1 Peter 5:3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, ... not as exercising dominion over the lot.” Christ says: “Whoever desires to be first among you” (Ό θέλων ἐν ύμῖν είναι πρῶτος), “let him be your servant” (Mt 20:26). “For whoever humbles himself” (δς γάρ ταπεινώσει ἑαοτὸν) “will be exalted” (Mt 23:12). What are you saying? If I humble myself, shall I be high? Yes, He says. Such is My power, to attain one thing through another. I possess the means and the art. Do not fear. The nature of things obeys My will; I do not follow nature.

By inheritance he means the sacred assembly. The added phrase, being examples to the flock, means the same as shepherd willingly, not by compulsion.

“Nor as lording it over the inheritance.” That is, do not exalt yourselves over the flock with arrogance. Let there be authority in speech and excellence in form, in accordance with the honor of one who presides.

Therefore carry out more readily what you prescribe, so that you may give not only the command, but also an example, that they may imitate your example.

You must first show in deed, and preserve unshaken in your soul, the very humility which you desire those subject to you to have toward you and toward one another. This accords with the words of the Lord: “You know that those who are considered rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. Whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever desires to be first among you shall be slave of all.”

"Lording it over the clergy," τῶν κλήρων. The simplicity of the hierarchical order of the primitive Church and the absence of lower service offices, apart from the diaconate, do not allow the word κλήρος to be taken in the sense of a Church clergy composed of deacons, readers, and other persons subject to priests, as happened later. Nevertheless, this word cannot be understood in the sense of the flock, that is, the people, or God's inheritance, κληρονομία, as in the Russian translation. For the flock is further called by the name "flock," ποίμνιον, while the members of the clergy mentioned here are called the younger, or juniors, νεώτεροι.

"The elders who are among you I exhort, being an elder," literally from the Greek, a fellow presbyter. In the Russian translation the word "elders," πρεσβύτεροι, is rendered by the word "shepherds," so that it may be clear that the Apostle here means not elders by age, but presbyters who feed the flock of God, that is, the Church (Acts 20:28). Therefore the instructions that follow plainly refer to the sacred rulers of the Church: "Feed the flock of God which is among you, visiting," ἐπισκοποῦντες, that is, overseeing, "not by necessity," not by compulsion. Consequently, it was possible to shepherd by compulsion. And those are compelled who have been appointed to a certain work and answer for it before others who are placed still higher.

The inheritance of God, or the lot of God, Acts 26:18; Col 1:12; cf. Deut 4:20; Deut 9:29. The Jewish people were called the inheritance of God, His lot, or His possession, since they received the promised land as an inheritance. In the New Testament, this special name designates that part of the Christian community which has been allotted, as it were, as the possession of one presbyter or shepherd, that is, a parish.

By shepherds, or presbyters, whom the Apostle addresses here with special counsel, one must understand the presbyters of the Church as those obliged by their ministry to guide others. In this ministry he places himself on the same level with them, with this difference: he was a witness of Christ's sufferings and an eyewitness of the glory of the Risen One. Therefore he is certain that the future glory of Christ's Kingdom will be revealed for him, while they must still become penetrated with this certainty. The other chief Apostle, Paul, expresses the same faith and hope when he calls this glory the crown of righteousness (see 2 Tim 4:8). Peter promises this crown to all presbyters, and Paul says that it is prepared for all who love the Lord.