First Peter 5:4 says, “When the Chief Shepherd is manifested, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.” Today we are following the steps of Christ as the Chief Shepherd, suffering what He has suffered. Yet when the Chief Shepherd is manifested, we will receive the reward of the unfading crown of glory.
Christ is our Chief Shepherd, and He is the Head of all the shepherds. He leads us to feed, look after, teach, and guide the flock of God according to God’s intention and to become patterns of the flock (vv. 2-3). Christ is the Chief Shepherd, and the believers are shepherds. As the Chief Shepherd, He must have a flock of shepherds under Him. We are not simply flocks of sheep but flocks of shepherds.
Christ is the Chief Shepherd, shepherding His flock through the elders of the churches (vv. 1-4). All the elders are subordinate shepherds. Christ as the Head is the Chief Shepherd. Actually, we are not the ones who are shepherding. When we shepherd, it should be Christ shepherding through us; it should be He who is in us urging us to shepherd others. Unless the Lord is doing the shepherding, how can we be shepherds? When we go to visit a brother and the Lord goes with us, that truly makes a difference. If we shepherd people apart from Christ, such shepherding is not in resurrection but in the old creation. When Christ shepherds through us, our labor is in resurrection. Only Christ is resurrection. Whatever is divine is resurrection. All the elders must learn to shepherd the churches, not by themselves in the old creation but by Christ as the shepherding Chief in resurrection.
The reward to the elders will be the unfading crown of glory, which they will receive at the manifestation of the Chief Shepherd (v. 4). At the apostle’s time crowns were given to victors in athletic games (1 Cor. 9:25; 2 Tim. 4:8). Those were corruptible crowns, whose glory faded. The crown given by the Lord to the faithful elders will be a reward for their loyal service. The glory of this crown will never fade. It will be a portion of the glory for the overcomers’ enjoyment in the manifestation of the kingdom of God and Christ (2 Pet. 1:11). Christ is the Chief Shepherd who will reward the faithful elders, who shepherd God’s flock faithfully, with the unfading crown of glory for their encouragement.
First Peter 5:10 says, “The God of all grace, He who has called you into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground you.” The expression in Christ Jesus indicates that the God of all grace went through all the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to accomplish the complete and full redemption so that He may bring His redeemed people into an organic union with Himself. Thus, they may participate in the riches of the Triune God as their enjoyment. All the steps of the divine operation are in Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God and who became the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit as the bountiful life supply to us. It is in this Christ, through His all-inclusive redemption and based on all His achievements, that God can be the God of all grace to call us into His eternal glory and to perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground us in the Triune God (1:1-2) as the solid foundation, thus enabling us to attain to His glorious goal. What a miracle that fallen sinners can be brought into God’s eternal glory! And how excellent is His perfecting, establishing, strengthening, and grounding work in us! This is all accomplished through His “all grace” which is the “true grace” (5:12). According to what Peter says in 5:10, our sufferings are only for a little while, but God’s glory is eternal. After we have suffered a little while, the God of all grace will personally perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground us.
First Peter 5:14 says, “Peace to you all who are in Christ.” Peace results from grace and issues from the enjoyment of the Triune God. Such enjoyment of God as the multiplying and multiplied grace (1:2), the varied grace (4:10), the all grace (5:10), and the true grace (v. 12), as the reality of the contents of the Christian life under the government of God, issues and results in a condition of peace with both God and man.
First Peter presents many different aspects of the sweet experience and enjoyment of Christ. We may be limited in our experience and enjoyment of Christ. Yet when we consider all these precious items of Christ revealed in 1 Peter, we can see a view of the rich enjoyment that we may have in Him.