A Witness of Suffering-1 Peter 5:1

What does your suffering produce in you? Glory? Or bitterness, hatred, retaliation and anger? 1 Pet 5:1 connects suffering and glory.

“Persons who have really suffered at the hands of others do not find it difficult to forgive, nor even to understand the people who caused their suffering. They do not find it difficult to forgive because out of suffering and sorrow truly endured comes an instinctive sense of privilege. Recognition of the creative truth comes in a flash: forgiveness for others, as for ourselves, for we too know not what we do.” Sir Laurens van der Post, South African author, who nearly lost his life in a Japanese prisoner of war camp reflecting on his wartime experiences after the war. He’s also a political advisor, educator, journalist, humanitarian, philosopher and conservationist.

Suffering afflicts all human beings–rich, poor, men, women, children, black, white, yellow, straight, gay, trans, etc–including Jesus and the author Peter. Suffering goes deep into our inner core being. It will affect and transform us deeply–for better or worse. All our truely great heros suffered greatly and unjustly: Mendela, Gandhi, MLK, Mother Theresa, Sir Laurens van der Post, etc. We can explicitly state that it was their great suffering that produced in them the great humanity that we all should aspire to be.

1 Pet 5:1-4 is a brief discussion of Christian leadership [in an epistle filled with many weighty theological topics] by using the picture of a shepherd and his flock [instead of reflecting on a centurion and his soldiers, a master builder and his stone masons, a sea captain and his sailors or a governor and his administrative staff]. The text doesn’t discuss a lost sheep and a shepherd who goes after it, yet there is overlap with the biblical good shepherd tradition.

Peter is the author (1 Pet 1:1). Near the end of the letter there is a “brother” named Silvanus who helped him (1 Pet 5:12). Peter’s Greek wasn’t adequate for composing such a document. In modern times, voices claim that Peter couldn’t have written such a theologically sophisticated work. Joseph Fitzmyer lists 6 arguments against Petrine authorship but finds none of them convincing. A reference to the emperor is particularly significant.

1 Pet 2:13-17 is an important discussion of being subject to “every human institution.” Governors and the emperor are presented in a positive light. This appears to have been written before Nero began his A.D. 64 persecution of Christians, in which Peter was martyred. Fitzmyer suggests a date of early 64 for the composition of the epistle. John Elliott argues for the authorship of “a circle once gathered around the apostle Peter and now writing in his name. Less important than who actually wrote the letter is the fact that 1 Peter represents the witness of the apostle Peter.” Nonetheless, the epistle offers penetrating insights into Christian leadership under the banner of the good shepherd.

Peter’s first reference to the shepherd/sheep is, “For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls” (1 Pet 2:25). Later Peter returns to this imagery again [The shepherds and the chief shepherd (1 Pet 5:1-4)]. The rhetorical style of the text is simple and clear. 4 verses are composed of six units that exhibit ring composition.

This brief passage opens with the use of the connective ουn. The Bauer NT Lexicon defines this word as introducing something that “is the result of or an inference from what precedes.” Bauer translates ουn as so, therefore, consequently, accordingly, then. Peter uses this word 6 times (1 Pet 2:1, 7; 4:1, 7; 5:1, 6). In each case the text indicates that what follows is profoundly related to and flows from what precedes. Across the six occurrences of oun in 1 Peter, modern translators have commonly used “therefore” and “so,” but “therefore” is more prominent. For his famous Latin Vulgate translation Jerome used the word ergo (therefore). But therein lies a problem.

The best and the oldest copies of the Greek NT include this word in the opening of 1 Pet 5:1. But from the 5th century onward some texts omit it. This was passed down through the centuries and the KJV translators didn’t include it. We can only speculate why. The early Greek chapter divisions indicate the beginning of a new topic in 1 Pet 5:1. Perhaps some copyists concluded that 1 Pet 5:1-4 was not connected to 1 Pet 4:12-19, and so they left ουn (therefore) out of the text. Modern translators are partly influenced by this trend in that they have a tendency to use “so” rather than “therefore.” The word so in English can be read as a simple connective like “and.” “Therefore” makes clear that what follows flows from what comes before. In harmony with Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, and the best and oldest of the early Greek texts, “therefore” indicates a connection between 1 Pet 4:12-19 and 1 Pet 5:1-4. What then is the “tie that binds” the two together [Suffering and glory (1 Pet 5:1)].

