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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Peter 2:25

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For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

25. For ye were as sheep going astray ] The sequence of thought is suggested by the “all we like sheep have gone astray” of Isa 53:6, but the imagery could scarcely fail to recall to the mind of the Apostle the state of Israel “as sheep that had no shepherd” (Mat 9:36), and the parable of the lost sheep (Mat 18:12-13; Luk 15:4). The image had been a familiar one almost from the earliest times to describe the state of a people plunged into anarchy and confusion by the loss of their true leader (Num 27:17; 1Ki 22:17).

but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls ] We can scarcely fail to connect the words with those which St Peter had once heard as to the “other sheep” who were not of the “fold” of Galilee and Jerusalem (Joh 10:16). In the “strangers of the dispersion” he might well recognise some, at least, of those other sheep. In the thought of Christ as the “Shepherd” we have primarily the echo of the teaching of our Lord just referred to, but the name at least suggests a possible reference to the older utterances of prophecy and devotion in Psa 23:1, Isa 40:11, Eze 34:23; Eze 37:24. In the word for “Bishop” ( Episcopos) (better perhaps, looking to the later associations that have gathered round the English term) guardian or protector, we may, possibly, find a reference to the use of the cognate verb in the LXX. of Eze 34:11. It deserves to be noted, however, that the Greek noun is often used in the New Testament in special association with the thought of the Shepherd’s work. Comp. Act 20:28, 1Pe 5:4. So in like manner, “Pastors” or “Shepherds” find their place in the classification of Christian Ministers in Eph 4:11. There is, perhaps, a special stress laid on Christ being the Shepherd of their souls. Their bodies might be subject to the power and caprices of their masters, but their higher nature, that which was their true self, was subject only to the loving care of the Great Shepherd.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

For ye were as sheep going astray – Here also is an allusion to Isa 53:6, All we like sheep have gone astray. See the notes at that verse. The figure is plain. We were like a flock without a shepherd. We had wandered far away from the true fold, and were following our own paths. We were without a protector, and were exposed to every kind of danger. This aptly and forcibly expresses the condition of the whole race before God recovers people by the plan of salvation. A flock thus wandering without a shepherd, conductor, or guide, is in a most pitiable condition; and so was man in his wanderings before he was sought out and brought back to the true fold by the Great Shepherd.

But are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls – To Christ, who thus came to seek and save those who were lost. He is often called a Shepherd. See the notes at John 10:1-16. The word rendered bishop, ( episkopos,) means overseer. It may be applied to one who inspects or oversees anything, as public works, or the execution of treaties; to anyone who is an inspector of wares offered for sale; or, in general, to anyone who is a superintendent. It is applied in the New Testament to those who are appointed to watch over the interests of the church, and especially to the officers of the church. Here it is applied to the Lord Jesus as the great Guardian and Superintendent of his church; and the title of universal Bishop belongs to him alone!

Remarks On 1 Peter 2

In the conclusion of this chapter we may remark:

(1) That there is something very beautiful in the expression Bishop of souls. It implies that the soul is the special care of the Saviour; that it is the object of his special interest; and that it is of great value – so great that it is that which mainly deserves regard. He is the Bishop of the soul in a sense quite distinct from any care which he manifests for the body. That too, in the proper way, is the object of his care; but that has no importance compared with the soul. Our care is principally employed in respect to the body; the care of the Redeemer has special reference to the soul.

(2) It follows that the welfare of the soul may be committed to him with confidence. It is the object of his special guardianship, and he will not be unfaithful to the trust reposed in him. There is nothing more safe than the human soul is when it is committed in faith to the keeping of the Son of God. Compare 2Ti 1:12.

(3) As, therefore, he has shown his regard for us in seeking us when we were wandering and lost; as he came on the kind and benevolent errand to find us and bring us back to himself, let us show our gratitude to him by resolving to wander no more. As we regard our own safety and happiness, let us commit ourselves to him as our great Shepherd, to follow where he leads us, and to be ever under his pastoral inspection. We had all wandered away. We had gone where there was no happiness and no protector. We had no one to provide for us, to care for us, to pity us. We were exposed to certain ruin. In that state he pitied us, sought us out, brought us back. If we had remained where we were, or had gone further in our wanderings, we should have gone certainly to destruction. He has sought us out; be has led us back; he has taken us under his own protection and guidance; and we shall be safe as long as we follow where he leads, and no longer. To him then, a Shepherd who never forsakes his flock, let us at all times commit ourselves, following where he leads, feeling that under him our great interests are secure.

(4) We may learn from this chapter, indeed, as we may from every other part of the New Testament, that in doing this we may be called to suffer. We may be reproached and reviled as the great Shepherd himself was. We may become the objects of public scorn on account of our devoted attachment to him. We may suffer in name, in feeling, in property, in our business, by our honest attachment to the principles of his gospel. Many who are his followers may be in circumstances of poverty or oppression. They may be held in bondage; they may be deprived of their rights; they may feel that their lot in life is a hard one, and that the world seems to have conspired against them to do them wrong; but let us in all these circumstances look to Him who made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, Phi 2:7-8; and let us remember that it is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord, Mat 10:25. In view of the example of our Master, and of all the promises of support in the Bible, let us bear with patience all the trials of life, whether arising from poverty, an humble condition, or the reproaches of a wicked world. Our trials will soon be ended; and soon, under the direction of the Shepherd and Bishop of souls, we shall be brought to a world where trials and sorrows are unknown.

(5) In our trials here, let it be our main object so to live that our sufferings shall not be on account of our own faults. See 1Pe 2:19-22. Our Saviour so lived. He was persecuted, reviled, mocked, condemned to die. But it was for no fault of his. In all his varied and prolonged sufferings, he had the ever-abiding consciousness that he was innocent; he had the firm conviction that it would yet be seen and confessed by all the world that he was holy, harmless, undefiled, 1Pe 2:23. His were not the sufferings produced by a guilty conscience, or by the recollection that he had wronged anyone. So, if we must suffer, let our trials come upon us. Be it our first aim to have a conscience void of offence, to wrong no one, to give no occasion for reproaches and revilings, to do our duty faithfully to God and to people. Then, if trials come, we shall feel that we suffer as our Master did; and then we may, as he did, commit our cause to him that judgeth righteously, assured that in due time he will bring forth our righteousness as the light, and our judgment as the noon-day, Psa 37:6.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 25. For ye were as sheep going astray] Formerly ye were not in a better moral condition than your oppressors; ye were like stray sheep, in the wilderness of ignorance and sin, till Christ, the true and merciful Shepherd, called you back from your wanderings, by sending you the Gospel of his grace.

Bishop of your souls.] Unless we consider the word bishop as a corruption of the word episcopos, and that this literally signifies an overseer, an inspector, or one that has the oversight, it can convey to us no meaning of the original. Jesus Christ is the Overseer of souls; he has them continually under his eye; he knows their wants, wishes, dangers, c., and provides for them. As their shepherd, he leads them to the best pastures, defends them from their enemies, and guides them by his eye. Jesus is the good Shepherd that laid down his life for his sheep. All human souls are inexpressibly dear to him, as they are the purchase of his blood. He is still supreme Bishop or Overseer in his Church. He alone is Episcopus episcoporum, “the Bishop of bishops” a title which the Romish pontiffs have blasphemously usurped. But this is not the only attribute of Jesus on which they have laid sacrilegious hands. And besides this, with force and with cruelty have they ruled the sheep: but the Lord is breaking the staff of their pride, and delivering the nations from the bondage of their corruption. Lord, let thy kingdom come!

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

For ye were, while ye continued in your Judaism, and had not yet received the gospel, as sheep going astray, from Christ the great Shepherd, and the church of believers his flock, and the way of righteousness in which he leads them. Ye were alienated from the life of God, bewildered and lost in the way of sin, Isa 53:6.

But are now returned, in your conversion to the faith,

to the Shepherd; Christ the good Shepherd, Joh 10:11,14,16, that takes care of souls, as a shepherd doth of his sheep.

And Bishop of your souls; superintendent, inspector, or, as the Hebrews phrase it, visitor, i.e. he that with care looks to, inspects, and visits the flock. This he adds for the comfort (as of all believers, so) particularly of servants, that even they, as mean as they were, and as much exposed to injuries, yet were under the care and tuition of Christ.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

25. (Isa53:6.)

ForAssigning theirnatural need of healing (1Pe2:24).

nowNow that theatonement for all has been made, the foundation is laid forindividual conversion: so “ye are returned,“or “have become converted to,” &c.

