The Flock of God
An In-Depth Study of the Church as Christ’s Flock in the Epistles

Executive Summary

Introduction: A People Under the Shepherd

The Flock Belongs to God: Purchased by Christ

The Chief Shepherd and His Undershepherds

Shepherding the Flock: Feed, Lead, and Guard

Leadership Without Lording: The Example

The Sheep: Following, Submitting, and Trusting

What This Picture Adds to the Body of Christ

Summary: How the Flock Shapes the Way a Believer Lives

A Note on Sources

Bibliography

Executive Summary

Of all the pictures the Bible uses for God’s people, the flock may be the oldest and the most loved. Israel sang of the LORD as “my shepherd” long before any apostle called the church “the body of Christ.” This study, Study 5 of ten in the series on the church in the Epistles, follows the flock from the Old Testament, with the Hebrew words צֹאן (“flock”), רֹעֶה (“shepherd”), and the verb רָעָה (“to tend, to feed”), into the New Testament words ποίμνιον (“flock”), ποιμήν (“shepherd”), ποιμαίνω (“to shepherd”), and ἀρχιποίμην (“Chief Shepherd”). It also draws on the overseer and elder vocabulary of ἐπίσκοπος and πρεσβύτερος, and on the “sheep” of John 10 and Luke 15. The study keeps five sections: the flock’s ownership, the Chief Shepherd and His undershepherds, the work of shepherding, leadership without lording, and the calling of the sheep.

The study reaches seven conclusions.

1. The flock belongs to God. The church is “the flock of God” (1 Peter 5:2), “the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). No leader owns it, and no member owns it.
2. The picture is rooted in the Old Testament. The LORD is Israel’s Shepherd (Psalm 23:1; 80:1), Israel is “the sheep of His pasture” (Psalm 100:3), and Ezekiel 34 condemns the faithless shepherds and promises that God Himself will shepherd His sheep through “My servant David.”
3. Christ is the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd, and the Chief Shepherd. He lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11), He was brought up from the dead (Hebrews 13:20), and He will appear to reward the faithful (1 Peter 5:4). Human shepherds serve under Him.
4. Shepherding is a work of care. It means to feed, to lead, to seek the lost, and to guard against wolves (John 21:15–17; Acts 20:28–31). The Epistles use the verb ποιμαίνω of elders, and the same elders are called ἐπίσκοποι and πρεσβύτεροι.
5. Leadership is by example, not by lording. Peter forbids ruling “as being lords over those entrusted to you” and asks for “examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:3). Jesus said it would not be so among His disciples (Mark 10:42–45).
6. The sheep have a calling. They hear and follow the Shepherd’s voice (John 10:27), submit to faithful leaders (Hebrews 13:17), and clothe themselves with humility toward one another (1 Peter 5:5).
7. The flock is one. Christ has “other sheep” that are “not of this fold,” and “there will be one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16). The flock is the picture of the church in which dependence, belonging, and unity are most plainly seen.

Each of the five sections gives the significance of the theme, the key passages in the New King James Version, exegetical observations, implications for a local church framed as Align (keep doing) and Adjust (consider changing), and a block of ten questions. A closing section sets the flock beside the body of Christ and the other pictures in the series, and a summary and three-tier bibliography follow. It is written for a lay adult class in a Mennonite congregation. Scripture was quoted from memory and, like the flagged lexical and commentary points, should be checked before teaching.

Introduction: A People Under the Shepherd

The pastoral image runs through the whole of Scripture. The LORD is the shepherd of Israel, a shepherd king is promised in Ezekiel 34, and Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep and gathers “one flock” under “one shepherd” (John 10:16). The Epistles take up this inheritance and apply it directly to the care and leadership of the local congregation. The key word is ποίμνιον (G4168), the flock. Those who tend it are shepherds, ποιμήν (G4166), from the verb to shepherd, ποιμαίνω (G4165), and over them all is the ἀρχιποίμην (G750), the Chief Shepherd.[1]

The flock image says two things at once, one to the leaders and one to the people. To leaders it says: you are undershepherds of a flock that is not your own, accountable to the Shepherd who bought it. To the people it says: you are sheep, cared for and led, who may entrust yourselves to that care because behind the undershepherds stands the Shepherd who gave His life for you. This study works through those uses and after each asks what the truth requires a believer to align with or adjust.

Old Testament Roots

Israel was a nation with shepherds in its memory: Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and David all kept sheep. It is no surprise that the people of God learned to speak of God in the language of the flock. The Hebrew verb רָעָה means “to tend, to pasture, to feed,” and its participle רֹעֶה is “shepherd.” The common noun צֹאן means “flock,” especially of sheep and goats.[2]

Jacob, near the end of his life, blessed Joseph’s sons by speaking of “the God who has fed me all my life long to this day” (Genesis 48:15), using the verb רָעָה of God. The most loved poem in the Psalter begins with the same picture:

Psalm 23:1–4 (NKJV): The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

The psalms of the congregation make the same claim on behalf of the whole people: “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock” (Psalm 80:1), and “He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand” (Psalm 95:7). Isaiah 40:11 gives the tenderest picture of all, “He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young.”