“…a fellow elder” is how Peter identifies himself. Charles Bigg notes that Peter is saying, “Not a fellow-presbyter, but the fellow presbyter whom you know so well.” Peter thus assumes some form of leadership over the others. He is “the” elder, but at the same time he is a “fellow elder” in that he is working along side of them. Leadership and collegiality are affirmed together. As “the fellow elder” he has the right to offer advice to them regarding the style of leadership appropriate to their calling, and at the same time he is their colleague. He continues with further self identification. A “witness to the suffering of Christ.” In his detailed study of 1 Peter, Edward Selwyn asks, “Why does not St. Peter speak of himself rather as an eyewitness of the resurrection (cf. Lk 24:12, 34; Acts 1:22) or of the passion and resurrection combined (cf. Acts 1:8; 5:32; 10:39)?” Selwyn answers his own question by noting that the theme of suffering and glory is prominent all through the epistle and that in the paragraph just before Peter writes, “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (1 Pet 4:13). In 1 Pet 5:1 Peter continues this topic of suffering and glory, which appears to be the point of connection that joins 1 Pet 5 to what precedes it. But a prior question needs to be asked.

Peter witnessed the resurrection. He was with Jesus through the experience of his arrest in the garden and remained in the courtyard during Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin. But did he witness the rest of the events of Good Friday? In short, Peter boasted in the upper room, wounded a man in the garden, denied Jesus during his trial and then disappeared. Can he justly claim to be a “witness to the suffering of Christ”? Selwyn doesn’t ask this question.

1 Pet 5:1 is very specific: he was a martys, an eye and ear witness. He was not simply a member of the apostolic band and thus “in town” at the time of these crucial events. How are we to understand this verse? Perhaps the answer is available when we ask the question, is the “suffering of Christ” limited to the last twenty hours of his earthly life, or is more of his life involved?

The deepest pain known to the human spirit is what the late Kenneth Cragg described in my presence as “the agony of rejected love.” Surely the reality of “He came to his own and his own received him not” (Jn 1:11 KJV) was not limited to a single experience that began at his arrest on Thurs night of holy week and ended < 24 hours later! Rather, in his home synagogue, at the very beginning of his public ministry (Lk 4:16-30), Jesus’ message so enraged his fellow villagers that they drove him out of town determined to kill him. Even though Jesus escaped that attempted assassination, was the event not painful to him? The rude public insults he received in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Lk 7:36-50) were likewise humiliating. There is suffering, too, behind the wistful question in Jn 6:67, “Will you also go away?” Plans to destroy Jesus surface as early as Mark 3:6, where Pharisees and Herodians join in their determination to kill him. Those two parties were relentless political enemies. Yet their opposition to Jesus was sufficiently intense that it brought them together. Is not all of this and much more a part of the “suffering of Christ”? Was he not “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Is 53:3 KJV)? Peter was an eyewitness to this pain even though he was not present during its climax on the cross. Thus can he not truthfully declare himself to be a “witness to the suffering of Christ”? For sure he can.

“…as well as a partaker [koinōnos] in the glory to be revealed.” 3 important questions are raised by this freighted verse. What is the nature of the “glory”? Whose glory is the text discussing? And finally, what is the relationship between suffering and glory affirmed by this text?

