PETER’S EPISTLES: PREPARING FOR ETERNITY

XX. Church Conflicts In View Of Eternity

(1 Peter 5:5-14)

I. Introduction

A. Before the Apostle Peter began to minister for the Lord in the Church, his outlook was impacted by Christ’s prophecy in John 21:18-19 that he would be crucified for Christ. Eternity was thus often on Peter’s mind.

B. Peter’s epistles highlight preparing for eternity, and in 1 Peter 5:5-14, he wrote about church conflicts in view of eternity. We view this passage for our insight, application and edification (as follows):

II. Church Conflicts In View Of Eternity, 1 Peter 5:5-14.

A. After discussing the role of the “elders” who were leaders in the church, Peter addressed the congregation that was to submit to the elders, writing primarily to the “young men,” 1 Peter 5:5a.

B. Peter then referred to a conflict that existed between the leaders and their subordinates, 1 Peter 5:5b-11:

1. Aware of the tension between the elders and their subordinates, Peter called for each one to “clothe” (enkombosasthe, “clothe or tie on oneself,” an enkomboma being the apron of a slave) himself with tapeinophrosune, “humility” (1 Peter 5:5b; U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 802; Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 812; Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 856). [The KJV phrase, “be subject one to another” should be corrected to read “be humble with one another.” [Some try to use 1 Peter 5:5c KJV to claim that church leaders must subject themselves to their subordinates just like the subordinates are to subject themselves to the leaders, but such a mutual subordination would violate the meaning of the noun tapeinophrosune, which means “be humble,” while also producing disorder in the church!]

2. The reason for the call for humility is that “God opposes (lit., ‘sets Himself against’) the arrogant but grants favor and acceptance to the humble.” (1 Peter 2:5c; Bible Know. Com., N. T., loc. cit.)

3. If every believer humbled himself under the mighty hand of God, the Lord in time would exalt him to a position honor and oversight, 1 Peter 5:6. Meanwhile, if the “young men” in subordination were concerned about their welfare due to what harmful decisions the leaders might make, they were to cast their concerns of the matter onto the Lord, for He was concerned about their welfare, 1 Peter 5:7!

4. Peter knew that Satan sought to create havoc in a church over conflicts between leaders and subordinates, so the apostle warned his readers to be “self-controlled” (nepsate) and “alert” (gregoresate) since their “adversary” (antidikos) the “devil” (diabolos, “slanderer”) was “always actively seeking an opportunity for a vicious attack.” (1 Peter 5:8; Ibid.)

5. However, the “devil can be and should be resisted” (Ibid.), what is accomplished by a believer’s standing firm in the faith, that is, by depending entirely on Christ. (Ibid.; 1 Peter 5:9a)

6. This need to resist Satan by depending wholly on Christ was a need not only for Peter’s readers, but for believers worldwide: the same spiritual sufferings occur for believers everywhere, so all believers need to realize that this spiritual warfare is nothing unusual but is the experience of all believers everywhere so that every believer needs to be encouraged to overcome in this war against the Evil One, 1 Peter 5:9b.

7. Peter added the encouraging word that the God of all grace Who had called all believers unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after they had suffered spiritual attacks of Satan in the matter of conflicts in the church, would restore and make them strong, firm and steadfast in their walk, 1 Peter 5:10; op. cit., p. 857.

8. Peter then gave a doxology to the glory of Christ Whose “might” (kratos) was eternal, 1 Peter 5:11. He has the power to help His people who face persecution and angelic conflict tensions in the church.

C. The apostle then closed his epistle, noting that Silvanus wrote the letter at Peter’s dictation, that what Peter had written was God’s true grace in which his readers spiritually stood and that the believers in “Babylon,” likely a code word for Rome, saluted his readers along with Mark, 1 Peter 5:12-13. Peter urged his readers to greet one another in Christian love and directed that Christ’s peace be with all in Christ Jesus, 1 Peter 5:14.

Lesson: To resolve conflicts in the local church, everyone in the body needs to assume an attitude of humility while trusting the Lord to deal with others over whom they have no control lest Satan use the conflict to inflame believers to sin. In time, such godly action will be rewarded by the Lord’s elevating obedient believers to positions of influence and honor, and God will mature them for His glory.

Application: May we face church conflicts with humility, watch out for Satan’s activity and totally rely on God, knowing that He will use the experience to mature us as He matures believers worldwide who face the same trial.