October 30

1 Peter 5:1
“The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed”— 1 Peter 5:11The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: (1 Peter 5:1).
IT is a great mistake to say, as some have done, that Peter was appointed chief shepherd, or head, over all the flock. He speaks of himself as a co-presbyter with others who cared for the sheep of Christ. The expression, “who am also an elder,” implies this. He was not lord over other elders, or presbyters. He was one with them. If Peter was ever a Pope he never knew it! But to the end of his days he labored in fellowship with his brethren in the ministry, preaching the gospel to the unsaved and seeking to “stir up” the saints (2 Peter 3:11This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: (2 Peter 3:1)) to greater devotion to Christ, as he bore witness to the sufferings of Christ at His first coming and the glories to follow when He returns.
“Christ’s grave is vacant now,
Left for the throne above;
His cross asserts God’s right to bless,
In His own boundless love.
And thence the child of faith
Sees judgment all gone by,
Perceives the sentence fully met,
‘The soul that sins shall die.’”