At the beginning of the 20th century, commenting on the word glory, A. R. Whitham wrote, “There are few commoner words in the English Bible than ‘glory,’ and few more difficult of definition. . . . Reputation, praise, honor (true and false), splendor, light, perfection, rewards, —all these varying conceptions seem covered by the same word.” During the American Civil War (1861–1865) Robert E. Lee, the commander of the southern army, ordered a disastrous frontal assault against the northern army in the pivotal Battle of Gettysburg. Within minutes the Southern charge was repulsed, with thousands dead and wounded. As the remnant of the attacking force fled past him in retreat, Lee tried to console the general who led the catastrophic charge by saying, “General Pickett, you and your men have covered yourselves with glory.” Pickett replied, “Not all the glory in the world, General Lee, can atone for the widows and orphans this day has made.” Such military use of the word glory further confuses the English language reader of the text before us. Lee’s use of the word glory had to do with winning crucial battles, killing large numbers of people and achieving undying acclaim in the hearts of the supporting community. What then does this key word mean in biblical literature?

The secular Greek word glory (doxa) means no more than “an opinion” expressed by a speaker or writer. But doxa in the Greek OT translates the Hebrew word kabod, which has to do with weight. Kabod (and its derivatives) occurs 375 times in the Hebrew Bible. Particularly in Ezekiel that glory (weight) of God “was and will be again (in) the temple.” When applied to a person, “a ‘weighty’ person in society, [is] someone who is honorable, impressive, worthy of respect.” As Gary Burge notes, “Few concepts in antiquity were more important than honor, distinction, esteem and glory.” The Koehler–Baumgartner lexicon translates kabod as, “weight, honor, reputation, splendor, light, and sanctity.” Gerhard von Rad notes, “Kabod is something weighty or impressive, a gravitas which constitutes man’s place in society.” Furthermore, glory in the Bible has at least 5 applications:

• The glory of God: “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps 19:1). “Glory to God in the highest” (Lk 2:14).
• The glory of Jesus: “We have seen his glory” (Jn 1: 14).
• The glory to be revealed (at the end of all things): “The glory to be revealed . . . the unfading crown of glory” (1 Pet 5:1, 4).
• Glory and believers “A partaker in the glory to be revealed” (1 Pet 5:1).
• “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith . . . that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:15-19).
• Glory and suffering: “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you” (1 Pet 4:14).
• “I [Peter] . . . as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed” (1 Pet 5:1).
• “After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ . . . will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you” (1 Pet 5:10).

1 Pet 5:1, 4 connects glory and believers particularly in a context of suffering. “Glory” shines like a diamond that sheds light in a variety of directions. To summarize, the glory of Christ was not only on display at the transfiguration and promised to all believers at his coming. But in addition, those who suffer for Christ are told that they are “blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” The glory of God supports and blesses those who suffer in the now! Yes, Peter does indeed offer a future glory to his suffering readers. But at the same time “the spirit of glory” is now with them and will “restore, establish, and strengthen” them (1 Pet 5:10).

The bringing together of suffering and glory is characteristic of this Epistle” [Selwyn]. He argues that in 1 Pet 5:1-4 Peter is discussing the transfiguration, where the glory of Christ was revealed to Peter along with James and John. This forms the background of 1 Pet 5:1, 4. But there’s more. The OT Hebrew word for “glory” (kabod) is critical. When we discuss “glory” in Scripture (Hebrew or Greek), we are discussing weight and wisdom, not earthly power and wealth. Both Calvin and Luther affirmed theologia cruces (theology of the cross) against what they called theologia gloriae (theology of glory). Their choice of vocabulary was appropriate for their time, but not helpful for us. The true glory of God shines forth through the weakness and suffering of the cross. The “glory theology” the Reformers discussed had to do with the wealth, splendor and power of emperors and kings, which they rejected. Such “glory theology” is still with us: “if you become a true Christian you will acquire wealth.” Those endorsing this twisted view is still popularly called “glory theology.” It takes its definition of glory from contemporary (American) culture, not from the kabod (weight/glory) of the Old Testament and New Testaments.

