TOM · The Owner's Manual · New Testament

1 Peter 5

Chapter 5 in 30 seconds

Elders, be shepherds, not bosses, and do not do it for the money. Everybody, tie on humility like a servant's apron. Throw your worries on God, because He cares about you. Stay alert, because the devil prowls like a roaring lion. After a little while of suffering, God Himself will restore you. Mark says hi.

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In this chapterField Notes · ArchaeologyPeter's Tomb? · after verse 14 Field Notes · ArchaeologyNero's Circus · after verse 14

Instructions to Elders// 1 Timothy 3:1–7; Titus 1:5–9

¹As a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings, and a partaker of the glory to be revealed, I appeal to the elders among you: ²Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed, but out of eagerness; ³not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. ⁴And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

1PE 5:2[NOTABLE]Lead willingly, not for money and not as a boss, but as an example.
1PE 5:2[NOTE]TEXT. Watching over them is missing in Codex Sinaiticus and Vaticanus. As God would have you is missing in Vaticanus and the KJV.
1PE 5:4[FULFILLS]I will establish one Shepherd over them, My servant David; He shall be prince among them ← EZK 34:23-24

Cast Your Cares on Him

⁵Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

“God opposes the proud,

but gives grace to the humble.”

1PE 5:5[QUOTES]Direct ← PROV 3:34

⁶Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you. ⁷Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

1PE 5:6[NOTABLE]The way up is down, and God picks the timing.
1PE 5:7[ALLUDES TO]Refers to ← PS 55:22

⁸Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.

1PE 5:8[DEMONIC]The devil prowls like a roaring lion

Benediction and Farewell

¹⁰And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore you, secure you, strengthen you, and establish you. ¹¹To Him be the power forever and ever. Amen.

1PE 5:10[NOTABLE]Suffering is for a little while. God Himself promises four things: restore, secure, strengthen, establish.

¹²Through Silvanus, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.

1PE 5:12[NOTE]SILVANUS. Probably Silas, Paul's partner, Acts 15:40. Through Silvanus can mean he helped write the letter or that he carried it.

¹³The church in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, as does my son Mark.

1PE 5:13[ARCHAEOLOGY]Roman tombs under St Peter's Basilica, dug out 1939 to 1949, with a small shrine from about AD 160 that Christians said marked Peter's grave
1PE 5:13[ARCHAEOLOGY]A granite obelisk that stood in the Circus of Gaius and Nero on the Vatican hill, now in St Peter's Square
1PE 5:13[NOTE]BABYLON. Most believe this is a code name for Rome, as in Revelation 17 to 18. Papias and Clement of Alexandria, quoted by Eusebius, said Peter wrote from Rome and called it Babylon. A few say the real Babylon in Iraq; the Coptic church points to a Roman fort called Babylon in old Cairo. MARK MY SON. John Mark, Acts 12:12, Peter's son in the faith. Papias says Mark wrote down Peter's preaching as his Gospel.

¹⁴Greet one another with a kiss of love.

Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

Field Notes · Archaeology

Peter's Tomb?

Under St Peter's in Rome

1 Peter 5:13 · John 21:18 to 19 · 2 Peter 1:14

Gravestone of Licinia Amias from the Vatican hill, early 200s AD, National Roman Museum, Baths of Diocletian, Rome. Photo Marie-Lan Nguyen, public domain.