Shepherd and BishopThedesignation of the pastors and elders of the Churchbelongs in its fullest sense to the great Head of the Church, “thegood Shepherd.” As the “bishop” oversees(as the Greek term means), so “the eyes of the Lordare over the righteous” (1Pe3:12). He gives us His spirit and feeds and guides us by Hisword. “Shepherd,” Hebrew, “Parnas,“is often applied to kings, and enters into the composition ofnames, as “Pharnabazus.”

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

For ye were as sheep going astray,…. This is a proof of their being healed, namely, their conversion; in which an application of the blood of Christ, and pardon, and so healing by it, was made to their souls. The apostle has still in view the prophecy of Isa 53:6. God’s elect are sheep before conversion; not that they have the agreeable properties of sheep, as to be meek, harmless, innocent, clean, and profitable, for they are the reverse of all this; nor can some things be said of them before conversion, as may be after, as that they hear Christ’s voice, and follow him; nor are they so called, because unprejudiced against, and predisposed unto the Gospel, for the contrary is true of them; but they are so in electing grace, and were so considered in the Father’s gift of them to Christ, and when made his care and charge, and hence they are called the sheep of his hand; and when Christ laid down his life, and rose again, which he did for the sheep, and as the great Shepherd of them; and when called by grace, for their being sheep, and Christ’s own sheep by the Father’s gift, and his own purpose, is the reason why he looks them up, calls them by name, and returns them: but then they are not yet of his fold; they are lost sheep, lost in Adam, and by his fall, and by their own actual transgressions; they are as sheep going astray from the shepherd, and from the flock, going out of the right way, and in their own ways; and are, like sheep, stupid and insensible of their danger; and as they never return of themselves, until they are sought for, and brought back: hence it follows,

but are now returned; not returned themselves, but were returned by powerful and efficacious grace: saints are passive, and not active in first conversion; they are turned, not by the power of their own free will, but by the power of God’s free grace; they are returned under the illuminations and quickenings of the blessed Spirit, and through the efficacious drawings of the Father’s love, unto Christ:

unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls; by whom Christ is meant, who bears the office of a Shepherd, and fully performs it by feeding his sheep, providing a good fold and pasture for them; by gathering the lambs in his arms, and gently leading those that are with young; by healing their diseases, and preserving them from beasts of prey; hence he is called the good, the great, and chief Shepherd: and he is the “Bishop” or “Overseer” of the souls of his people, though not to the exclusion of their bodies: he has took the oversight of them willingly, and looks well to his flock, inspects into their cases, and often visits them, and never forsakes them; nor will he leave them till they receive the end of their faith, the salvation of their souls; which he has undertook and effected by his obedience, sufferings and death. Philo the Jew l observes, that

“to be a shepherd is so good a work, that it is not only a title given to kings and wise men, and souls perfectly purified, but to God the governor of all—who, as a Shepherd and King, leads according to justice and law, setting over them his right Logos, “the first begotten Son”, who has taken the care of this holy flock, as does the deputy of a great king.”

l De Agricultura, p. 194, 195.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

For ye were going astray like sheep ( ). Brought from Isa 53:6, but changed to periphrastic imperfect indicative with and present middle participle of , to wander away. Recall the words of Jesus in Lu 15:4-7.

But are now returned ( ). Second aorist passive indicative of , old verb, to turn, to return (Mt 10:13).

Unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls ( ). Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd (Joh 10:11, and see also Heb 13:20). Here alone is Christ called our “Bishop” (overseer). See both ideas combined in Eze 34:11. Philo calls God . Jesus is also Heb 3:1) and he deserves all other titles of dignity that we can give him.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

For ye were as sheep going astray [ ] ; i e., as commonly understood, ye were like straying sheep. But the ye were should be construed with the participle going astray, the verb and the participle together denoting habitual action or condition. Render, as Rev., ye were going astray like sheep. See on Mr 12:24. Bishop. See on ver. 12.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “For ye were as sheep going astray.” Before salvation Peter asserted the brethren were as (planomenoi) deaf, wandering, sheep — straying, careless and heedless of the Shepherd’s voice. Isa 53:6; Mat 18:12.

2) “But are now returned” Ye are (Gk. nun) for now and hereafter (Gk. epestraphete) turned — true repentance and faith toward God and in Jesus Christ effects a soul change to eternal life for every believer not to be repeated 2Co 7:10.

3) “Unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” The wandering sheep that comes to Jesus finds in Him a true (poimera) shepherd to feed and lead, and be the (episkopion) overseer of his soul, his entire being that belongs to God. 1Co 6:19-20; Psa 23:1-6; Eze 34:11-12; Joh 10:11; Joh 10:28-30.

THE SHEPHERD

As I came over, the heath, I noticed a solitary sheep, which had evidently wandered from its fold. It bleated piteously, and was scared at every sound, and every shadow. It seemed to be calling for its companions, and vainly trying to recover and retrace the path, by which it had so rashly strayed from its home. I went towards the poor wanderer; but it fled from a stranger; and would probably have perished in that solitude, had not the shepherd missed it from the fold, and come in time to seek it. As soon as he spied it from a distance, he hastened towards it; and the sheep, aware of his kindly purpose, suffered him to come near, and take it in his arms. He raised it on his shoulders, and bore it away rejoicing.” It is a true emblem of the lost sinner.

Many adventures with wild beasts still occur. There are wolves in abundance, and leopard and panthers exceeding fierce, prowl about those wild wadies in the region of Tyre. They not infrequently attack the flock in the very presence of the shepherd, and he must be ready to do battle at a moment’s warning. And when the thief and robber come (and come they do), the faithful shepherd has often to put his life in his hand to defend his flock. A poor, faithful fellow between Tiberius and Tabor, instead of fleeing, actually fought three Bedouin robbers until he was hacked to pieces with their khanjars, and died among the sheep he was defending.

–6000 Windows For Sermons

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

25 For ye were as sheep This also has Peter borrowed from Isaiah, except that the Prophet makes it a universal statement,

“

All we like sheep have gone astray.” (Isa 53:6.)

But on the word sheep there is no particular stress; he indeed compares us to sheep, but the emphasis is on what the Prophet adds, when he says that every one had turned to his own way. The meaning then is, that we are all going astray from the way of salvation, and proceeding in the way of ruin, until Christ brings us back from this wandering.

And this appears still more evident from the clause which follows, but are now returned to the Shepherd, etc.; (35) for all who are not ruled by Christ, are wandering like lost sheep in the ways of error. Thus, then, is condemned the whole wisdom of the world, which does not submit to the government of Christ. But the two titles given here to Christ are remarkable, that he is the Shepherd and Bishop of souls There is then no cause to fear, but that he will faithfully watch over the safety of those who are in his fold and under his care. And it is his office to keep us safe both in body and soul; yet Peter mentions only souls, because this celestial Shepherd keeps us under his own spiritual protection unto eternal life.

(35) I would render the clause thus, “But you have been now restored,” that is, from your wandering, “to the shepherd and the bishop (or, overseer) of your souls.” Macknight thinks, that our Lord took the title of shepherd in order to shew that he is the person foretold in Eze 34:23, and that Peter alludes, in calling him bishop or overseer, to Eze 34:11 of that chapter, the latter clause of which, according to the Sept. is, “I will oversee them,” ( ἐπισκέψομαι.) — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(25) For ye were as sheep going astray.The right reading does not attach going astray to sheep, but as predicate of the sentence, ye were going astray like sheep. The for introduces an explanation of how they came to be in need of healing. I may well say that ye were healed; for Israelites though you are, your consciences and memories tell you that you were as far gone in wilful error as any Gentiles, and needed as complete a conversion. (Comp. 1Pe. 2:10.) Jew and Gentile take different ways, but both alike fulfil the prophecy, every man to his own way. The two metaphors, of healing and going astray, do not match very well, but the fact that both are quotations from Isaiah 53 makes their disagreement less harsh. We must notice how deeply that prophecy (the interpretation of which was probably learned from the Baptist) had sunk into St. Peters mind. (See 1Pe. 1:19.)

But are now returned.The tense of the original verb points to the actual historical time at which it took place, rather than the position now occupied, but now ye returned. The word now is used in the same way in 1Pe. 2:10, where literally it is, but now did obtain mercy. Returned does not in the Greek imply that they had at first been under the Shepherds care and had left Him. The word is that which is often rendered were converted, and only indicates that they turned round and moved in a contrary direction.

