1 Peter 5:4 Commentary and Bible Study

Some of the commentators get very excited about this, as though the shepherd, the pastor, the preacher is going to receive a greater a reward than anyone else. It does kind of look like that, when you read the passage superficially, that there is a unique blessing singled out for the teachers and the pastors, but that is not the intention. The reason why they are addressed in this singular way is that (particularly in those days) they are taking the brunt of the troubles; they are the people who might have been most tempted to fade into the background. They were the ones who were seized first, who were persecuted most and first of all. That is why Peter addresses them particularly. Be loyal and true and faithful and keep going, because the chief pastor is going to give you a crown of life. It is not meant to imply that their blessing and reward is going to be any greater than those of other Christians. Eternally these are rewards of grace.All that the elders do must be done against the day when Christ appears, the day that will make visible the glories that are now hidden from their eyes. Then they will see Jesus Christ, their Lord, whom they serve though they cannot see him, and faith will turn to sight. Now they labour for one they cannot see and only faith can drive their service. They hear the voice of Satan telling them that their labour is in vain, and that their master does not notice or care what they do, but God’s word says otherwise, and they do not listen to the devil who was a liar from the beginning.Christ is called the Chief Shepherd because he is like a shepherd who directs and organises a number of under-shepherds working for him. He calls them and assigns them their responsibilities and they care for his flock which he loves dearly. They serve in the knowledge that though he is absent now, he is aware of all their service and will forget none of their labours. All their hope is tied on his appearing. Those long years of faithfulness, of encouraging themselves by his promises when their spirits were low, those trials of mocking for his name’s sake were all endured in the expectation that he saw them all and will wipe away every tear when he comes.