1 Peter 5:2
“Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Elders are to shepherd God's flock willingly and eagerly, not under compulsion or for dishonest gain.
What Does 1 Peter 5:2 Mean?
Peter gives the elders their charge in a shepherd's words: feed the flock, watch over it, care for it. And he is careful to call it the flock of God, never their own; the sheep belong to God, and the elders only tend them.
The manner is everything. They are to shepherd willingly, not because they must, and eagerly, not for shameful profit. A heart that serves grudgingly or greedily corrupts the care. Peter wants leaders whose oversight flows from a ready and glad mind, who lead because they love the sheep and their Lord. The work is sacred precisely because the flock is God's, entrusted to them for keeping.
In the Original Language
poimaino (ποιμαίνω), 'feed' -- to shepherd, to tend a flock as a shepherd tends sheep.