The shepherd and bishop of your souls.Undoubtedly this means Christ. The first of the two titles is of course suggested by the simile of the sheep. The image is so natural and so frequent, that we can not say for certain that it proves St. Peters acquaintance with the parable of the Good Shepherd in John 10. More probably, perhaps, he is thinking of Psa. 23:3, He converted my soul (LXX.), where the Lord, as usual, may be taken to mean the Son of God rather than the Father; or else of Eze. 34:11; Eze. 34:16, where the words rendered seek them out in our version is represented in the LXX. by that from which the name of a bishop is derived. (Comp. Eze. 34:23; Eze. 37:24; also Isa. 40:11, which last citation comes from a passage which has been in St. Peters mind just before, 1Pe. 1:24.) It is hardly necessary to add that to the Hebrew mind the thought of superintendence and ruling, not that of giving food, was uppermost when they spoke of shepherds, and that the pastors spoken of in the Old Testament are not the priests or givers of spiritual nutriment, but the kings and princes. Thus it will here be nearly synonymous with the second title of bishop. This name suggests in the first instance not so much overseeing as visitingi.e., going carefully into the different cases brought under the officers notice. (Comp. 1Pe. 5:2; 1Pe. 5:4, and Act. 20:28.) Both words were already familiar as ecclesiastical words already, and as such were especially appropriate to Christ, the Head of the Church; but as they had not yet become stereotyped in that sense, the writer adds, of your souls, to show that it was not an outward sovereignty and protectorate which the Messiah had assumed over them. Soul is a word of which St. Peter is fond (1Pe. 1:9; 1Pe. 1:22; 1Pe. 2:11; 1Pe. 4:19; 2Pe. 2:8), but which is, perhaps, never used by St. Paul in this sense. It is to be remarked how St. Peter works almost every section of the Epistle round, so as to end with some encouragement to the readers to cling to Jesus as the Messiah, and to their Christian state, from which they were in danger of receding into Judaism. He makes even the special exhortations lead up to that which is the main exhortation of the Letter.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

25. Going astray Rather, Ye were straying like sheep. See Isa 53:6. A stray sheep, lost in the wilderness or mountains, without pasture or protection, and exposed to wild beasts and destruction, figures forth the wretched condition of men astray from God and holiness. Such had been the condition of these servants: but now they were returned, and had found Christ a Physician to heal them, a Shepherd to lead and feed them, and the Bishop, the watchful overseer, caring for their souls as a shepherd cares for the sheep.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘For you were going astray like sheep, but are now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.’

Reference to Isaiah 53 continues in the words ‘you were going astray like sheep’, for which compare Isa 53:6. And the point here is that as a result of all our iniquity being laid on Him (see Isa 53:6) we could, and have, turned to the One Who is the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls, something only made possible by the cross (compare Joh 10:11; Joh 10:15; Joh 10:17). And thus, being watched over by such a Shepherd and Overseer we can have confidence in whatever befalls us.

It should be noted that Peter does not try to take on himself the role of Shepherd. To him there was only One Shepherd and Bishop capable of this, and that was Jesus Christ Himself. He alone is the true Shepherd Who cares for the sheep. He alone could say, ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give to them eternal life, and they will never perish and no one shall pluck them from My hand (Joh 10:27-28).

This idea of Jesus as the Shepherd is also found in 1Pe 5:4; Heb 13:20; Rev 7:17, but especially in mind here may well be Psa 23:1-3 where similar language is used, for there the ‘souls’ of His people are ‘turned’ to Himself as ‘the Shepherd’, by the Lord Who is their Shepherd. But Peter no doubt also had in mind that when Jesus was restoring him He had appointed him as an under-shepherd (Joh 21:15-17), and he therefore intended here, as the under-shepherd, to bring the sheep to the Lord Himself, as all leaders in the church must do.

The idea of Jesus as an Overseer (episkopos) has in mind the duties of the shepherd to oversee and control the flock. It may well indicate that in the Asian churches the leader were not yet called bishops (episkopoi) which until the pastorals only occurs as a title for church leaders at Philippi (see Php 1:1). Compare 1Pe 5:1 where Peter only speaks of elders (presbuteroi). It is doubtful therefore if Peter is likening Jesus to a bishop.

So the household servants who suffer, and especially those who suffer while innocent, can rejoice in the fact that they are participating with Jesus in His suffering and playing some small part in ensuring the effectiveness of what He achieved on the cross.

The importance of this section for the whole letter must not be overlooked. It is not accidental that Jesus’ sufferings are so closely connected with the suffering of the household servants under their masters as they seek to walk in obedience, while not being connected with the other examples of obedience. It is clear that this ‘persecution’ of Christian servants was a genuine problem that was being endured by many and that Peter saw it as very much a part of God’s foreordained plan. He saw that by it they, as servants, were playing their part in the fulfilment of the concept of the Suffering Servant.

It would appear from this that in that part of the world the church was to quite some extent composed of such ‘household servants’, and that they were bearing the brunt of the persecution. It was thus not government initiated but master initiated. The impression would seem to be that on the whole the masters tended to be harsh towards their Christian servants, and the assumption may well be that that arose out of the conflict that arose between their Christian position and what their masters saw as their duty towards them.

This would be explicable if the problems mainly arose for religious reasons, i.e. as a result of ‘religious conflict’. There may have been two aspects of this. Firstly their unwillingness to honour their master’s gods as well as their own God, and secondly their unwillingness to pay due ‘honour’ to the emperor. The eastern part of the empire was where emperor worship had been favoured almost from the beginning, and it had become even more stirred up in the time of the mad Emperor Caligula, and it may well be that many masters therefore expected their household servants to participate in it and punished them if they did not. This would also explain why Peter also foresaw that things might get worse even for the wider circle of Christians. Fierce adherents of emperor worship would not take kindly towards those who would not agree with them, and towards what they saw as Christian ‘intolerance’ and even treason, and this might well have led to wider outbursts of persecution, some of which Peter saw as likely to get worse. We have enough evidence in our own day that if a certain section of society gets het up about a particular issue that they see as important, they will go to almost any lengths to get their way. And looking back we have only to think of the fanatical attitude demonstrated towards conscientious objectors in the 1914-18 war, by what were supposed to be civilised societies, to realise how easily the innocent can be persecuted once passions are aroused.

It should be noted in this regard that the Jews were protected by special measures from the more difficult requirements of emperor worship, so that while Christians were still seen as Jews no difficulty would arise. But many of these Christian servants to whom Peter was writing were converted ex-Gentiles, and may well previously been keen supporters of emperor worship. Thus a withdrawal from such worship could easily have brought repercussions on some of them, and have raised the whole issue in the society in which they lived.

Excursus. Note on Slavery.

Slavery was and is undoubtedly a great evil, for it debases men to the level of mere tools, and removes from them any element of real choice in their lives, destroying the innate dignity of man. By it the individuality of the majority is discounted, and the many became the playthings of the few. It is clearly therefore contrary to Christian teaching. It may therefore be asked as to why Christianity appeared to acquiesce with it, and did not immediately take up a more positive attitude against it.

The basic question can be quickly answered. It did not acquiesce with it, for what it taught was the very opposite of the current views about slavery, and would have caused some considerable astonishment. Christian teaching lifted men above slavery, and made them recognise that even in their slavery they were free men in Christ. And gradually some of their masters began to recognise it too. And once that happened it was the beginning of the end for slavery.

But it did recognise that outside Palestine (where slavery was generally disapproved of by the Jews) slavery was such an entrenched system, and such an accepted part of society (there were over sixty million slaves in the Roman Empire), that a frontal verbal attack on it would have accomplished nothing. It would have been shrugged off as simply another example of the impracticality of Christianity. Indeed it could quite justifiably have been pointed out that the removal of slavery would have caused the collapse of society.

On the other hand to take a more active role against slavery by actually freeing slaves illegally or persuading them to rise up against their masters would have been seen as high treason, and while only being a pinprick against the massive system in force, could only have brought the most violent of repercussions, not only against them, but possibly even against all Christian slaves. Such activity would have been cruelly stamped out and would have left everyone worse off. What had rather to happen was the undermining of the very principles on which slavery was built. And that the church accomplished. For internally it treated the laws of slavery as though they were irrelevant, and gave honour to slaves in a way that was contrary to all the principles of the society in which they lived. It declared that, as far as Christians were concerned, in Christ all slavery was negated (Gal 3:28).

A second important factor to remember is that rarely in history have there been times when the majority of men were any other than slaves, even though described in different terms. Freedom is a privilege of modern times, and even then it is limited for many. Most of us are not free to do what we want, and can often be forced to act against our wills. But at least we are free to use our leisure time as we will, now that we have leisure time. But in older times things were even more limited. There was little leisure time, and people had to do what they were told if they were to survive, whether they were slaves or not. The feudal serf especially was little better than a slave. And the same was later true of the industrial worker and the miner in later centuries. Man’s inhumanity to man has ever been the same. And it has always been contrary to what the Bible has taught. Thus being a slave was not necessarily the worst option.