The Old Testament also used the word for human leaders. Moses prayed that the LORD would appoint a man over the congregation “that the congregation of the LORD may not be like sheep which have no shepherd” (Numbers 27:17). The prophets judged kings and priests who failed in that office. Jeremiah 23:1–4 pronounces woe on the shepherds who scatter the flock and promises that God will gather the remnant and set up shepherds who will feed them. Ezekiel 34 is the longest of these oracles. Zechariah 11 sets the good shepherd against the “worthless shepherd” who leaves the flock (Zechariah 11:17). Micah 5:4 looks for a ruler from Bethlehem who “shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the LORD.” These texts are the immediate background for Jesus’ words in John 10 and for Peter’s charge to the elders.[3]

The Key Terms

The principal words are these. The counts are from general knowledge of concordance data and are to be confirmed.[4]

• ποίμνιον means “flock,” usually of sheep, and in the New Testament it is used of the community of disciples. It occurs only a handful of times: Luke 12:32 (“little flock”), Acts 20:28–29, and 1 Peter 5:2–3. A related form, ποίμνη, is used in Matthew 26:31, Luke 2:8, John 10:16, and 1 Corinthians 9:7.
• ποιμήν means “shepherd.” It is used literally of the shepherds at Bethlehem and figuratively of Christ (John 10:11, 14; Hebrews 13:20; 1 Peter 2:25) and, once, of a gift to the church (Ephesians 4:11).
• ποιμαίνω is the verb “to shepherd.” It includes feeding, leading, and governing. It appears in John 21:16, Acts 20:28, 1 Peter 5:2, and Revelation 7:17, among other places.
• ἀρχιποίμην means “chief shepherd” and occurs only in 1 Peter 5:4.
• ἐπίσκοπος means “overseer” or “guardian” and πρεσβύτερος means “elder.” In Acts 20:17 and 20:28 the same men are called both, and in 1 Peter 5:1–2 the elders are told to shepherd, “serving as overseers.”
• πρόβατα (sheep) is the general word for sheep in John 10 and Matthew 25:32. ἀρνία (lambs) occurs in John 21:15, and προβάτια (little sheep) appears as a variant reading in some manuscripts of John 21:16–17.[5]

Method and Sources

The study begins with James King’s earlier working file on the flock and keeps its five sections, in order, with every passage he chose. It expands them with the Old Testament background above, with the Hebrew and Greek terms, and with exegetical observations. Definitions of the Greek words are from Thayer’s lexicon where accessible, and these are flagged for confirmation in BDAG, because Thayer pre-dates the papyri. The Hebrew words are glossed from general knowledge of HALOT and BDB, which could not be consulted. Commentary positions are well-known ones, attributed without page numbers. The Scripture text is the NKJV, quoted from memory.[6]

The Flock Belongs to God: Purchased by Christ

Significance

The first and most basic truth of the image is ownership. The flock is not the shepherds’ own and not the sheep’s own. It belongs to God, who bought it at the highest price. Every claim leaders make and every trust the sheep give rests on this: the flock is God’s, purchased by the blood of Christ. Congregations are sometimes spoken of as the pastor’s church, or the founding family’s church, or the church “we” built. The first thing the flock image does is take the deed away from everyone but God.

How the Term Is Used in Scripture

The Old Testament had already said it. Israel is not a people who found their own pasture:

Psalm 100:3 (NKJV): Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Paul charges the Ephesian elders on the ground of the flock’s costly ownership:

Acts 20:28 (NKJV): Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

Peter, too, calls it “the flock of God,” never the leaders’ own:

1 Peter 5:2 (NKJV): Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;

And Jesus Himself speaks to the smallest and most anxious of His people:

Luke 12:32 (NKJV): Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Exegetical Observations

1. The owner’s name is repeated. In Ezekiel 34 God says, “You are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men, and I am your God” (Ezekiel 34:31). The prophet has just spent the whole chapter in anger at the shepherds who treated the sheep as theirs, and the answer is a possessive: My flock. Peter’s “flock of God” in 1 Peter 5:2 is the New Testament echo, and the phrase governs the whole charge that follows.[7]
2. “Purchased” is a verb of acquiring. In Acts 20:28 the verb is περιεποιήσατο, from περιποιέω, which means to acquire, obtain for oneself, or preserve. Its cognate noun περιποίησις appears in 1 Peter 2:9, “His own special people.” The sense is of something won at cost and now held as one’s own, which fits the Old Testament language of Israel as God’s treasured possession.[8]
3. The price is named. “With His own blood” is among the most discussed phrases in Acts, because the Greek can be read “with the blood of His own” (that is, His own Son) or “with His own blood.” Either way the church is bought by the death of Christ, and Paul’s argument does not turn on the choice. Evangelical commentators commonly hold that Paul speaks of Christ’s blood and, in speaking of God, is not confusing the persons of the Trinity but acknowledging the unity of God in the cross.[9]
4. The shepherds are made, not self-made. Paul says, “the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.” The verb ἔθετο (“placed, appointed”) shows that the office comes from God’s side. This is the reverse of the self-serving shepherds of Ezekiel 34:2, who “feed themselves.” Leadership in the flock is a stewardship given, not a status taken.
5. The command begins with the leaders themselves. “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock” puts the shepherd’s own life before the care of others. The verb προσέχετε means to pay attention to, to be on guard concerning, and it governs both objects. A shepherd who neglects himself cannot feed the flock.
6. The little flock is small and safe. In Luke 12:32 the word is the diminutive τὸ μικρὸν ποίμνιον, followed by the reason for fearlessness: the Father’s “good pleasure” to give the kingdom. The same noun that Paul uses of the Ephesian church is used here of a handful of disciples, and the ownership is the Father’s.[10]
7. Willingness is measured by God. Peter’s first pair is “not by compulsion but willingly.” Many critical editions add κατὰ θεόν (“according to God”) after “willingly,” which the NKJV does not translate. If it belongs to the text, the standard of willingness is God Himself, and the shepherd’s will is to match the Owner’s will.[11]