WHAT IT IS: A Christian gravestone from the Vatican hill in Rome. At the top are D M, short for to the spirits of the dead, an old pagan habit. Under it in Greek: ICHTHYS ZONTON, fish of the living. Then two fish and an anchor, and in Latin: to Licinia Amias, well deserving, she lived. The rest is broken off.
HOW OLD IT IS: Early 200s AD, about 150 years after Peter. It is one of the oldest Christian gravestones known. The tombs under St Peter's Basilica date from about AD 100 to 300.
THE DIG: In 1939, while making room for the grave of Pope Pius XI, workers broke into an old Roman street of tombs under the church. Pope Pius XII ordered a quiet dig that lasted until 1949. Right under the high altar they found a small shrine built against a red plastered wall, about AD 160.
THE TROPHY: About AD 200 a Roman Christian named Gaius wrote: I can show the trophies of the apostles. If you go to the Vatican or to the Ostian Way, you will find them. Eusebius quotes him, Church History 2.25. Many think the little shrine is Peter's trophy, his monument.
PETER IS HERE?: Next to the shrine stood a wall covered in Christian scratchings. The scholar Margherita Guarducci read one Greek scrap as Petros eni, Peter is within. Others read it differently.
THE BONES: Bones from a hollow in that wall belonged to a man about 60 to 70 years old, wrapped in purple cloth with gold thread. In 1968 Pope Paul VI said they had been identified as Peter's in a convincing way. Many archaeologists, Catholic ones included, are not sure.
WHY IT MATTERS HERE: Peter writes from Babylon, 5:13, which most take to mean Rome. Jesus told him how he would die, John 21:18 to 19.
WHAT IT DOES NOT PROVE: No grave there has Peter's name on it. The dig shows Christians honored this spot as Peter's grave by about AD 160, about 100 years after his death. Most historians accept that Peter died in Rome. Whether these are his bones is still debated.

CONFIDENCE: MEDIUM · DEBATED

Field Notes · Archaeology

Nero's Circus

The Obelisk That Never Fell

1 Peter 5:13 · Tacitus, Annals 15.44 · John 21:18 to 19

Left: the Vatican obelisk, St Peter's Square; the cross on top was added in 1586. Photo Livioandronico2013, CC BY SA 4.0. Right: the Roman bronze ball that once sat on its tip, Capitoline Museums, Rome. Photo Sailko, CC BY 3.0.

WHAT IT IS: A red granite obelisk from Egypt, about 83 feet tall, with no hieroglyphs on it. Beside it is the bronze ball that once sat on its tip.
HOW OLD IT IS: It was cut in Egypt long before Jesus; with no hieroglyphs, nobody knows exactly when. The emperor Caligula shipped it to Rome in AD 37. Pliny the Elder, who died in AD 79, says it stood in the circus of the emperors Gaius and Nero on the Vatican hill, Natural History 36.74. The bronze ball is Roman, about AD 1 to 50.
THE OLD WORDS: Carved on the shaft in Latin is a dedication to the divine Augustus and to Tiberius, the emperor when Jesus was crucified. Holes from older bronze letters show it first stood in Alexandria, Egypt, set up by Cornelius Gallus, Egypt's first Roman governor, about 30 BC.
NERO'S CIRCUS: Caligula built a racetrack on the Vatican hill, and Nero raced chariots there. Tacitus says Nero offered his gardens for killing Christians and held a show in the circus, Annals 15.44. Most scholars think this is that circus, because Nero's gardens were on the Vatican hill.
PETER'S DEATH: Clement of Rome, about AD 96, says Peter died a faithful witness. Tertullian, about AD 200, says Peter died in Rome like his Lord, on a cross. Origen, quoted by Eusebius, says upside down. Later tradition puts the cross near Nero's circus. If so, this obelisk stood nearby.
MOVED IN 1586: For 1,500 years it stood beside the old church of St Peter, the only obelisk in Rome that never fell. In 1586 Pope Sixtus V had the engineer Domenico Fontana move it to St Peter's Square, with about 900 men and 140 horses. The cross went on top, and the bronze ball came down.
THE BALL: People in the Middle Ages said the ball held the ashes of Julius Caesar. When it came down, it held only dust. The dents are said to be bullet marks from the Sack of Rome in 1527.
WHAT IT DOES NOT PROVE: No ancient writer says Peter died at this obelisk. It does show that the circus where Christians died was a real place.

CONFIDENCE: HIGH FOR THE OBELISK · MEDIUM FOR PETER

1 Peter 5

Instructions to Elders// 1 Timothy 3:1–7; Titus 1:5–9

Cast Your Cares on Him

Benediction and Farewell

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