Furthermore it must be recognised that attacking something which is so much a part of society can only be done in one of two ways. It is in some ways similar to the besieging of a city. It can either be attempted by a full frontal assault, which in the case of strong walls was often a waste of time and involved much suffering, or it can be accomplished by undermining the walls. It was the latter method that Christianity adopted, and indeed used more than once, in order to destroy slavery.

For the only way in which to undermine slavery and its more modern parallels, given the situation of society, was by underlining the worth and value of the individual. And that was precisely what Christianity did do. From its very beginnings it brought home the principle of the equality of all men in the sight of God, both slave and free (Gal 3:28) and the fact of the individual worth of every man and woman as one who was beloved by God. Once these principles really took hold slavery and its parallels would be doomed.

But Peter and the other Apostles recognised that they had to deal with the situation as it then was. We on our part might pay great heed to their words and see them as authoritative, but in the eyes of the Roman Empire they were nothings. Unquestionably as a Jew Peter would have disliked slavery. The Jews did not look kindly on slavery. But in the face of the power of the Roman Empire, and indeed of all empires, and the views of mankind generally, there was little that they could do about it. It was an intrinsic part of society.

The question was rather therefore how to cope with it. Recognising that ensuring the stability of society was to be seen as the best way of ensuring maximum righteousness, obtaining the best platform for the Gospel, and providing the best possible life for slaves, Peter (and the early church as a whole) exhorts ‘household servants’ (oiketai) to be faithful to the household of which they are a part. This in itself would have been seen as striking. Society in general did not address slaves. It expected them to submit to whatever society decided applied to them. It was the Christian church which accepted that they had status.

We must remember in this regard that only three alternatives actually lay open to them. They could either cooperate, engage in passive non-cooperation or break out in open disobedience. There was not in most cases the choice of going free. So they could either gain a reputation for being responsive and helpful because they were followers of Christ, or of being merely resentful because they were sullen, or of being seen as recalcitrant and troublesome. To do the last would undoubtedly have resulted in beatings and demotion to the most unpleasant tasks, and even worse. Being resentful would simply have been looked on as normal, but it would have achieved nothing as long as the slaves fulfilled their duties, apart from it producing in the individuals themselves a sense of self-respect and individuality and resulting in an occasional beating. But being responsive and helpful for Christ’s sake would not only give a good impression of Christianity, and build up a positive feeling in favour of it among society in general, but would also increase the slave’s own feeling of self worth as he recognised that he was not serving because he was being forced to do so, but because he had chosen to do so in order to please God. It would also indicate to all a desire to fulfil the teaching of Jesus about loving one another. So the result would be that the Christian would actually gain self-respect by being an obedient slave. He would feel that he was serving the Master.

It would be foolish to suggest that supporting slavery as an institution was Peter’s or the church’s intention. He was rather recognising that at that time little could be done about it, and wanting Christians to make the right impression about what it meant to be a servant of Jesus Christ in terms of the society of the day and a situation that he could otherwise do nothing about. As a Jew he would certainly not have favoured slavery, for as already mentioned it was looked down on by the Jews, but he had to give guidance as to the best and most advantageous way of handling what could only be described as an unwelcome situation, and do it for the good of those involved.

Any attempt to obtain freedom for slaves by any other means than ransom (which was a method used by churches when they could, although they were limited in resources) would in fact simply have resulted in horrific treatment for the slaves when caught, and similar treatment for others involved. It would have been looked on as a heinous offence. (We have only to think of Spartacus to recognise that, and the church could certainly not have raised a large half-trained army in one place (which partly consisting of trained fighters) like he did).

In fact Christianity would in the end undermine slavery, but in 1st century AD, outside Palestine, slavery was such an established institution, and so looked on as a normal way of life, that attempts to change the situation would either have been looked on with incredulity (what else do you do with prisoners of war apart from the alternatives of crucifying them or sending them to the arena?), or, if an attempt had been made to put changes into practical effect, as high treason. Diatribes against slavery, which no doubt some Christian philosophers did make, would have accomplished little.

In fact churches began to undermine slavery simply as a result of the fact that slaves who attended at church worship would often become deacons, and sometimes even bishops, with the consequence that a newly converted Christian master might well find himself being instructed in spiritual matters by his own slave, in a circle where the slave was being treated with great respect because of his position. (Although even within non-Christian households a slave might effectively have a higher position than his master’s wife and children).

The truth was that the Roman Empire was built on slavery, and men in the highest positions could be slaves. These last would actually have been the first to resist attempts to rid the Empire of slavery. And a position as a slave was not all bad. It ensured for many both that the slave would have the protection of the household involved, and the certain provision of necessities, and even sometimes luxuries, and would often provide him with a position of trust and high favour, (especially in comparison with many ‘free men’ who were often left homeless and starving) while to resist such a position would simply have incurred severe beatings or even worse. But in fact in those days there were few who were really free. Poor freemen were equally as likely to be beaten, and in their cases they would then be left to their own devices. Meanwhile society would have little sympathy for recalcitrant slaves, and as slaves were regularly ‘foreigners’, they had nowhere to escape to apart from to the dregs of society. And once they had run away they would be for ever be looking over their shoulders as a ‘runaway’, knowing that if they were caught it would lead to literal branding or worse, to say nothing of what would be involved for the Gospel if it became recognised that the church had begun recommending such behaviour. It would have been seen as high treason against the state. Christian preachers could certainly argue the morality of the situation, and no doubt often did, but on the whole they would simply be looked on with incredulity if they suggested the cessation of slavery. After all what alternative was there? What they could not do was recommend the breaking of the law. That would have been treason. The church would have to become a lot more influential before it could even begin to do anything about slavery as an institution, and meanwhile advice had to be given to slaves on how to cope in a way that was pleasing to God, and beneficial for them both spiritually and physically. This was what Peter and Paul did.

End of Excursus.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

1Pe 2:25. Bishop of your souls. The word ‘, here translated bishop, signifies “an overseer or inspector of any person or business;” and it is added to the word shepherd, to strengthen the expression concerning Christ’s fidelity and watchfulness over his people. See Isa 1:11; Isa 53:6. Luk 15:4.

Inferences.Let us examine our own hearts seriously and impartially, with respect to those branches of the Christian temper, and those views of the Christian life, which are exhibited in this excellent portion of holy writ. Let us especially inquire, in what manner, and to what purposes, we receive the word of God. Is it with the simplicity of babes, or children? do we desire it, as they desire the breast? do we lay aside those evil affections of mind, which would incapacitate us for receiving it in a becoming manner? And does it conduce to our spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace? have we indeed tasted that the Lord is gracious? do we experimentally know, that to the true believer the Redeemer is inestimably precious? have we indeed come to him, as to a living stone; and, notwithstanding all the neglect and contempt with which he may be treated by many infatuated and miserable men, by wretches who are bent on their own destruction, do we regard, and build on him as our great and only foundation? and do we feel that spiritual life diffused through our souls, which is the genuine consequence of a real and vital union with him?If these be our happy circumstances, we shall not be ashamed or confounded.

Are we conscious of our high dignity, as we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people? are our hearts suitably affected with a sense of the divine goodness, in calling us to be a people, who once were not a people; and us beloved, who were comparatively not beloved; in leading us from the deplorable darkness of ignorance and vice, in which our ancestors were involved, into the marvellous light of his gospel; yea, in dissipating those thick clouds of prejudice and error, which once vailed this sacred light from our eyes, that its enlivening beams might break in upon our souls? And are we now shewing forth his praises? are we now offering to him spiritual sacrifices, in humble dependance on Christ, our great High-priest, who continually intercedes for our acceptance with God? Then shall we indeed make our calling and our election sure, and shall ere long appear in his heavenly temple, both as kings and priests unto God, to participate of our Redeemer’s glory, to reign with him, and minister to him for ever.
Let us be careful, in the mean time, to remember, that we are strangers and sojourners on earth, as all our fathers were; and that our days in this transitory life are but as a shadow that declineth; and let us learn to regard the appetites of our animal nature, and the interests of this mortal life, with a noble superiority, reflecting, for how little a space of time they will solicit our attention. And as for fleshly lusts, let us consider them as making war against the soul; arming ourselves with that resolution and fortitude which are necessary to prevent their gaining a victory over us; which would be, at once, our disgrace and our ruin. There is an additional argument to be derived, for a strenuous opposition to them, from our circumstances and situation in the present world; where there are so many enemies to our holy religion, who cannot be more effectually silenced than by our good conversation. Let it be, therefore, our principal care to cut off from them the occasion of speaking against us as evil doers; and by exhibiting a clear and unexceptionable pattern of good words in our daily conversation, let us invite and allure them to improve the day of their visitation, and, glorify their Father who is in heaven.
Again. As the honour of God is eminently concerned in the regard shewn by his people to the relative duties, let us, out of a due respect to that, pay a very careful and diligent attention to them; that the ignorance of foolish men, of those who reproach our good conversation in Christ, may be utterly silenced. Let magistrates especially be reverenced, and, in all things lawful, obeyed. And if they desire to secure reverence to their persons and authority, let them remember the end and design of their office, namely, to be a terror to evil-doers, and a praise and encouragement to the regular and virtuous. And let us, who rejoice in our liberty, that liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, be very careful, that it be not abused as a cloke of licentiousness; but as we would manifest our fear and reverence of God, let us remember to honour the king; yea, to render to every man, and every station and character, the esteem and respect which it justly claims; feeling, at the same time, the constraints of a peculiar affection to all those who are united to us by the endearing character of our brethren in the Lord.Should men who fill superior stations and relations in life, not be so regular, and without exception, in their private and public deportment as they ought, let us perform our duty, not only to the gentle and obliging, but to the perverse and froward; remembering our Lord’s example, which was set before us that we might follow his steps. And let his marvellous love, in bearing our sins in his own sacred body on the tree, endear both his example and his precepts to our souls, and constrain us to a holy conformity to him.

