secution and reproach, who understood now, as little as he then, that it was all part