Implications for the Local Church

• Remember whose the flock is. It is “the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). Align: leaders and members alike hold the congregation as a trust that belongs to God, not a possession to control or consume.
• Value the flock at the price God paid. It was bought “with His own blood.” Adjust: let the worth of the church in God’s eyes govern how carelessly or reverently you treat it.
• Take heed to yourself first. Paul tells overseers to guard themselves before the flock (Acts 20:28). Align: those who care for others must first tend their own walk with God.
• Refuse to treat the church as a means of gain. It is God’s flock, not a shepherd’s livelihood to exploit (1 Peter 5:2). Adjust: strip out any motive of “dishonest gain” (money, status, or ambition) from the care of God’s people.
• Let the smallest congregation take courage. The “little flock” is the Father’s delight (Luke 12:32). Align: measure the church’s worth by the Owner’s pleasure, not by attendance or budget.

For Reflection and Discussion

Worldview Questions

1. If the church is God’s flock, purchased by Christ’s blood, how should that change the way I regard it and my place in it?
2. What does it say about the worth of the congregation that God paid for it “with His own blood”?
3. How does remembering that the flock belongs to God guard both leaders and members from wrong attitudes?

Discussion Questions

1. Where are we tempted to treat the church as ours — to control or to consume — rather than as God’s?
2. How does the price God paid for the church reshape the way we should treat one another?
3. What does it look like for leaders to “take heed to yourselves” as well as to the flock?

Analysis Questions

1. Why does Paul ground the elders’ duty in the flock’s ownership (“which He purchased with His own blood,” Acts 20:28)?
2. Peter calls it “the flock of God… among you” (1 Peter 5:2). What is the force of “of God” for how leaders serve?
3. How do the two passages together define both the authority and the limits of church leadership?

Personal Evaluation

Do I treat the church as God’s blood-bought flock — reverently and as a trust — or as something that belongs to me to control or to use for my own ends?

The Chief Shepherd and His Undershepherds

Significance

The second use establishes the chain of care. Over the whole flock is one Chief Shepherd, Christ. Beneath Him are human undershepherds, the elders and overseers, who tend the flock on His behalf and will answer to Him for it. The dignity and the accountability of leadership both flow from this: they are under a Shepherd. The Old Testament promised that God Himself would shepherd His people, and the New Testament shows this promise kept in Jesus.

How the Term Is Used in Scripture

God’s own promise, in the midst of His judgment on the faithless shepherds of Israel, is this:

Ezekiel 34:11–12, 23 (NKJV): For thus says the Lord GOD: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. … I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd.”

Jesus claims the promise as His own:

John 10:11, 14–16 (NKJV): “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. … I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.”

Peter writes as a fellow elder and points every undershepherd to the One over them:

1 Peter 5:1 (NKJV): The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed:

1 Peter 5:4 (NKJV): and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

The letter to the Hebrews names Christ as “that great Shepherd of the sheep,” the source of the flock’s completeness:

Hebrews 13:20–21 (NKJV): Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

And He is the Shepherd to whom straying sheep return:

1 Peter 2:25 (NKJV): For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Exegetical Observations

1. The compound word is rare and exact. ἀρχιποίμην occurs only in 1 Peter 5:4 in the New Testament. It joins ἀρχι- (“chief”) to ποιμήν, the way ἀρχιερεύς joins it to “priest,” and it implies a rank among shepherds: the human elders are real shepherds, and He is the Head of all of them.[12]
2. Peter writes as a colleague. He calls himself a συμπρεσβύτερος, a “fellow elder,” although he was an apostle and an eyewitness. He appeals from beside them, not from above, and then points past himself to Christ. Peter, who had been told, “Tend My sheep,” now tells others how to do it.[13]
3. “Good” means more than moral. In John 10 the word καλός is used with the article: “the good shepherd.” It carries the sense of “genuine, ideal, the model,” and it is set against the hired man, who flees when the wolf comes. The mark of the good shepherd is given in the next phrase: τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ τίθησιν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων, “He lays down His life for the sheep.” The verb is deliberate and voluntary (John 10:17–18).[14]
4. Ezekiel 34 stands behind John 10. Ezekiel condemns the shepherds who feed themselves, promises that God will seek out His sheep, and then adds a David who will shepherd them. In John 10 Jesus is both: He is the LORD who comes to seek, and the servant-shepherd who feeds. John’s readers who knew Ezekiel would have heard the claim, which is why the following verses (John 10:19–39) turn on whether He is making Himself God.[15]
5. The scope widens. “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold” refers, in the common evangelical reading, to Gentile believers who will join Jewish believers. The result is not two flocks but “one flock and one shepherd,” with the unity grounded in the Shepherd’s single voice. This links directly to the unity of the body that the series explores.
6. The Shepherd of the covenant. Hebrews 13:20 combines three themes: resurrection, the “everlasting covenant,” and the “great Shepherd of the sheep.” The phrase echoes the Greek of Isaiah 63:11, where Moses is the shepherd brought up out of the sea with the flock. Christ is the greater Moses brought up from the dead, and the covenant is sealed by His blood.[16]
7. Shepherd and Overseer are paired. In 1 Peter 2:25 the second title, ἐπίσκοπος, means one who watches over, and it is joined here to ποιμήν. The word that the church later used for its own officers is first given in this letter to Christ. The elders who are “overseers” in 5:2 are watching on His behalf.