Since he, who is the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls, came on the most gracious and condescending errand of seeking and saving that which was lost, of gathering us into his fold, who were wandering in the way to perdition; let us shew so much gratitude and wisdom, as not to wander any more; but as we regard our security and our very life, let us keep our Shepherd in our eye, submit ourselves to his pastoral inspection, and cheerfully follow him in whatsoever path he shall condescend to conduct us.

REFLECTIONS.1st, The apostle proceeds,

1. To exhort the Hebrews to shew a temper suitable to their profession. Wherefore laying aside all malice, every thing spiteful, envious, and revengeful; and all guile, every thing deceitful in word or behaviour; and hypocrisies, whether in the profession of religion towards God, or in pretences of respect and friendship towards men; and envies, repining at the prosperity of others; and all evil speakings, which proceed from those vile tempers in the heart; in opposition to all these things, as new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the word, the pure unadulterated gospel, that ye may grow thereby in every divine and holy temper, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: if so be, or forasmuch as ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious, experimentally proving the riches of his mercy, and having begun to enjoy a sweet favour of that grace, which, though but a taste compared with what it shall be to the faithful, is yet so precious and reviving. Note; (1.) All malice, guile, hypocrisy, and slander, are direct contradictions to the Christian character. (2.) By nature, all evil cleaves to us closer than our garments; but it must be put off as filthy rags, if we mean with comfort to appear in the presence of God. (3.) The word of God supplies milk for babes, and strong meat for men; and they who feel an appetite for it, verily shall be fed and nourished up in the words of sound doctrine. (4.) The grace which is in Jesus Christ, is rich and free to the poorest and most miserable sinner; and to those who have tasted of it, he will indeed be precious.

2. He described that blessed Jesus, the true foundation of the sinner’s hope, of whose grace they had been made partakers. To whom coming by faith, as unto a living stone, even Christ, who is the only foundation, everlastingly durable, and never to be shaken; a living stone, the head of vital influence, and communicating to all his members life and strength; disallowed indeed of men, rejected and slighted by the Jewish rulers, and all unbelievers, who will not come to him that they may have life; but chosen of God, and precious, appointed by him to bear the massy structure of his church, as most excellent in himself, and most able to exalt the glory of God, and to secure the salvation of his faithful saints.Coming therefore to him, ye also, as lively stones, animated by virtue of union with him, are built up a spiritual house, in which God the Spirit is pleased to take up his blest abode; an holy priesthood, consecrated for God’s immediate service, and devoted to his glory; not to offer up the blood of beasts, but the better spiritual sacrifices of your bodies, souls, and spirits, in prayer and praise, which are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Note; (1.) Every child of God is the temple of the Trinity, where he abidingly dwells. (2.) They who reject Christ as their foundation, must build on the sand, and be swept away by the deluge of wrath. (3.) All Christians are consecrated as priests to God, and must approve their peculiar relation to him by their unreserved devotedness to his service.

3. He supports what he had advanced by the testimony of Isaiah. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, with wonder, love, and praise, behold, I lay in Sion, in my holy mountain, a chief corner-stone, the great Messiah, on whom all his believing people’s hopes are built; elect and chosen for this blessed purpose, to unite Jews and Gentiles, and the whole body of the faithful, in one glorious church; precious in my sight, and who is also above all things dear to those who are grounded on him as their foundation: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded, having confidence through a Redeemer’s blood to approach a throne of grace. Unto you therefore which believe, he is precious; Jesus is inexpressibly amiable in your eyes; you count your relation to him the highest honour, and firmly trust your everlasting hopes upon him: but unto them which be disobedient and unbelieving, as another scripture observes, the stone which the builders, the Jewish priests and rulers, disallowed and rejected, the same, as was foretold, is made the head of the corner, exalted to the greatest honour, and setting up his gospel church in defiance of their enmity and opposition. And, as Isaiah in another place prophesies, he is become a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, and through pride and prejudice will not bear the humbling manner in which the Messiah appeared, and the doctrines which he taught, being disobedient and infidel, having rejected him as the promised hope of Israel, and split upon this rock; whereunto also they were appointed: because they would obstinately and wilfully stand out against the gospel, they were appointed by God to stumble and fall at that Stone, to be bruised and ruined by that means, to be destroyed among the crucifiers of the Messiah, and condemned with them hereafter; it being just with God, that they who wilfully reject the gospel, and of course receive no benefit from it, should, for their obstinacy, be condemned, and so be the worse for it. Note; (1.) Christ is indeed precious to the believer, so precious, that, compared with the excellency of the knowledge of him, he counts all things beside but dung and dross. (2.) They who disbelieve the gospel, and disobey God’s word, rush on their own ruin, and must suffer shipwreck in eternity.

4. He reminds them of the rich and invaluable blessings and privileges which in the Redeemer they had obtained. But ye are a chosen generation, elect, called, invited to infinitely greater privileges than those which the visible church of Israel enjoyed; a royal priesthood having an unction from the Holy One, and made kings and priests unto God, Rev 1:6 victorious over your spiritual foes, and separated for God; an holy nation, consecrated to the Lord, and in spirit and temper conformed to his image; a peculiar people, in a nobler sense than ever Israel was of old, called to the highest dignity, and enriched with the most distinguishing blessings; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who, by his grace, hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light of gospel truth, brought from the cloudy dispensation of legal institutions, or from the still darker dispensation of Gentilism, into that bright day, which the Sun of righteousness makes, arising with healing in his wings. Which in time past were not a people,, having been disowned and divorced from God, in a national sense, (see Hos 1:9-10; Hos 2:23 and the Annotations,) but are now the people of God, through Jesus admitted experimentally into the gospel church, and acknowledged as the Lord’s: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy; even pardon, grace, and all the privileges of the gospel.

2nd, While they are in the flesh, the best of men have need to be warned and exhorted to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. The apostle therefore admonishes them,
1. To guard against all worldly and carnal affections. Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as becomes strangers and pilgrims, for such you profess yourselves to be upon the earth, abstain from fleshly lusts, subduing every inordinate appetite and every covetous desire, which war against the soul, and threaten its defilement and destruction; having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, adorning your profession by every thing commendable and excellent; that, whereas they speak against you as evil-doers, and misrepresent you as a wicked, refractory, and lawless people, they may be confuted by your good works which they shall behold, be ashamed of their unjust aspersions, and compelled to glorify God in the day of visitation, either when in the day of judgment he shall punish them for their ill usage of you; or, when their hearts are turned by his grace to the wisdom of the just, and he leads them to approve and imitate your good conversation.

2. To be obedient to magistrates. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, under whatever form of government you live, or whoever they be whom the divine Providence sets over you; whether it be to the king as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him, and bear his commission, for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well; from whom faithful and obedient subjects having nothing to fear, have every thing to hope for. For so is the will of God, that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, by your loyalty and cheerful submission to the civil government, confuting the calumnies of those who would brand you as seditious; but as free indeed from the tyranny of sin, Satan, and the curse of the law, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, to cover any treasonable design, or other malignant evil; but as the servants of God, conscientiously observant of his holy will in all things, and obedient to magistrates not only for wrath, but also for conscience’ sake.

