Matthew Poole Commentary - 1 Peter 5:2 - 5:2

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Matthew Poole Commentary - 1 Peter 5:2 - 5:2


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:





Feed; teach and rule, Mat_2:6 Joh_21:15-17 Act_20:28.



The flock of God; the church.



Which is among you; which is with you, or committed to your charge; intimating that the flock not being their own, they were to give an account of it to him that had set them over it.



Taking the oversight thereof; or, being bishops, or acting as bishops over it, i.e. superintending, inspecting, and watching over it with all care, Act_20:28,29.



Not by constraint; not merely because ye must: what men do out of compulsion, they do more slightly and perfunctorily, as those that would not do it if they could help it: see the like expression, 2Co_9:7.



But willingly; cheerfully and freely, as Exo_36:2 Psa_54:6: compare 1Co_9:17.



Not for filthy lucre; not out of covetousness, or a design of making a gain of the work; it being a shameful thing for a shepherd to feed the sheep out of love to the fleece: see Tit_1:7 1Ti_3:3,8.



But of a ready mind; out of a good affection to the welfare of the flock, in opposition to the private gain before mentioned. He doth not do his work freely, and of a ready mind, who is either driven to it by necessity, or drawn by covetousness.