Implications for the Local Church

• Receive human leaders as undershepherds, not as the Shepherd. They serve beneath the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4). Align: honor your leaders while giving your final trust and allegiance to Christ alone.
• Leaders: shepherd as those who will give account. The Chief Shepherd will appear, and reward (1 Peter 5:4). Adjust: lead with the coming reckoning in view, not for present advantage.
• Look to Christ as the source of your completeness. The “great Shepherd” makes the flock “complete in every good work” (Hebrews 13:20–21). Align: seek your growth and equipping from Christ, working through His undershepherds.
• Know where straying sheep return. You have “returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Peter 2:25). Adjust: when you wander, return not merely to duty but to the Shepherd Himself.
• Hold the one flock together. The Shepherd has “other sheep” and wants “one flock” (John 10:16). Align: welcome those whom Christ has brought in, even when they differ from us in background.

For Reflection and Discussion

Worldview Questions

1. If my leaders are undershepherds serving beneath Christ, how should that shape both my respect for them and the limits of my trust in them?
2. What does it mean that Christ is “the Shepherd and Overseer of my soul” (1 Peter 2:25)?
3. How does knowing the Chief Shepherd will appear change the way leadership should be exercised and received?

Discussion Questions

1. How do we honor our leaders rightly without giving them the place that belongs to the Chief Shepherd?
2. Where do congregations tend to lean too heavily on human shepherds, and where do they fail to honor them at all?
3. What does it mean, practically, to “return to the Shepherd” when we have strayed?

Analysis Questions

1. Peter calls himself a “fellow elder” (1 Peter 5:1) and points to the “Chief Shepherd” (5:4). How does this frame the relationship between human and divine shepherding?
2. Hebrews 13:20–21 calls Christ “that great Shepherd.” What does the passage say He does for the flock, and how?
3. 1 Peter 2:25 pairs “Shepherd” with “Overseer of your souls.” What does each title add?

Personal Evaluation

Am I looking to Christ as the Chief Shepherd of my soul — honoring my human leaders as undershepherds without asking them to be what only He can be?

Shepherding the Flock: Feed, Lead, and Guard

Significance

The third use describes the actual work of shepherding. A shepherd feeds, leads, and guards, and goes after the lost. The Epistles charge the undershepherds to do exactly this: to nourish the flock with the Word, to watch over its souls, and to protect it from the wolves that will come. Leadership in the church is care, not merely governance.

How the Term Is Used in Scripture

The risen Christ gave Peter the work in three commands:

John 21:15–17 (NKJV): So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.”

Paul warns the elders that guarding the flock means watching against threats from without and within:

Acts 20:29–31 (NKJV): For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.

The letter to the Hebrews describes leaders as those who “watch out for your souls” and will “give account”:

Hebrews 13:17 (NKJV): Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

And the Shepherd’s own seeking of the lost is the pattern:

Luke 15:4–6 (NKJV): “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’”

Exegetical Observations

1. Three commands, two verbs for shepherding. In John 21 the commands are βόσκε τὰ ἀρνία (“feed My lambs”), ποίμαινε τὰ πρόβατα (“tend My sheep”), and βόσκε τὰ πρόβατα (“feed My sheep”). The verb βόσκω is feeding and the verb ποιμαίνω is the whole work of the shepherd. The ordering reminds the reader that feeding is at the center of the shepherd’s work. The two verbs for love in the passage are better read as variation than as two different kinds of love.[17]
2. Wolves come from outside and from inside. In Acts 20:29–30 the “savage wolves” (λύκοι βαρεῖς) arrive “among you,” and then men “from among yourselves” speak “perverse things” (διεστραμμένα, twisted). The danger to the flock includes both external false teachers and leaders who gather a following for themselves. Paul’s remedy is γρηγορεῖτε, “stay awake,” and the example of his own tears.[18]
3. Shepherds watch because they will answer. Hebrews 13:17 says leaders ἀγρυπνοῦσιν, “keep watch, lose sleep,” over souls. The verb is used of someone who stays awake. The reason given is accountability: “as those who must give account.” The shepherd’s care and the shepherd’s reckoning belong together.[19]
4. The command to follow is a persuasion. The verb for “obey” is πείθεσθε, a passive or middle form of πείθω, which means “be persuaded, be won over.” The second verb, ὑπείκετε (“submit, yield”), is rare. The pair suggests a willing yielding to people whose lives and words have earned trust, which suits shepherds who lead by care.
5. The shepherd goes after the one. Luke 15 begins with Pharisees who grumble that Jesus receives sinners. His reply is a shepherd’s story: one of a hundred is lost, and the shepherd goes after it “until he finds it.” The model for the undershepherd is the God of Ezekiel 34:16, “I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away.” A shepherd who only guards the ninety-nine has not yet finished the work.[20]
6. Feeding is not the same as entertaining. Ezekiel’s shepherds “feed themselves” and do not feed the flock (Ezekiel 34:2–3), and Jeremiah’s shepherds are those who “destroy and scatter” (Jeremiah 23:1). God’s remedy is shepherds “who will feed them” (Jeremiah 23:4). The feeding of the Old Testament and of John 21 is, in the church, the faithful teaching of the Word.