Peter was a witness (martys) to the suffering of Jesus and a partaker/partner (koinōnos) in the glory (of Christ). Peter saw Jesus suffer painful rejection, and how Jesus responded to that rejection. As a member of the apostolic band, Peter was united with Christ in that suffering. He watched how Jesus dealt with “the agony of rejected love,” which became Peter’s agony. In Mark 6, Jesus was confronted with the murder of his relative (John the Baptist). Jesus was under pressure to respond, and a great crowd followed him around the lake to ascertain his response. Jesus opted for neither retaliation nor retreat. Rather he gave a courageous, wise, glorious (weighty/wise) response as he fed the 5,000 and thus offered “a banquet of life” as a public challenge to the murderous “banquet of death” hosted by Herod. Jesus’ response demonstrated gravitas, wisdom and glory. Peter was present witnessing and joining in that glorious response born of suffering. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor 4:16-17). We need to retrain our reflexes. When we hear the word glory as applied to people, we should instinctively think of wisdom born of suffering, not wealth or power. “Splendor” and “light” are occasionally legitimate options, but never worldly power or acclaim, military or nonmilitary.

Human suffering of any kind has a unique potential for good or for evil. As mentioned, in the Hebrew Bible the word glory is the word heavy (Hebrew, kabod; NT Greek, doxa). When applied to people this weight/gravitas is of great significance. In the Middle East this biblical definition of glory as gravitas is not unique to Scripture. It applies also to contemporary society all across the area [as Bailey observed]. In Arabic, the title rajul thaqil (a heavy man) describes a person who is wise, honorable, trustworthy, noble and offers sound advice. When in trouble this person will be able to help you solve your problems. Their thoughts are deep and balanced. When all hell breaks loose he or she will know what to do. In contrast the phrase rajul khafeef (a light man) is a person who is scatterbrained, shallow and holds opinions that are of little or no value. He or she is irresponsible and cannot be taken seriously. This person collapses under pressure. One place in English language culture where weight and wisdom are linked is where students, privately discussing the faculty, say, “So-and-so is a heavy weight in this faculty, while professor so-and-so is a light weight.” In Middle Eastern culture the attaching of “wisdom” to “suffering” reaches as far back as ancient Greece. Aeschylus (an Athenian Greek tragic poet who died c. 456 B.C.) understood this and wrote, “He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom by the awful grace of God.” But this does not happen automatically.

Suffering can lead the sufferer to bitterness, despair, desire for revenge, fear, paralysis and using past suffering (real or imagined) as a club with which to threaten others into bending to the sufferer’s will. “Victimism” as a self-serving ideology is alive and well all over the world and fuels unspeakable brutalities. When people suffer profoundly, their suffering becomes an abyss out of which they must climb. Which path will they choose? Will it be the trail that leads to bitterness and revenge, and brings forth death, or will they follow the way into wisdom and weight that can give birth to forgiveness and reconciliation even in the middle of a continuing struggle for justice?

Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa, died in 2013. Imprisoned unjustly for 27 years, Mandela became the first black African president of his country. At the time of Mandela’s death, Archbishop Tutu of South Africa wrote regarding him, “I maintain his prison term was necessary because when he went to jail, he was angry. . . . Of course suffering embitters some people, but it ennobles others. Prison became a crucible that burned away the dross.” Tutu also notes that Mandela, on becoming president of South Africa, invited one of his former prison guards as a VIP guest at his inauguration, and hosted a lunch for the prosecuting attorney who tried very hard at Mandela’s trial to have him condemned to death. Mandela invited another of his guards to join the Presidential Security Force, and at the time of Mandela’s death that guard said publically that but for Mandela, South Africa would have become another Iraq or Afghanistan. Rather than “justice trials,” Mandela set up a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. In the crucible of his soul, Mandela transformed his suffering into gravitas (kabod). He managed to reprocess his anger into grace, and that grace flowed from his life into the life of his nation and out into the wider world. He was a sterling example of what the Middle East (and the Bible) calls “a heavy man.” At the same time, his glory (as wisdom/gravitas) included splendor—a quiet splendor born of suffering that needed no expensive trappings. Mandela’s presence was enough. Mandela was educated in Christian schools.