3. He adds four short but important precepts. Honour all men according to their rank and station. Love the brotherhood, high or low, rich or poor; bear them an unfeigned regard as members of Christ, shew it in every act of kindness to their bodies and their souls. Fear God with all reverence, and filial awe of offending. Honour the king, the sovereign power of your country, by whatever name distinguished, as God’s representative, and governing under him.

3rdly, As the Jews very hardly bore a foreign yoke as a nation, they were also unwilling to submit to any Gentile masters; and many of those of them who believed in Christ, were persuaded by their Judaizing teachers, to think that they owed no obedience to unbelieving masters. To correct so dangerous an imagination, the apostle,
1. Inculcates the duty of servants. Be subject to your masters with all fear and reverence, and be obedient to all their lawful commands; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward, if such be your lot to be placed under their power. For this is thank-worthy, a matter of real commendation, and a gracious gift of God, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully, and bearing patiently the ill usage of a cruel master, to whom he has given no just cause of provocation. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? this can bring no credit to your religion; you receive but the just reward of your deeds. But if, when ye do well, faithful to your trust, and true to your profession, and suffer for it, that is, for your conscientious regard to God and his service, ye take it patiently, with all meekness, and without murmuring, this is acceptable with God, and a sure proof of his grace in your hearts. Note; (1.) The spirit of independence, which is in men, hardly brooks subjection, and correction still less. (2.) Patient suffering for well-doing, is our distinguished honour. (3.) Though the duty of servants is submission, yet their guilt is not the less who abuse their authority over them; and they will find a Master shortly, who will call them to account, with whom there is no respect of persons.

2. He enforces what he had enjoined with the most powerful arguments. For even hereunto were ye called,the cross which the Christian must be content to bear: and we should the more readily take it up, because Christ also suffered for us as our substitute, and to make atonement for us, for the meanest servant as well as for the highest of the sons of men; leaving us an example of patience and long-suffering under all the most cruel and unjust treatment which he met with, that ye should follow his steps, and be conformed to his blessed pattern; who, grievously as he suffered, yet did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; his bitterest enemies could not so much as fix upon him the shadow of a crime; who, when he was reviled, reviled not again, but observed an admirable silence, as the sheep before her shearers is dumb: when he suffered, he threatened not, nor discovered the least anger at his tormentors; but committed himself and his cause to him that judgeth righteously, and to whom vengeance belongeth: who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, submitting, as our surety, with his own blood to pay the penalty due to our iniquities; that we, being dead to sin, as crucified with him, should live unto righteousness, quickened by his Spirit unto newness of life: by whose stripes ye were healed; and the deadly wounds of your souls, far worse than those which the most cruel masters can make in your bodies, were cured by the sovereign balm of that Blood which streamed from his scourgings and flowed from his side. For ye were as sheep going astray, foolish, disobedient, deceived, in time past; but are now by grace recovered, and returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls, the blessed and adored Jesus. Note; (1.) Christ’s example should animate us with cheerfulness to take up every cross which in his providence he is pleased to lay upon us. (2.) Our sufferings, however cruel and unjust, will never be an excuse for our impatience under them, or for any anger toward the instruments of them, however wicked and unreasonable they may be. By nature, by practice, we have all gone astray. Reader, art thou then returning by faith in the atoning blood to the great Shepherd of our souls? art thou under his government, and dost thou tread in the footsteps of his flock?

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Pe 2:25 . ] This explanatory clause ( ) points back, as the continuance in it of the direct address ( ) shows, in the first instance, to the statement immediately preceding , but at the same time also to the thought , to which that assertion is subservient. For the foregoing figure a new one is substituted, after Isa 53:6 : LXX. ; if be the correct reading, then from it the nearer definition of is to be supplied, the sheep are to be thought of as those which have no shepherd (Mat 9:36 : ; comp. Num 27:17 ; 1Ki 22:17 ).

For the figure describing the state of man separated in his sin from God, comp. Mat 18:12-13 ; Luk 15:4 ff.

] is, in harmony with the uniform usage of Scripture, to be taken not in a passive (Wiesinger, Schott), but in a middle sense: “ ye have turned yourselves .” [164] Luther translates: “but ye are now turned.” The word means to turn oneself away from ( , ), towards something ( , , ), (sometimes equal to: to turn round); but it is not implied in the word itself that the individual has formerly been in that place towards which he has now turned round, and whither he is going (therefore, in Gal 4:9 , is expressly added). Weiss (p. 122) is therefore wrong when from this very word he tries to prove that by God, and not Christ, is to be understood, although the term sometimes includes in it the secondary idea of “back;” cf. 2Pe 2:21-22 .

] cf. especially Eze 34:11-12 ; Eze 34:16 , LXX.: , ; besides, with , Psa 23:1 ; Isa 40:11 . From the fact that in these passages God is spoken of as the shepherd, it must not be concluded, with Weiss, that refers not to Christ, but to God. For not only has God, calling Himself a shepherd, promised a shepherd (Eze 34:24 , LXX.: , Eze 37:24 ), but Christ, too, speaks of Himself as the good Shepherd; and Peter himself, in chap. 1Pe 5:4 , calls Him . In comparison with these passages, chap. 1Pe 5:2 is plainly of no account. All interpreters except Weiss rightly understand the expressions here used as applying to Christ. The designation would all the more naturally occur to the apostle, as it was, like , the name of the presidents of the churches who were, so to speak, the representatives of the One Shepherd and Bishop, the Head of the whole church.

belongs, as the omission of the article before shows, to both words; with the expression, cf. chap. 1Pe 1:9 ; 1Pe 1:22 .

[164] Schott’s counter-remark: “The question is not here what they did, but what in Christ was imparted to them,” has all the less weight, that conversion, though the personal act of the Christian, must still be regarded as effected by Christ. Hofmann maintains, without the slightest right to do so, that in this passage the chief emphasis lies on the readers’ own act, though at the same time he correctly understands in a middle sense.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 2399
THE NATURE OF TRUE CONVERSION STATED

1Pe 2:25. Ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

NOTHING so reconciles the Christian to sufferings, or so quickens him to exertions, as a recollection of the mercies he has experienced at the Lords hands. The Apostle is speaking here to servants, who were likely to meet with cruel and oppressive usage from their masters on account of their holy profession. To encourage them to a meek submission to their trials, he reminds them of the example which the Lord Jesus Christ had set them, when, for the redemption of their souls, he had endured all the agonies of crucifixion; and of the exceedingly rich mercy which they had experienced, in having been brought to the knowledge of Christ, and to the enjoyment of his salvation. They were healed: they were healed through the stripes inflicted on their Divine Master; who was now the Shepherd and Overseer, as he had been the Redeemer and Saviour, of their souls. Enjoying then such benefits through the superabounding grace of Christ, they ought willingly and cheerfully to endure for him whatever, in his providence, he might permit to be inflicted on them.
This appears to be the scope of the passage before us: in discoursing upon which, I shall have occasion to consider,

Our state by nature

All of us in our unconverted state have been as sheep going astray. The Prophet Isaiah, whose words the Apostle cites, declares this to have been the condition of all without exception: All we like sheep have gone astray [Note: Isa 53:6.]. In respect of folly, we have resembled the silly sheep; which wanders it knows not whither, and exposes itself to dangers, from which, by continuing in the fold, it might have been exempt. In respect of criminality, our conduct justly subjects us to blame, from which the senseless animal is free: for our departure from God has been,

Wilful, without any just occasion

[The mind of every unregenerate man is alienated from God: he hates his law: he is averse to his yoke: he says to God, Depart from me; I desire not the knowledge of thy ways. All indeed do not choose the same path; but, as the prophet says, they go every one to his own way: one in a way of open profaneness; another in a way of self-righteous formality: but in this all are agreed, that they listen not to the voice of the good Shepherd, nor walk in the footsteps of his flock
And now, I would ask, What reason have they for this? Has God been a wilderness to them? a land of darkness? Wherefore have they said, We are lords: we will come no more unto thee [Note: Jer 2:31.]? The true reason of our departure from him has been, that we have not liked to retain him in our knowledge [Note: Rom 1:28.]: on the contrary, the notices which we have had of his power and grace we have imprisoned in unrighteousness [Note: Rom 1:18.]: and actually knowing that they who did such things were worthy of death, we have both done them, and had pleasure in those who did them, choosing them as our friends and daily companions [Note: Rom 1:32.].]