Implications for the Local Church

• Leaders: feed the flock, do not merely manage it. Shepherding is nourishing with the Word, not administration alone. Align: make the feeding of the sheep on Scripture the heart of leadership.
• Watch and guard against wolves. Threats come from outside and inside the flock (Acts 20:29–30). Adjust: be vigilant about false teaching and self-serving leaders, protecting the vulnerable.
• Care for souls, with an eye to the account. Leaders “watch out for your souls, as those who must give account” (Hebrews 13:17). Align: let the weight of that accountability produce diligence, not detachment.
• Members: make your leaders’ work a joy, not a grief. Their grief is “unprofitable for you” (Hebrews 13:17). Adjust: support and submit to faithful shepherding rather than resisting it.
• Go after the one who is missing. The shepherd of Luke 15 does not write off the lost. Align: keep names, visits, and phone calls for the ones who have drifted.

For Reflection and Discussion

Worldview Questions

1. If shepherding means feeding, leading, and guarding souls, what should I expect from — and give to — the leaders of my church?
2. What does it mean that leaders “watch out for your souls, as those who must give account” (Hebrews 13:17)?
3. How does the reality of “wolves” shape the way a flock should think about vigilance and discernment?

Discussion Questions

1. Is our congregation being fed — nourished on the Word — or mainly managed and entertained?
2. What “wolves” (from without) and self-serving voices (from within) threaten a flock today?
3. How can members make their leaders’ work “a joy and not a grief” (Hebrews 13:17)?

Analysis Questions

1. In Acts 20:29–31, Paul names two sources of danger to the flock. What are they, and why does he weep over them?
2. Hebrews 13:17 links obedience to leaders with their accountability for souls. How do those two ideas balance one another?
3. Why is a grieving, joyless leadership described as “unprofitable” for the flock?

Personal Evaluation

Am I helping the shepherding of our church be a joy rather than a grief — supporting faithful leaders and heeding the Word — and am I watchful for the “wolves” that would harm the flock?

Leadership Without Lording: The Example

Significance

The fourth use guards the manner of shepherding. The great danger in leadership is that authority becomes domination. Peter forbids it directly: the undershepherds are to lead not by lording but by example, and their motives are to be pure. The authority of a shepherd is the authority of one the sheep will follow, not one who drives them.

How the Term Is Used in Scripture

Peter names three dangers and their opposites, ending with the example that must replace lordship:

1 Peter 5:2–3 (NKJV): Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;

Peter had heard it from the Master:

Mark 10:42–45 (NKJV): But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Paul described his own apostolic authority in the same spirit:

2 Corinthians 1:24 (NKJV): Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are fellow workers for your joy; for by faith you stand.

Exegetical Observations

1. Three pairs of contrasts. Peter’s pairs are “not by compulsion but willingly” (ἀναγκαστῶς and ἑκουσίως), “not for dishonest gain but eagerly” (αἰσχροκερδῶς and προθύμως), and “not as lords but as examples” (κατακυριεύοντες and τύποι). Each pair names a temptation of the heart, then of the purse, then of power.[21]
2. The verb “lord it over” carries weight. κατακυριεύω is the verb of Mark 10:42, where Jesus uses it of the Gentile rulers. The prefix κατα- adds the sense of pressing down on someone. Peter, who had been in the room, uses the Master’s word and applies it to the church.[22]
3. The alternative is a pattern. The noun τύπος originally means a mark left by a blow, and then a mold or pattern to be copied. The shepherd leads by being the thing the sheep may imitate. Paul says the same: “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Authority in the flock rests on character that can be followed.
4. “Those entrusted to you” is literally “the allotments.” The Greek is τῶν κλήρων, the plural of κλῆρος, a word for a lot or portion assigned. The flock is something apportioned to the shepherd as a trust, not something he has earned or owns, and so the opening of the chapter (“the flock of God”) comes round again.[23]
5. Jesus’ own pattern is the measure. Mark 10:45 gives the standard: the Son of Man came “to serve, and to give His life.” The shepherd of John 10 is the same person, who “lays down” His life. The undershepherd who lords is unlike his Chief Shepherd, and the one who serves is like Him.
6. Authority is for the sake of joy. Paul distinguishes dominion over faith from being “fellow workers for your joy” (2 Corinthians 1:24). Even apostles, who had real authority, did not govern consciences. The goal of church leadership is the sheep’s joy and standing in the faith, and it is reached by persuasion and example.

Implications for the Local Church

• Lead by example, not by domination. Undershepherds are “examples to the flock,” not “lords over” it (1 Peter 5:3). Align: let leaders influence by the pattern of their lives, not by coercion.
• Guard the motives of leadership. Serve “willingly,” “eagerly,” and not “for dishonest gain” (1 Peter 5:2). Adjust: examine why you lead; reluctance, greed, and ambition all corrupt the care of the flock.
• Members: follow the example, and beware the lord. The sheep are to follow a shepherd’s example. Align: honor leaders who lead by godly pattern, and be wary of those who dominate.
• Treat those “entrusted to you” as entrusted, not owned. The flock is a trust, not a possession (1 Peter 5:3). Adjust: hold any authority you have over others with the lightness of a steward.
• Keep leadership with the congregation. Many Mennonite congregations have long chosen their ministers by congregational discernment, and sometimes by lot, and have held that leaders serve with the church and not over it. Align: where your congregation does this, treat it as a safeguard against lording, since the flock is part of the discerning. Adjust: whatever your structure, make sure that no person or family can come to feel that the church is theirs.[24]

For Reflection and Discussion

Worldview Questions

1. What is the difference between a leader who is an example and one who is a lord, and which do I follow more readily?
2. Peter warns against leading “for dishonest gain.” How do impure motives quietly corrupt care for others?
3. If those I lead in any sphere are “entrusted” and not owned, how should that change the way I exercise authority?

