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1Pe_2:25. ἦτε γὰρ ὡς πρόβατα πλανώμενοι ] This explanatory clause ( γάρ ) points back, as the continuance in it of the direct address ( ἰάθητε … ἦτε ) shows, in the first instance, to the statement immediately preceding οὗ τῷ μώλωπι ἰάθητε , but at the same time also to the thought ἵνα … τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ ζήσωμεν , to which that assertion is subservient. For the foregoing figure a new one is substituted, after Isa_53:6 : LXX. πάντες ὡς πρόβατα ἐπλανήθημεν ; if πλανώμενοι be the correct reading, then from it the nearer definition of πρόβατα is to be supplied, the sheep are to be thought of as those which have no shepherd (Mat_9:36 : ὡσεὶ πρόβατα μὴ ἔχοντα ποιμένα ; comp. Num_27:17; 1Ki_22:17).
For the figure describing the state of man separated in his sin from God, comp. Mat_18:12-13; Luk_15:4 ff.
ἀλλʼ ἐπεστράφητε νῦν ] ἐπεστράφητε is, in harmony with the uniform usage of Scripture, to be taken not in a passive (Wiesinger, Schott), but in a middle sense: “ye have turned yourselves.”[164] Luther translates: “but ye are now turned.” The word ἘΠΙΣΤΡΈΦΕΙΝ means to turn oneself away from ( ἈΠΌ , ἘΚ ), towards something ( ἘΠΊ , ΠΡΌς , ΕἸς ), (sometimes equal to: to turn round); but it is not implied in the word itself that the individual has formerly been in that place towards which he has now turned round, and whither he is going (therefore, in Gal_4:9, ΠΆΛΙΝ is expressly added). Weiss (p. 122) is therefore wrong when from this very word he tries to prove that by ΠΟΙΜΉΝ God, and not Christ, is to be understood, although the term sometimes includes in it the secondary idea of “back;” cf. 2Pe_2:21-22.
ἘΠῚ ΤῸΝ ΠΟΙΜΈΝΑ ΚΑῚ ἘΠΊΣΚΟΠΟΝ ΤῶΝ ΨΥΧῶΝ ὙΜῶΝ ] cf. especially Eze_34:11-12; Eze_34:16, LXX.: ἘΓῺ ἘΚΖΗΤΉΣΩ ΤᾺ ΠΡΌΒΑΤΆ ΜΟΥ ΚΑῚ ἘΠΙΣΚΈΨΟΜΑΙ ΑὐΤΆ , ὭΣΠΕΡ ΖΗΤΕῖ Ὁ ΠΟΙΜῊΝ ΤῸ ΠΟΊΜΝΙΟΝ ΑὐΤΟῦ … ΤῸ ΠΛΑΝΏΜΕΝΟΝ ἈΠΟΣΤΡΈΨΩ ; besides, with ΠΟΙΜΉΝ , Psa_23:1; Isa_40:11. From the fact that in these passages God is spoken of as the shepherd, it must not be concluded, with Weiss, that ΠΟΙΜῊΝ ΚΑῚ ἘΠΊΣΚΟΠΟς refers not to Christ, but to God. For not only has God, calling Himself a shepherd, promised a shepherd (Eze_34:24, LXX.: ἀναστήσω ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ποιμένα ἕνα … τὸν δοῦλον μου Δαυίδ , Eze_37:24), but Christ, too, speaks of Himself as the good Shepherd; and Peter himself, in chap. 1Pe_5:4, calls Him ἈΡΧΙΠΟΙΜΉΝ . In comparison with these passages, chap. 1Pe_5:2 is plainly of no account. All interpreters—except Weiss—rightly understand the expressions here used as applying to Christ. The designation ἘΠΊΣΚΟΠΟς would all the more naturally occur to the apostle, as it was, like ΠΟΙΜΉΝ , the name of the presidents of the churches who were, so to speak, the representatives of the One Shepherd and Bishop, the Head of the whole church.
ΤῶΝ ΨΥΧῶΝ ὙΜῶΝ belongs, as the omission of the article before ἙΠΊΣΚΟΠΟΝ shows, to both words; with the expression, cf. chap. 1Pe_1:9; 1Pe_1:22.
[164] Schott’s counter-remark: “The question is not here what they did, but what in Christ was imparted to them,” has all the less weight, that conversion, though the personal act of the Christian, must still be regarded as effected by Christ. Hofmann maintains, without the slightest right to do so, that in this passage the chief emphasis lies on the readers’ own act, though at the same time he correctly understands ἐπεστράφητε in a middle sense.