Chapter 5
1 The elders, then, among you I am entreating (who am
a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a participant of the glory
about to be revealed),
2 Shepherd the flocklet of God among you, supervising,
not of compulsion, but voluntarily, according to God; nor yet avariciously, but eagerly;
3 nor yet as lording it over the allotments, but becoming
models for the flocklet,
4 and, when the Chief Shepherd is manifested, you shall
be requited with an unfading wreath of glory.
5 Likewise, younger men may be subject to the elder, yet
all wear the servile apron of humility with one another, for God "is resisting the
proud, yet is giving grace to the humble."
6 Be humbled, then, under the mighty hand of God, that He
should be exalting you in season,
7 tossing your entire worry on Him, for He is caring
concerning you.
8 Be sober! Watch! For your plaintiff, the Adversary, is
walking about as a roaring lion, seeking someone to swallow up;
9 whom withstand, solid in the faith, having perceived
the same sufferings being completed in your brotherhood in the world.
10 Now the God of all grace, Who calls you into His
eonian glory in Christ, while briefly suffering, He will be adjusting, establishing,
firming, founding you.
11 To Him be glory and might for the eons of the eons.
Amen!
12 Through Silvanus, a faithful brother, as I am
reckoning, I write briefly to you, entreating and deposing that this is the true grace of
God, in which you are to stand.
13 Greeting you is the ecclesia in Babylon, chosen
together with you, and Mark, my son.
14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you
all that are in Christ. Amen! |