Discussion Questions

1. Where does church leadership most easily slide from example into domination?
2. How can a congregation tell the difference between godly authority and mere control?
3. In what everyday roles (parent, teacher, employer, mentor) does “example, not lording” apply to us?

Analysis Questions

1. Peter lists three contrasts in 1 Peter 5:2–3. Name each danger and its opposite, and explain what each guards.
2. Why does Peter make “example” the alternative to “lording”? What does that reveal about the nature of true spiritual authority?
3. What is the significance of the phrase “those entrusted to you” for how leaders regard the flock?

Personal Evaluation

Wherever I lead — in the church, my family, or my work — am I an example who serves willingly, or a lord who dominates; and what motive most needs purifying?

The Sheep: Following, Submitting, and Trusting

Significance

The final use turns to the sheep themselves. If leaders are undershepherds, the members are sheep, and the image assigns them a calling too: to follow the Shepherd’s voice, to submit to faithful undershepherds, and to clothe themselves in the humility that makes a flock peaceable. The sheep are not passive; they are called to trust and to follow. Sheep are not praised in Scripture for cleverness, and the image is honest about it. It is also a comfort: the flock’s safety lies in the Shepherd, not in the sheep.

How the Term Is Used in Scripture

The flock is to submit to its leaders and to one another, clothed in humility:

1 Peter 5:5 (NKJV): Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Submission to leaders is grounded in their care for souls:

Hebrews 13:17 (NKJV): Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

The sheep follow because they know the voice, and they are kept by the hand that holds them:

John 10:27–28 (NKJV): “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”

The sheep were not always following, and the Old Testament does not hide it:

Isaiah 53:6 (NKJV): All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

And the flock has returned to the One whose voice it now follows:

1 Peter 2:25 (NKJV): For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Exegetical Observations

1. “Younger” and “elders” frame the passage. In 1 Peter 5:5 the word for “elders” is πρεσβυτέροις, the same as in 5:1, and the contrast is with νεώτεροι, the younger. Whether Peter means the younger in age or the whole congregation as it stands under its elders, the next clause widens the command to everyone: “all of you be submissive to one another.” The leaders of 5:1–4 and the flock of 5:5 are all under the same call to humility.[25]
2. Humility is put on like a garment. “Be clothed with humility” renders a rare verb, ἐγκομβώσασθε, from a noun for a cloth tied on, and it is often explained as the apron a slave put on over his clothes. If that is the image, Peter is calling the whole flock to wear the dress of a servant, the same dress Jesus wore in John 13. This is general commentary knowledge and should be confirmed in BDAG.
3. Submission is not blind. Hebrews 13:17 uses πείθεσθε, “be persuaded,” and gives a reason: the leaders keep watch over souls and will give account. The relationship is reasoned, and it is a relationship to leaders who are themselves guided by the Word (13:7 speaks of those “who have spoken the word of God to you”). Submission to shepherds is always under the Chief Shepherd.
4. The sheep hear, and they follow. The verbs in John 10:27 are in the present tense: they “hear” (ἀκούουσιν) and “follow” (ἀκολουθοῦσιν). The sheep’s knowing is a continuing habit. The same sentence gives the Shepherd’s side: “I know them,” and “no one shall snatch them out of My hand.” The passage joins following and perseverance, and the evangelical reading of it is that those who are truly His are kept.[26]
5. All of us went astray. Isaiah 53:6 uses the sheep image of every one of us, and it is the verse where the sheep and the Shepherd meet: the LORD has laid our iniquity on the Servant. Peter quotes the thought in 1 Peter 2:24–25, so that the straying sheep who “have returned” are those for whom the Shepherd bore sins. The sheep’s trust is in what the Shepherd has done.[27]

Implications for the Local Church

• Follow the Shepherd’s voice. Sheep who have “returned to the Shepherd” now hear and follow Him (1 Peter 2:25). Align: order your life by Christ’s voice in His Word above competing voices.
• Submit to faithful undershepherds. “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive” (Hebrews 13:17). Adjust: replace a suspicious or resistant posture with glad support of godly leaders.
• Clothe yourself in humility toward one another. “All of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility” (1 Peter 5:5). Align: let mutual humility, not pride and rivalry, mark the flock.
• Beware the pride that God resists. “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). Adjust: choose the lowly place, knowing where God’s grace flows.
• Rest in the hand that holds you. No one can snatch the sheep from the Shepherd’s hand (John 10:28). Align: let that security free the congregation from fear in the face of change and difficulty.

For Reflection and Discussion

Worldview Questions

1. If I am a sheep who has “returned to the Shepherd,” how central is following His voice to the way I actually live?
2. What does it reveal about my heart when I resist rather than support faithful leadership?
3. Peter ties the flock’s peace to humility. How does pride disrupt a flock, and where does mine show?

Discussion Questions

1. How do we, as sheep, discern and follow the Shepherd’s voice amid many competing voices?
2. Where is submission to leaders hardest for us, and how do we practice it without abandoning discernment?
3. What would a congregation “clothed with humility” toward one another look like in practice?

Analysis Questions

1. Why does Peter join submission to elders with submission “to one another” and humility (1 Peter 5:5)?
2. Hebrews 13:17 grounds obedience in leaders’ accountability for souls. How does that make submission reasonable rather than blind?
3. How does the sheep’s return to the Shepherd (1 Peter 2:25) shape the sheep’s whole posture toward Christ and His undershepherds?

