Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Peter 5:5-7

As we follow Christ through suffering, we all need to be guided and served by caring, faithful pastors (also called elders).

Though God entrusts this leadership role to certain men in the church, he expects them to carry out this role with a proper mindset.

They should lead by providing an enthusiastic example and not in an abusive, forceful way.

In all they do, pastors must recognize that they are not just leaders but servant leaders who must be willing to suffer as they lead and who must answer to Christ for how they lead.

In short, they must be humble men.

Yet such humility is not only necessary for them, it is necessary for all of us if together we will succeed in following Christ through suffering.

“Do you wish to rise?

Begin by descending.

You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds?

Lay first the foundation of humility.”

(Augustine)

To his instruction for pastors providing shepherding care in the church, Peter links some further important instructions to a different group of people in the church, whom he calls the “younger people,” encouraging them to be humble as well.

From these instructions, we learn that to follow Christ through suffering, not only do we need pastoral care, but we need humility.

To practice this humility…

Younger followers of Christ should follow pastoral guidance.

Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders.

Who are these “younger people”?

“Younger people” is a translation of one word, literally “younger” or “younger ones.”

Some suggest that Peter is speaking to younger pastors, but this makes little sense for at least two reasons.

“Likewise” shifts focus to a different group of people not a subset of the former one – the elders of the previous four verses.

Peter refers to the former group (elders) once again in these instructions, again indicating that these “younger” were a different group of people from the elders and not among the elders themselves.

Some suggest another possible identity, those people in the church who are newer, less experienced believers.

This is also unlikely because describing newer believers as “younger ones” does not occur elsewhere in the NT.

So, the most likely identity of these “younger ones” are those church members who are in an earlier, younger stage of life.

In addition to identifying these younger people, we must also identify the elders in v.5.

Some suggest (incl.

John Calvin) that these elders refer generally to the older men, believers, or generation in the church, in contrast to the younger members or generation.

While this word does occasionally refer generally to “older men” (Acts 2:17) or “older women” (1 Tim 5:2), this translation seems unlikely here for at least two reasons:

Peter has used this word in his previous instruction to identify the pastors in the churches, closely linking this next instruction with “likewise,” making it unlikely that he has now changed his usage of this word so soon.

What’s more, throughout the NT this word almost always refers to the pastoral leaders within the church, so there would need to be compelling contextual reasons for translating here it otherwise, but there is none.

The most likely interpretation is that Peter is telling younger members of the church to follow pastoral guidance.

This does not mean older members don’t need the same instructions (more on that shortly), but it acknowledges that younger members need to hear this, perhaps since they are generally less inclined to do so and perhaps because younger members are more apt to act independently, self-sufficiently, and without regard or respect for pastoral care and guidance – thinking they know better.

Whatever the case, Peter tells younger followers of Christ to “submit” to pastoral leaders in the church.

The purpose of these instructions is not to promote blind loyalty that does whatever a pastor might say.

Peter has taught that pastors must be accountable to Christ, the clear teaching of God’s Word, and the congregation who observes their example and lifestyle and should not lead in an abusive or dictatorial way.

And he has demonstrated that the scope of a pastor’s guidance should focus on spiritual care.

These instruction encourage two things of younger members in the church.

They should first choose to place themselves within the church by choosing to become committed, contributing, and involved members.

They should follow the personal, spiritual direction and leadership that the pastors within their church provide in keeping with Scripture.

As the word submit describes, they should literally “place themselves under” the pastoral leaders to whom God has entrusted their spiritual care (v.3).

Another way to define this word is “to defer to the authority of.”

Peter has already taught this concept of submission.

We should submit to government officials.

(1 Pet 2:12-15)

Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.

For this is the will of God …

We should submit to our employers and supervisors.

(1 Pet 2:18)

Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh.

Wives should submit to their husbands.

(1 Pet 3:1, 5)

Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives.

