After calling on fellow “elders” to look out for the needs of other believers in 1 Pet 5:1-4, Peter calls on the younger to submit to their elders in 5:5, “in the same way” (Gr. homoiôs).
This is not the first time that Peter has called on people to submit, or the first time that he has enjoined a level of mutual concern. In 2:13, he offers a general invitation to “submit” to human authorities in general, going on to illustrate this with submission to kings, governors, and finally, again, kings (2:13-17). He invites slaves to “submit” to slaveholders (2:18). He recognizes that these are human structures (2:13) and that they can be abusive and unjust (2:18-20).
Most ancient household codes didn’t address slaves directly; these were usually written to elites who ruled slaves rather than served slaveholders. But in the unjust setting that slaves could not easily escape their holders’ social control, Peter empowers slaves by affirming their own moral volition and identifying them with Christ (2:21-25). (This resembles some Stoic arguments as well.) Unlike some other NT letters, 1 Peter does not address slaveholders, probably because he expects few Christian slaveholders in the communities that it addresses.
Peter goes on to urge wives of nonbelieving husbands “in the same way” (Gr. homoiôs) to “submit” to their husbands according to the expectations of their culture so as to win their husbands to Christ (3:1). That is, submission becomes an expression of mission, of evangelism, in a setting in which verbal evangelism became impossible. Most husbands expected their wives to submit to the husbands’ religion. Here Peter invites believers to choose our battles: give way in what we can so as to reduce the hostility we face where we cannot compromise. (Peter is not speaking to physically abusive relationships here, in contrast to his explicit advice to slaves. Slaves could get free only by earning money on the side and buying their freedom, or by their holders’ choice. In the Greco-Roman world, nothing legally prevented wives from leaving abusive husbands, despite the uncomfortable situations that such an action could create.) Peter then addresses believing husbands “in the same way” (Gr. homoiôs) to value their believing wives as sharers in the things of Christ (3:7).
Ancient society expected younger persons to respect their elders and defer to them wherever possible. They should offer them better seats, greet them respectfully, and, when feasible, heed (and at least respect) their counsel. In general, even today we recognize that age often offers a greater breadth of life experience from which we can draw wise lessons. (And as someone in my late 50s, I now appreciate better seats, in that I can no longer sit on the ground as easily as I could in my teens and twenties!) So there is some general wisdom here, even though many of our cultures today do not revere age as did those in antiquity. (They also valued the vigor of youth, as we do, but were often more explicit about the reasons for which they valued different age groups; cf. 1 John 2:12-14.)
Yet after this brief exhortation to the younger to submit to the elder (1 Pet 5:5a), Peter goes on to urge all believers to clothe ourselves with humility toward each other (5:5b). He has already instructed his fellow elders to look out for the younger (5:1-4). In many synagogues, as in ancient Israelite villages, “elders” ruled. In Christian circles, too, elders could be appointed to lead (Acts 14:23), so named because they were normally chosen from among older members with more life experience (cf. the connection in 1 Tim 5:1-2, 17; but exceptions existed for those otherwise qualified, as in 1 Tim 4:12).
Now, having exhorted both the older and the younger, he urges all to clothe ourselves with humility. Most people in antiquity appreciated gentle and merciful rulers. Jewish tradition further valued leaders who humbled themselves to serve their parents or fellow leaders. But the mutual humility for all believers here reminds even leaders that we are to be servants. Leadership is one way of expressing our service, but rather than lording it over others, we are to be examples for them (5:3). If we do this, we will be rewarded by the chief shepherd who is our own example (5:2a, 4), who sacrificially served all of us (2:21-25).
–Craig is working on a 1 Peter commentary tentatively planned for Baker Academic.