Personal Evaluation

Am I following the Shepherd’s voice, gladly supporting faithful leaders, and clothed in humility toward my fellow sheep — or am I straying, resistant, or proud?

What This Picture Adds to the Body of Christ

The body of Christ is a picture of function and interdependence: many members, one body, each needed, each gifted (1 Corinthians 12). The flock adds what the body does not say, and the two together say more than either alone.

First, the flock says dependence on a Person. A body has a head, but the image is mainly about the members and how they work together. A flock is defined by its relation to the Shepherd, who knows each by name, feeds, leads, and guards. The church is not a self-sustaining organism but a people who live by the Shepherd’s care. In the same way, the body image speaks of the church’s life in Christ, while the flock speaks of the church’s safety in Him.

Second, the flock says ownership and cost. The body is a fact of union, while the flock is a fact of purchase: “the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). The believer is not only joined to Christ but bought by Him. The two meet in the cross.

Third, the flock speaks to leadership, which the body image treats briefly. In Ephesians 4:11 Christ gives “pastors” (ποιμένας), literally shepherds, along with teachers, to equip the saints so the body may grow.[28] The two pictures here meet: the shepherds serve the body. The flock gives the leaders’ task its character: feeding, guarding, and seeking, never lording.

Fourth, the flock says something about vulnerability and tenderness. A body can seem strong, but sheep are known to be weak and prone to wander. The Bible does not flatter the church; it says we “went astray” (Isaiah 53:6) and need One who carries the lambs in His arms (Isaiah 40:11). The body corrects any pride in the church’s gifts, and the flock corrects any pride in the church’s strength.

Fifth, the flock says unity under one voice: “one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16). The body’s unity is a unity of members who need each other, and the flock’s unity is a unity of those who follow one Shepherd. The two ground the same call in different ways. In Mennonite life, where congregations have often cherished both the “priesthood of all believers” and a plain humility in leadership, the flock and the body are partners: every member is gifted, and every member is also a sheep.

The remaining pictures complete the account. The Household and Family of God says that the flock is also a family, and that the Shepherd is also a Father. The Temple and Building of God says that the people are also the place where God dwells. The Bride of Christ says that the Shepherd’s love is a covenant love. The Vine and the Branches says that the flock’s life is drawn from Christ as a branch draws from the vine. The Royal Priesthood says that the sheep are also priests who serve. Taken together, the sheep are bought, fed, known, and led, and they are also joined, gifted, and sent.

Summary: How the Flock Shapes the Way a Believer Lives

The flock image is not finally a picture to be admired but a life to be lived under the Shepherd. Gathered up, its uses describe a whole posture for both leaders and people.

1. The church is God’s, not ours. Because the flock belongs to God, purchased by Christ’s blood, the believer treats the church as a costly trust rather than a possession to control or consume.
2. Christ is the Shepherd. Because there is one Chief Shepherd over many undershepherds, the believer honors his leaders while giving his final trust to Christ, and returns to the Shepherd of his soul when he strays.
3. Shepherding is care. Because shepherding means feeding, leading, and guarding, he looks to be nourished on the Word, stays watchful against wolves, and makes his leaders’ work a joy.
4. The lost matter. Because the Shepherd goes after the one, he does not forget the missing and the drifting.
5. Leaders serve. Because true leadership is example, not lording, he follows shepherds who serve by pattern and holds any authority of his own with a steward’s lightness.
6. The sheep follow and trust. Because he is one of the sheep, he follows the Shepherd’s voice, submits gladly to faithful leaders, and clothes himself in humility toward the rest of the flock.
7. The flock is one. Because there is “one flock and one shepherd,” he welcomes all whom Christ has brought in.

The whole can be caught in one question of alignment: Am I living as a faithful sheep of God’s flock, following the Chief Shepherd’s voice, supporting His undershepherds, and humble among His people? Where the answer is no, this study has named the adjustment. The believer who takes it seriously will find the flock a place of safety and the Shepherd a Voice worth following, and will help the whole flock be led, fed, and kept in peace.

A Note on Sources

Scripture is quoted from the New King James Version, with each reference given in full. Greek terms appear in the original script; the Strong’s number in parentheses is a lookup aid only, never the source of a definition. Lexical glosses are drawn from standard reference works — Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon and Vine’s Expository Dictionary — and are cited by word (s.v.) rather than page. Definitions or renderings that would benefit from confirmation in BDAG or TDNT are marked accordingly and should be verified against those works before the material is taught. No citation, quotation, or reference in this study has been invented; where a source could not be independently confirmed, the point rests on the biblical text itself.

Bibliography

Directly Retrieved/Verified This Session

King, James B. Working file on the flock of God (five sections on the flock, the Chief Shepherd, shepherding, leadership without lording, and the sheep), supplied for this study. The passages chosen there and their arrangement are kept in this study.

Located Only Through Secondary Summary

None. Every source named in the notes was either consulted in the form above or is listed below as not consulted.

Not Directly Consulted This Session

Danker, Frederick W., ed. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (BDAG). 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

Kittel, Gerhard, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964–1976. The article on ποιμήν and related words.

Silva, Moisés, ed. New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014.

Liddell, Henry George, and Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised by Henry Stuart Jones. Oxford: Clarendon, 1940.

Koehler, Ludwig, and Walter Baumgartner. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT). Leiden: Brill, 1994–2000.

Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (BDB). Oxford: Clarendon, 1907.

Harris, R. Laird, Gleason L. Archer, and Bruce K. Waltke, eds. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT). Chicago: Moody, 1980.

