From: 1 Peter 5:5b-14
To the Faithful
[6] Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that in due time
He may exalt you. [7] Cast all your anxieties on Him, for He cares about you.
[8] Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring
lion, seeking some one to devour. [9] Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that
the same experience of suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the
world. [10] And 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. [11] To Him be the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Epilogue
Peace to all of you that are in Christ.
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Commentary:
5-11. The Apostle concludes his exhortation with a call to humility, which should
express itself in complete docility in the face of the trials God permits (verses 6-
7). This last piece of advice is often found in Sacred Scripture: “Cast your burden
on the Lord, and He will sustain you” (Psalm 55:22); Jesus also teaches that we
should trust in God’s fatherly providence (cf. Matthew 6:19-34). “You have such
care for each one of us”, St. Augustine exclaims, “as if you had no others to care
for” (”Confessions”, 3, 11).
However, abandonment in God does not mean irresponsibility, so St. Peter re-
minds them there is always need to be watchful against the assaults of the devil,
who will pounce on us if we lower our guard (verse 8).
The description of the devil (etymologically the word means liar, detractor: cf. Re-
velation 12:9-10) as a roaring lion seeking someone to devour has often been ta-
ken up by the Saints. “He moves round each one of us”, St. Cyprian says, “like
an enemy who has us surrounded and is checking the walls to see if there is
some weak, unsecured part, where he can get in” (”De Zelo Et Livore”).
Christians “firm in the faith” will resist the attacks of the devil. The trials they suf-
fer (cf. 1:6-7; 4:13; 5:1-4) serve to purify them and are a pledge of the glory God
will give them: “For this momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight
of glory beyond all comparisons” (2 Corinthians 4:17). “So great is the good that
I hope for, that any pain is for me a pleasure” (St. Francis of Assisi, “Reflections
on Christ’s Wounds”, 1).
5. “You who are younger”: it is not clear whether he is addressing people who
are young in age or Christians who are not “elders” (priests), that is, lay people.
“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble”: a quotation from Pro-
verbs (cf. James 4:6 and note on same), containing an idea which runs right
through the Old Testament (cf., e.g., Job 12:19; Psalm 18:88; 31:34) and the
teachings of Christ (cf., e.g., Luke 14:11). The Blessed Virgin proclaims this
truth in the “Magnificat”: “He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and
exalted those of low degree” (Luke 1:52).
“Humility is the source and foundation of every kind of virtue,” the Cure of Ars
teaches; “it is the door by which all God-given graces enter; it is what seasons
all our actions, making them so valuable and so pleasing to God. Finally, it
makes us masters of God’s heart, to the point, so to speak, of making Him our
servant; for God has never been able to resist a humble heart” (”Selected Ser-
mons”, Tenth Sunday after Pentecost).
8. For the third time, St. Peter exhorts the faithful to be sober; earlier he referred
to the importance of sobriety so as to put one’s hope in Heavenly things (1:13)
and to help one to pray (4:7). Now he stresses that it puts us on guard against
the devil.
Man should use the goods of this world in a balanced, temperate way, so as to
avoid being ensnared by them, thereby forgetting his eternal destiny: “Detach
yourself from the goods of the world. Love and practice poverty of spirit: be con-
tent with what enables you to live a simple and sober life. Otherwise, you will
never be an apostle” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 631).
12. Silvanus, called Silas in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 15:22), accompanied
St. Paul on his second apostolic journey through Asia Minor and Greece (cf.
Acts 15:36-18:22); he was therefore well known to the Christians addressed in
this letter.
From the reference St. Peter makes to him here, it is not possible to say for
sure whether Silvanus was simply the bearer of the letter, or acted as an ama-
nuensis who took down the Apostle’s dictation, or was an editor or redactor of
ideas the Apostle gave him (on this subject, see the Introduction to this Letter).
13. “Babylon”: this is a symbolic way of referring to Rome, the prototype of the
idolatrous and worldly city of the era. Some centuries earlier Babylon had been
the subject of severe reproaches and threats by the prophets (cf., e.g., Isaiah
13:47; Jeremiah 50-51). In the Book of Revelation Rome is also referred to by
this name (cf. e.g., Revelation 17-18).
The Mark referred to is the author of the second Gospel. Tradition says that he
acted as St. Peter’s interpreter in Rome. The Apostle calls him “son”, meaning
that he was spiritually his son, and implying that they had been close to each
other for a long time (cf. “The Navarre Bible: St. Mark”, pp. 56-57).
14. “The kiss of love”: St. Paul also, at the end of some of his letters, refers to
the “holy kiss” (cf. Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1
Thessalonians 5:26), a mark of supernatural charity and shared faith. With this
meaning the gesture passed into primitive eucharistic liturgy (cf. note on 1 Co-
rinthians 16:20).
The final words, “Peace to all of you that are in Christ”, are similar to the way St.
Paul ends many of his letters; since the first age of the Church it has been used
in liturgical celebrations. St. Cyril of Jerusalem, for example, ends his baptismal
catechism with these words: “May the God of peace hallow you entirely, and
your body and your soul remain unsullied until the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (”Mystagogical Catechesis”,
5, 23).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.