Feed; teach and rule, Mat_2:6Joh_21:15-17Act_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_36:2Psa_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_1:71Ti_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.