The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Peter — Section 237

themselves ensamples to the flock. Their ambition is to be to hve whnt they tench. '' Either tench not," snys Gregory Nazianzen, "or teach by living." 3. Promise of reward for fulfilment of the exhortation. •• And when the chief Shepherd shall be mnnifested, ye shall receive the crown of glory that fadcth not awny." The pastoral wenlth of the great Proprietor makes one flock, over which is placed the chief Shepherd. This is a very beautiful designation of our Lord. It is suggestive of shephe1·ds under him. If these under-shepherds act from their own free choice, and from love of the work, and are exemplary, they shall not go unrewarded. The time of their reward is to be when the chief Shepherd shall be manifested, i.e. shall be disclosed in all the glory that belongs to him on account of what he has done for the flesh. The faithful under-shepherds are to be crowned with a crown of gloi·y. Peter, who is Jewish in his imagery, may have had in his mind the wreath used by the Jews on festive occasions. 'l'hey are to be crowned as with flowers, i.e. with all that is most beantiful in body and soul. The designation giwn to the crown of beauty is derived from 11, flower, to which Milton thus makes allusion. "Their crowns in wove with arnarn.nt and gold; Imruortnl amarant, a flower which once In Paradise, fast by the tree of life Began to bloom." As the lily is symbolic of purity, so the amaranth (bein!1; what Ive call an" everlasting") is symbolic of immortality. What is at last to blossom forth in the faithful servants of Christ is never to lose its form or brightness. H. E:irno&TATION TO TIIE YOUNGER. "Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder." .As there was what was suitable for the elders, in lilce manner there was what was suitable for the younger (people). Ily these we are to understand all in the con• grcgations except the elders. The designation was not simply with reference to age (which held to a certain extent), but with reference to their being placed under the elders. Vv e should therefore read" elders" here, as in the first verse. In accordance with former injunctions in regard to other relations, the word for the younge.r is "subjection" 'l'hey were to be subject unto the elders. It is not said that they were to be subject in the Lo;·d; but we are to understand the ground and conditions of the subjection to lie in the elders being representatives of Christ's authority and administering Christ's laws. III. H UMII,ITY. 1. Humility in senlice of one another. "Yea, all of you gird yourselves wiLh humility, to serve one another: for God resistetb the proud, but giveth grace to the humble." Peter now turns to all of them, i.e. both the elders and the younger (people), and with a certain emphasis sums up their duties in humility. A recognized definition of it is " the esteeming of ourselves small, because we are so, the thinking truly, nnd, because truly, therefore lowlily, of our~elves." The work for which Christ's gospel came into the world was no less than to put down the mighty from their seat, and to exalt the humble and meek. It was, then, only in accordance with this its mission that it should dethrone the heathen virtue great-souledness, and set up the despisetl Cbristian grace humility in its room, stripping that of the honour it Jiad unjustly a,sumed, delivering this from the dishonour which so unjustly had clung to it hitherto; and in this direction advancing so far that a Christian writer has called this last not merely a grace, but the casket or trcasure-hou~e in which all other graces are contained. .And, indeed, not the grace only, but the very word was itself a fruit of the gospel; "no Greek writer employed it before the Christian era, nor, apart from the influence of Christian writers, after" ('l'rench). What we are to do with humility is to gird oursducs with it, the reference being to the use of an apron (worn especially by slaves) for menial service. "Even if this were not the reference, it wonld be difficult to Lelieve tba: Peter could have written this without rem,·mberir,g how the Lord washed his disciph-s' feet, and what he said on that occasion, and specially to l'cter himself. 'l'he Lord put on a servile garment for the occasion-he girded himself before he addressed himself to that menial, gracious task, which was a parable in 11.ction never to be forgotten. 'l'his being so, how much force, how much life, is given to Pete1's admonition!, When bis words come to us loaded with the loving, overwhelming rewembrauce, th"Y bring to us all the weight of what our Saviour di<l and said on en. v. 1-14.J 'l'IIE FJHST EPTSTLE GENERAL OF PETER. 235