Just as we should submit to government leaders in matters of civil and criminal law, we should submit to workplace leaders in matters of employment, and wives should submit to the leadership of their husbands at home, so younger followers of Christ should submit themselves to their pastoral leaders with regard to church leadership and spiritual care.

So, Peter singles out the younger members of the church for these instructions because as a category of people and a demographic in the church, they may more generally tend to take church membership, involvement, and pastoral care less seriously than those who are older, more experienced, and more informed.

As commentator and professor Thomas Schreiner explains:

Those who are under leadership should be inclined to follow and submit to their leaders.

They should not be resisting the initiatives of leaders and complaining about the direction of the church.

Two other commentators, Max Anders and David Walls, speak even more directly:

Some church members believe they have a right to sabotage pastoral leadership, to speak critically of pastors, to slander them, to castigate them simply because they don’t like them or their leadership.

God has not given the members of the flock this responsibility.

When they take this upon themselves, they allow Satan to use them as his tool for division and destruction in the church.

The message here is clear: when pastor-shepherds lead their congregation with responsible and godly leadership and members of the flock resist this leadership, those members are in disobedience to the Lord and have opened the door for Satan.

These are the sentiments that Peter is expressing to the younger members of a church, but we should not be surprised that he does not limit these sentiments and instructions to the younger members only.

He expands them more broadly, too – very broadly.

All followers of Christ should submit to one another.

Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility.

With the words, “Yes, all of you,” Peter extends what he has just said to the younger members of the church to everyone else in the church, as well.

All members, regardless of age or stage of life, should follow and submit to the pastoral leadership of the church.

No one is exempt from this community obligation.

As I mentioned in a previous sermon, the writer of Hebrews reaffirms this instruction to all members in the church (Heb 13:17):

Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account.

Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

Yet there is more to be said about this here.

By saying, “Yes, all of you…”, Peter includes and expands his instructions of submission to everyone in the church in two ways:

He includes everyone in the church with regard to who should submit – every member should submit, not just the younger.

He also includes everyone in the church with regard to whom we should submit to – again, we should submit to every member, not just the pastors.

If you think submitting to your pastors is a challenge, then what about submitting to everyone else in your church, too?

How’s that for expanding the instructions?

By teaching this way, Peter encourages us to practice the principle of mutual submission towards each other in the church, a principle which Paul also teaches.

To help us understand what it means to “submit to one another,” we should visualize the illustration of a building construction project which Peter has already described earlier in this letter (1 Pet 2:5):

you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house …

With this illustration, Peter describes the church as a house being made of stone that is under construction.

To build this house, one stone is being placed on top of and adjacent to another.

In this arrangement, we are all dependent upon one another and should treat one another with great appreciation and respect.

To disrespect, hurt, or neglect another member of the church is to disrespect, hurt, and neglect ourselves, because we truly are connected that closely and that mutually reliant upon one another.

To submit to one another, we must be intentional and work very hard to elevate one another’s concerns over our own, prioritize one another’s needs over our own, and respect one another’s preferences over our own.

This is not easy to do, but it is a biblical necessity.

So, it is the responsibility of pastors help guide a church into practicing mutual submission as well as possible.

Evidence that mutual submission is occurring includes:

Neither long-standing, older members nor younger, newer members insist on having their own way in matters of preference, policy, or opinion.

Members do not complain about being neglected or overlooked in their ideas and perceived needs so long as the ideas and needs of others are being considered.

Members do not cling tightly to tenured positions and roles, letting go or being more flexible if it means involving, rotating, and training more people to be involved.

Members accept appropriate and reasonable changes in practices, programs, and schedules which encourage more and newer people to get involved and take their next steps in following Christ.

Members do not spread criticisms and complaints about pastoral leaders or one another to other people in the church but rather commit themselves to the success of pastoral direction and the interests and needs of other members in the church.

Paul describes this spirit of mutual submission as follows (Phil 2:3-4):

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

To help us grasp this concept even better, Peter gives both an illustration from the life of Christ and a quotation from the Old Testament.

First, the illustration is, “be clothed with humility.”