1 Peter 5:5-7 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Likewise, ye younger Namely, in years, whether ministers or people; submit yourselves unto the elder To those who are more advanced in years; give them all due respect, and be ready to take their counsel; yea, all of you Elder or younger; be subject one to another Endeavour, by mutual condescension, to make each other as easy and comfortable as possible. Perhaps, as in the preceding part of this chapter, the apostle, by elders, means persons holding sacred offices, such as pastors or teachers, he may here use the word in the same sense. If so, the word νεωτεροι, rendered younger, which signifies inferiors of any kind, (Luke 22:26,) and which is opposed to it here, may denote the laity, or people of the churches of Pontus, &c., whom the apostle further exhorts to be subject to one another. And be clothed all over with humility The word εγκομβωσασθε, here used, is derived from the noun εγκομβωμα, which, Whitby says, was a frock put over the rest of the clothes; and that the apostle's meaning is, that humility should be visible over all the other Christian graces and virtues in our whole behaviour. For God resisteth Greek, αντιτασσεται, is set in battle array against the proud See on James 4:6; and giveth grace to the humble As humility is the fruit of God's grace, so it prepares us for receiving larger measures thereof. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God Which is in all your troubles; that is, receive his corrections with reverence and patient submission, even though wicked men should be made the instruments of them; that he may exalt you Raise you above your trials, and from that state of depression in which you are; or exalt you to the glory and felicity of heaven; in due time The time which he knows will be most proper for your exaltation. Casting all your care Your anxious care, as the word μεριμναν means, in all your wants and pressures; upon him; for he careth for you With the care which a father exercises toward his children. That is, whatsoever difficulties you meet with, be not solicitous about them, but refer yourselves to God's providence, either for the removal of them, or support under them.