Habitual, without one serious effort to return to him

[The sheep in its wandering state betrays to all its disquietude; and if it knew which way to go, it would gladly return to the fold that it has left. But the unconverted man goes farther and farther from his God, without so much as a desire to return: or if a desire occasionally arise in his mind, it is so weak and so transient, as to produce no permanent effect. If a sense of guilt and danger obtrude itself upon him, he strives to silence the conviction, and to divert the thought from his mind. If urged to return to the fold of Christ, he replies, No: I have loved strangers: and after them will I go [Note: Jer 2:25.]. This is their way, from the first moment that they begin to act [Note: Jer 22:21.]: and in this they persist, till the good Shepherd, of his own grace and mercy, searches them out, and brings them back to his fold.]

Then takes place the change which is described in my text, and which leads me to set before you,

II.

Our state by grace

We return to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls: we return to the Lord Jesus Christ,

As our Owner

[By grace we are taught, what in an unconverted state we little consider, that the Lord Jesus Christ is that good Shepherd who has laid down his life for his sheep [Note: Joh 10:15.]. This thought, coming with power to the soul, has a constraining influence: it fills us with wonder and admiration at the love of Christ; and at the same time with grief, on account of our having forsaken such a Shepherd. Now we are perfectly amazed at our own ingratitude: and no terms are sufficiently strong whereby to express our self-lothing and self-abhorrence. Aware now that we have been bought with a price, even with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, we are convinced that we are not our own, but his; and consequently, that we are bound to glorify him with our body and our spirit, which are his. Under this conviction we return to him, and give ourselves up to him as his purchased possession.]

As our Provider

[When once Divine grace has begun to operate effectually on our hearts, we see how we have been all our days feeding on the husks of swine, whilst we deserted the pastures in which it was our privilege to feed. But no longer can we be satisfied with such things Now we affect that better food, which the Lord Jesus Christ has provided for us; and desire to be led into those pastures, where he maketh his flock to lie down at noon. Now we begin to understand what is meant by eating the flesh of Christ and drinking his blood; and we find his flesh to be meat indeed, and his blood to be drink indeed; and the promises, which we once despised, are sweeter to us than honey or the honey-comb.]

As our Protector

[Now we tremble at the thought of the dangers to which we have been exposed: nor can we rest without imploring the protection of our good Shepherd, to deliver us from that roaring lion that seeketh to devour us. No longer can we venture ourselves at a distance from him: we feel that we are unable in ourselves to cope with the feeblest enemy: and we cast all our care on Him who careth for us.]

As our Governor

[To hear the voice of our good Shepherd is now our delight. Wherever he calls, we follow. If we are erring in any thing, a word from him reclaims us. Wherever he calls, we go: whatever he forbids, we shun: whatever he commands, we do. The temptations which once allured us, have now in a great measure lost their power;the terrors that alarmed us, their influence. What wilt thou have me to do? is now our one inquiry: and, having ascertained that, we are satisfied; nor can all the powers of earth and hell divert us from our purpose to obey his will.]

Such is the change which takes place in conversion. We say not that it is perfected in the first moment; nor that it is ever so perfect, but that it admits of increase. In respect of parts, a babe is perfect as a man; though every part admits of growth. So it is in the new man. All these things are found in him, though imperfect as to their degree. Contemplate then this change,

For the satisfying of your own minds

[We cannot conceive of any figure better calculated to illustrate the conversion of a soul, than this. The state of a wandering sheep is known to all: the poor rustic that attends the sheep has as perfect an idea of its wants and dangers, as the most enlightened philosopher can have; and can apprehend as well the comparative felicity of those who are within the fold, watched over, and provided for, by a tender and faithful shepherd. Nor is there any difficulty in transferring these ideas to the state of a soul before, and after, its conversion. Consider then whether you are conscious of having experienced such a change? I will admit indeed that there are some who are sanctified, as it were, from the womb, and whose transition from a natural to a spiritual state is not so distinctly marked. But these are very few: and in them the image of a sheep obedient to its shepherds voice, is as just, as in any other person whatever. The great mass of mankind have been far off from God; and they, when converted, are brought nigh unto him, as their owner, their provider, their protector, their governor, under all which characters they look unto him, and devote themselves to him, and expect every thing from him. I pray you, brethren, see whether it be thus with you: for, if you are Christians indeed, you were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.]

For the inflaming of your gratitude to the Lord Jesus Christ

[If you have been brought home to the fold of Christ, need I ask, whence this change arose? You will know full well that it did not originate with you, nor was carried into effect by any power of your own. The silly sheep would as soon return by its own wisdom to the fold it has deserted, as you would accomplish such a change in yourselves. It was the Lord Jesus Christ who sought you out, and apprehended you, and brought you home on his shoulders rejoicing: and if he had not effected it all for you and in you, you would have been roving from him to your latest hour, and would have perished in your sins. Be thankful to him then: adore him for the grace that has so distinguished you. And, whilst you give him glory for having so made you to differ from others and from your former selves, let his mercy constrain you to surrender up yourselves to him wholly, and without reserve.]

To excite your compassion towards a perishing world

[Were you to see a straying sheep beset with dogs who were tearing it to pieces, who amongst you would not compassionate its wretched condition? Yet is this but a very faint image of the world around you; and not of the heathen world only, but of Christians also. We see not indeed the fate prepared for them: we see not how they are already, as it were, in the jaws of the roaring lion, whose prey they will be to all eternity. But this is not the less true, because we do not see it. It is their real state; and soon shall we see it with our bodily eyes. Our blessed Lord, when he saw the multitudes around him, (of persons nominally the Lords people,) he had compassion on them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd. Do ye then consider the deplorable condition of all around you, and use all possible means to bring them to the fold of Christ And know for your comfort, that he who shall convert a sinner from the error of his way, will save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

REFLECTIONS

Blessed Lord God the Holy Ghost! since by regeneration thou bringest the children into their adoption character in Christ Jesus, give me the daily influences of thy grace, that I may live and act up to the high character of my calling; and laying aside all the old corruptions of the old nature, of malice, and guile, and hypocrisies, and evil speaking, as one new-born in Christ, may all the longings of my soul be after Jesus. Having tasted his graciousness, excite in me a thirst for unceasing enjoyments of him. And however my Lord becomes a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to the world, may my soul be building upon him, as Jehovah’s chief corner stone, elect and precious in Zion; everything that is blessed for faith to rest upon, in life and death, in time and to all eternity, And amidst my weakness and unworthiness, and the slenderness of my faith, give me grace to attend to what thou hast here said as a token of faith; unto you therefore which believe, he is precious. Surely Christ is more precious to me than thousands of gold and silver. And therefore, my God saith, this is faith. Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.

Precious Jesus! thy people is a chosen generation; God the Father hath chosen them, and made them so. They are from the same source, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people! And will not the same grace which hath so distinguished them, cause them to be distinguished also as lights in the world, among whom they shine in a crooked and perverse generation? That grace must be from thee, for all grace is in thee. Enable them, 0 Lord, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul, and to adorn thy doctrine in all things. And while rejoicing in being delivered from sin, and all its tremendous consequences, by thy blood, may they follow, through the sweet influences of Holy Spirit, thy example!

Yes! thou Almighty Shepherd and Bishop of souls, thou hast brought back thy blood-bought sheep to thy fold, and thou wilt keep them thine forever.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

Ver. 25. As sheep ] Than the which no creature is more apt to stray, less apt and able to return. The ox knoweth his owner, &c.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

25 .] For (justification of the last assertion by another allusion to Isa 53 ) ye were straying like sheep (so in ref. Isa., ): but ye have returned (not, “have been converted:” the 2 aor. pass. occurs often in a middle sense, and it is impossible to press the passive: cf. Matt. ( Mat 9:22 ) Mat 10:13 ; Mar 5:30 . Wiesinger’s reason for doing so, that this word corresponds to , is hardly tenable: it may with just as much plausibility be alleged that it corresponds to ) now unto the Shepherd (cf. ch. 1Pe 5:4 , and the prophecies in Isa 40:11 ; Eze 34:23 ; Eze 37:24 , also Joh 10:11 ) and Bishop (there may be a reference to Eze 34:11 , (not to ref. Job, as some): but the most likely account of the expression is, that the Apostle transfers the well-known name of the elders of the churches, , to the great Head of the Church, of whom they were all the servants and representatives. On the name and office, see notes, Act 20:17 ; Act 20:28 ; Php 1:1 ) of your souls (so in ch. 1Pe 1:9 ; 1Pe 1:22 , and in 1Pe 2:11 ).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1Pe 2:25 = Isa 53:6 , combined with Eze 34:6 , where this conception of the people and their teachers ( the shepherds of Israel ) is elaborated and the latter denounced because Further the use of this metaphor in the context presupposes the saying I am the good shepherd. I lay down my life for the sheep (Joh 12:15 ). , cf. Eze 34:11 , . It is to be noted that the command which Jesus laid on Peter, feeding sheep , comes from Ez. I.c.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

For, &c. This clause and that which precedes are quoted from Isa 53:5, Isa 53:6.