Imagine this scenario. What if during Mandela’s term as president in South Africa, serious tribal conflict erupts in Nigeria. The president of America or prime minister of the United Kingdom is invited to fly to Nigeria to assist in achieving a negotiated settlement. Such a world leader would bring economic and military power to the table. Then imagine that Mandela is also invited to join the negotiations. He will not be able to apply large sums of money or military power to the conflict at hand. What will he bring? Only himself. When he walks into the room, everyone present knows that the agenda has changed. Revenge and retaliation, as a method of settling tribal disputes, is by Mandela’s very presence powerfully confronted by another option. He is a living witness to the reprocessing of anger into grace! With his presence, his gravitas/glory shines invisibly in the room, and that glory rests on his personal suffering.

During the Second World War, Laurens van der Post, the South African author, nearly lost his life in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. After the war, while reflecting on his wartime experiences, he wrote, “Persons who have really suffered at the hands of others do not find it difficult to forgive, nor even to understand the people who caused their suffering. They do not find it difficult to forgive because out of suffering and sorrow truly endured comes an instinctive sense of privilege. Recognition of the creative truth comes in a flash; forgiveness for others, as for ourselves, for we too know not what we do.”Suffering that gives birth to wisdom/gravitas is seen throughout in the epistles. Paul describes his suffering in 2 Cor 11:23-29. 5 times he was given the 39 lashes, 3 times he was beaten with rods, and once he was stoned and left for dead. The list goes on and on. His glorious response was, “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?” (2 Cor 11:29). His suffering produced deep sympathy for the weak, and intense indignation against injustice. He was a man of gravitas, a “heavy” man. In his first letter to the Corinthians he wrote, “When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we try to conciliate” (1 Cor 4:12-13). His suffering produced glory/gravitas.

This same sequence appears in 2 Cor 4:6-11: For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone through our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body. “The light of the knowledge of the glory of God” has shone “through” our hearts, to others. That glory of God (in the face of Christ) had deeply affected Paul himself. Paul carried the cross (the death of Jesus) with him. The resurrection (the life of Jesus) was also a present power in his life. Once again, suffering and glory are profoundly connected in the present.

To put it another way, “The heavens declare the Glory of God” (Ps 19:1). That glory has to do with the wonder and wisdom of the creation. Not only did God create all that is, but he continues to sustain it. God is in control of history and is bringing in his kingdom. This is a glorious part of who he is. The wonder of creation and the overarching control of history are together so astounding as to be beyond our comprehension. Yet in and through suffering we are able to begin to participate in that gravitas, that glory. At the end of all things we will be able to say with Paul, “then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Cor 13:12).The movement in Scripture from suffering to glory (weight) can be traced. The glory/presence/gravitas of God dwelt uniquely in the temple. Jesus was the new temple and the disciples saw the glory of God shining through his suffering. Through baptism and faith they were united with him, and his life produced in them the power to reprocess their suffering into glory/gravitas. Thus 1 Pet 5:1 points to an open door through which the elders were encouraged to enter. Peter watched how suffering for Jesus evoked grace/glory/gravitas. Indeed, Peter “participated” with Jesus in that suffering. He felt the pain of Jesus at his rejection and knew that through Jesus all believers could transform their suffering as did he. A classical biblical image for this transformation is that of the good shepherd who risks his life daily, enduring many hardships and even losing his life for his sheep. The good shepherd must provide wisdom and fearless leadership for the flock as he faces and overcomes heat and cold, wind and rain, ravenous wolves and ruthless thieves. The end result is a good/beautiful/noble shepherd. It is that image that Peter here invokes. When John wrote “We have seen his glory” (Jn 1: 14) he was not denying the future glory (wisdom/gravitas) to be revealed at the end of history. But his focus was on a present reality in which they had participated.

Reference: Kenneth E. Bailey. The Good Shepherd.