Bishop. See Php 1:1, Php 1:1. A Latin manuscript in the British Museum adds, after “souls”, “the Lord Jesus Christ”.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

25.] For (justification of the last assertion by another allusion to Isaiah 53) ye were straying like sheep (so in ref. Isa., ): but ye have returned (not, have been converted: the 2 aor. pass. occurs often in a middle sense, and it is impossible to press the passive: cf. Matt. (Mat 9:22) Mat 10:13; Mar 5:30. Wiesingers reason for doing so, that this word corresponds to , is hardly tenable: it may with just as much plausibility be alleged that it corresponds to ) now unto the Shepherd (cf. ch. 1Pe 5:4, and the prophecies in Isa 40:11; Eze 34:23; Eze 37:24, also Joh 10:11) and Bishop (there may be a reference to Eze 34:11, (not to ref. Job, as some): but the most likely account of the expression is, that the Apostle transfers the well-known name of the elders of the churches, , to the great Head of the Church, of whom they were all the servants and representatives. On the name and office, see notes, Act 20:17; Act 20:28; Php 1:1) of your souls (so in ch. 1Pe 1:9; 1Pe 1:22, and in 1Pe 2:11).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

1Pe 2:25. , by whose stripe ye were healed; for ye were as sheep going astray) Isa 53:5-6, Septuagint, . A paradox of the apostle: Ye were healed with a stripe. But , a weal, is common on the person of a slave: Sir 23:10.- , shepherd and bishop) whom you are bound to obey. Synonymous words. Comp. ch 1Pe 5:2.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

ye: Psa 119:176, Isa 53:6, Jer 23:2, Eze 34:6, Mat 9:36, Mat 18:12, Luk 15:4-6

the Shepherd: 1Pe 5:4, Psa 23:1-3, Psa 80:1, Son 1:7, Son 1:8, Isa 40:11, Eze 34:11-16, Eze 34:23, Eze 34:24, Eze 37:24, Zec 13:7, Joh 10:11-16, Heb 13:20

Bishop: Heb 3:1, Act 20:28,*Gr.

Reciprocal: Num 4:16 – the oversight Num 27:17 – as sheep Deu 22:1 – Thou shalt 2Sa 24:17 – let thine Psa 95:7 – people Psa 100:3 – we are his Jer 50:6 – people Jer 50:17 – a scattered Mat 10:6 – lost Luk 15:6 – for Joh 10:2 – the shepherd Joh 10:16 – one shepherd Joh 21:15 – Feed Joh 21:16 – my sheep Act 3:19 – be Act 26:18 – and to Rom 3:12 – They are Eph 5:9 – goodness Phi 1:1 – the bishops 1Ti 3:1 – the office

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

SHEPHERD AND SHEEP

Ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

1Pe 2:25

Who would expect such allusions in an address to servants, urging them to propriety of conduct? Evidently, from the beginning, religion was mixed up with practical life. Oppressed bondsmen were reminded of the example of Christ, and were expected to follow Him in patient endurance of wrong, remembering that they themselves had been the occasion, through their wanderings, of the Shepherds weary, painful quest.

I. A picture of ourselves.

(a) What we were. Even sheep going astray, according to the familiar image met with so often, both in the Old Testament and the New.

(b) What we are. Now returned, by Divine grace, from our wanderings to the fold, and so to happiness, safety, and abundance. Happy they of whom this is true.

II. A picture of our Lord.

(a) The Shepherd, as represented in the paintings in the Catacombs. He exercises the pastoral office mainly in the recovery of the lost of the flock. Observe: (1) His pity for the flock. (2). His search for the lost. (3) His suffering for the lost. (4) His rescue of the lost.

(b) The Bishop of our souls, i.e. the Overseer, Protector, Guide, and Ruler. (1) Christ controls His people whom He has restored. (2) And leads them in the paths of peace. (3) And feeds them in His plenteous pastures. (4) And protects them, i.e. with His rod and staff.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

1Pe 2:25. As sheep going astray. All mankind went astray from God and were lost in the wilderness of sin. Continuing the language belonging to the business of a shepherd and the flock, the apostle represents these disciples as the wandering sheep who heard the voice of the Shepherd and returned to him. Jesus is not only a shepherd. in that He attends to the feeding, but also is their Bishop in that he inspects and governs them.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

1Pe 2:25. For ye were going astray as sheep. Continuing Isaiahs strain, Peter adds a reason for what he has just said of a restoration to righteousness, or soundness of life. The figure passes from that of sickness into that of error. As the better-sustained reading gives the participle in the masculine (not in the neuter, as if qualifying the sheep), it is necessary to put the comparison otherwise than it is given in the A. V. The readers are compared simply to sheep, not to wandering sheep. That is to say, they are said themselves to have been once wanderers, and in that state of estrangement from God to have been like sheep,helpless, foolish, and heedless. Thus the figure stands in Isa 53:6, and so here it connects itself at once with the subsequent idea of returning to a Head. The use of the sheep as a figure of man in his natural alienation from God is one of the commonest in the Old Testament (e.g. Num 27:17; 1Ki 22:17; Psa 119:176; Eze 34:5; Eze 34:11). So in the New Testament (Mat 18:12-13; Luk 15:4, etc.); although it is used also as a figure of docility, etc. (Joh 10:4-5, etc.).

But ye turned yourselves now. On the ground of such instances as Mat 9:22; Mat 10:13, Mar 5:30; Mar 8:33, Joh 12:40; Joh 21:20, it seems necessary to give the verb the middle sense here, although it might seem more in harmony with the context to render it are returned, so as to bring out more clearly what had been done for them. It is in the past, too, as referring to the definite act of turning, once accomplished. He to whom they turned is Christ (not God here), who is designated both the Shepherd of their souls and the Overseer of their souls. The title Shepherd, indeed, is used of God in the Old Testament (Psa 23:1; Isa 40:11; Eze 34:11-12; Eze 34:16). But it is also applied to Messiah there (Eze 34:24), while in the New Testament it is not only claimed for Himself by Christ (Joh 10:11), but is given to Him again by Peter (1Pe 5:4). The use of the title Bishop, or, as it simply means Overseer or Guardian, may be due to the fact that, like Shepherd, it was a name given to the presidents of the churches, who were, so to speak, the representatives of the One Shepherd and Bishop, the Head of the whole Church (Huther), or, as others suggest, it may have risen from such Old Testament usages as the ascription to the Lord God (in Eze 34:11-12) of the action of seeking out the sheep; which action is expressed by the verb cognate to the title. The two designations are closely akin. The early Greeks spoke of their princes as shepherds of the people, transferring the name not from the pastoral function of feeding the flock, but rather from that of tending, protecting, and directing it. In the New Testament, too, the pastors in Pauls enumeration of functionaries in the Church (Eph 4:11) are shepherds, and the cognate verb which our A. V. renders feed in such passages as Joh 21:16, Act 20:28, 1Pe 5:2, has the wider sense of shepherding or tending.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, 1. The state and condition in which both Jews and Gentiles were found before their conversion to Christianity; they were like sheep going astray and lost; wandering in the ways of sin and unbelief, to their threatened ruin and destruction.

Observe, 2. The tender care of Christ, that great and good Shepherd, in bringing home these lost sheep upon his shoulders, Isa 40:11 into his fold the church: Ye are now returned to the Shepherd, to him that will feed you in green pastures, and preserve you to his heavenly kingdom. The Shepherd gives life to his sheep, and also lays down his life for his sheep.

Observe, 3. The additional title given to Christ, he is styled the Bishop of our souls; he that with tenderness, care, and diligence, doth inspect and visit all his charge, he is the universal Bishop, the Bishop of bishops, who has the charge of all the flocks, and of the shepherds must become accountable. God Almighty give them all such grace to be faithful, such wisdom to be prudent, that love to himself, that zeal for Christ, that tenderness for souls, such meekness and humility, such patience and charity, such mortification and self-denial, as become persons of their holy character and profession; always remembering, that the salvation of one precious soul, for which the great Shepherd died, is infinitely worth the most indefatigable labours of their whole lives: that, when the chief Shepherd shall appear, they may receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Amen.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Peter concluded his citation of Jesus’ example (1Pe 2:21-24). He reminded his readers that they too, as the sheep Isaiah referred to in the passage he just cited, had once wandered from God. Nevertheless now they had returned to the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, who would fulfill the function of a shepherd by guarding their souls from hostile adversaries. Their enemies might assail their bodies, but the Lord would preserve their souls (whole persons) safe (cf. 1Pe 1:3-5).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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