Thayer, Joseph Henry. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. New York: American Book Company, 1889. Cited from general knowledge of its entries; not retrieved this session.

Block, Daniel I. The Book of Ezekiel. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997–1998.

Bruce, F. F. The Book of the Acts. Rev. ed. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988.

Carson, D. A. The Gospel According to John. Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991.

Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to John. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.

Schreiner, Thomas R. 1, 2 Peter, Jude. New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 2003.

Grudem, Wayne. 1 Peter. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988.

Lane, William L. Hebrews 9–13. Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas: Word, 1991.

Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1995.

Commentaries on the passages cited. Positions attributed in general terms are from general knowledge and not from retrieved pages, and no page numbers are given.

Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The quotations were supplied from memory and should be verified against the printed text before use in teaching.

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[1] Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. ποίμνιον, “a flock,” metaphorically the body of Christians; the shepherd is ποιμήν, the verb ποιμαίνω, and the Chief Shepherd ἀρχιποίμην. Thayer was not retrieved this session and these glosses are from general knowledge. Confirm in BDAG and in the TDNT article on ποιμήν (a work of Joachim Jeremias, to be confirmed).

[2] The Hebrew glosses of רָעָה (to tend, pasture), רֹעֶה (shepherd), and צֹאן (small livestock, flock) are from general knowledge of HALOT, BDB, and TWOT, none of which was consulted. Confirm there.

[3] The unity of Ezekiel 34 with John 10 and 1 Peter 5 is widely held in evangelical commentary; see, for example, Daniel Block on Ezekiel and D. A. Carson on John, from general knowledge, with no page numbers. The reading of Zechariah 11 as a contrast of good and worthless shepherds is also commonly held.

[4] The counts are from general knowledge of concordance data (ποίμνιον five times, ἀρχιποίμην once, ποιμήν about eighteen, ποιμαίνω about eleven) and were not verified. Check them in a concordance.

[5] The textual variants in John 21:15–17 (ἀρνία, πρόβατα, προβάτια) are noted in critical apparatuses and in many commentaries; this is from general knowledge, to be confirmed in a Greek New Testament edition. The use of ἐπίσκοπος and πρεσβύτερος for the same men in Acts 20:17 and 20:28 is plain from the NKJV text.

[6] Thayer’s lexicon pre-dates the papyri and should be checked against BDAG; no lexicon other than the author’s general knowledge was available. Quotations of Scripture were supplied from memory.

[7] The OT-NT link between Ezekiel 34:31 and 1 Peter 5:2 is a general commentary observation (Block on Ezekiel; Schreiner and Grudem on 1 Peter), without page numbers, and should be checked.

[8] The gloss of περιποιέω is from general knowledge of BDAG and should be confirmed there. The link to Israel as God’s treasured possession (Exodus 19:5; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 2:9) is from the NKJV text.

[9] The two readings of “with His own blood” (διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ ἰδίου) are discussed in commentaries on Acts; F. F. Bruce is commonly cited on this, from general knowledge, with no page numbers. There is also a textual question whether the manuscripts read “church of God” or “church of the Lord,” which should be checked in a critical apparatus.

[10] The diminutive sense of μικρόν with ποίμνιον in Luke 12:32 is noted in commentaries on Luke; this is from general knowledge and should be confirmed.

[11] The textual status of ἐπισκοποῦντες and κατὰ θεόν in 1 Peter 5:2 differs between editions and manuscripts. This is noted in commentaries on 1 Peter (for example Schreiner and Grudem, from general knowledge); check a critical apparatus before teaching.

[12] That ἀρχιποίμην is a New Testament hapax is from general knowledge and should be confirmed in a concordance. The comparison with ἀρχιερεύς is the author’s.

[13] The meaning of συμπρεσβύτερος and the relation of Peter’s words to John 21 are common commentary observations (for example Grudem on 1 Peter); from general knowledge.

[14] The sense of καλός in John 10 (“model, noble, genuine”) is widely held; see Carson and Morris on John, from general knowledge, with no page numbers. Confirm in BDAG.

[15] The reading of John 10 against Ezekiel 34 is a standard evangelical commentary position (Carson, Morris, and others), from general knowledge.

[16] The echo of Isaiah 63:11 (LXX) in Hebrews 13:20 is noted by many commentators, including William Lane and F. F. Bruce, from general knowledge only. Check it in a Septuagint edition.

[17] The view that ἀγαπάω and φιλέω are used with little difference in John 21 is held by many commentators (Carson, Morris), while others see a distinction; from general knowledge. The difference between βόσκω and ποιμαίνω is a lexical point to confirm in BDAG.

[18] The “two sources of danger” reading of Acts 20:29–30 is the plain sense of the NKJV text; F. F. Bruce on Acts is commonly cited for it, from general knowledge.

[19] The glosses of ἀγρυπνέω, ἡγέομαι, and πείθω are from general knowledge of BDAG and should be confirmed there. The reading of Hebrews 13:17 follows common commentary on Hebrews (Lane), from general knowledge.

[20] The link between Luke 15 and Ezekiel 34:16 is a commonly made observation, from general knowledge; the NKJV text of Ezekiel 34:16 should be verified.

[21] The three pairs in 1 Peter 5:2–3 are noted in many commentaries on 1 Peter, from general knowledge; the Greek forms are as remembered and should be checked against the Greek text.

[22] The prefix sense of κατα- in κατακυριεύω is from general knowledge of BDAG and Thayer; confirm in BDAG.

[23] The reading of κλῆροι in 1 Peter 5:3 as “allotted portions” is a common explanation in commentaries and lexica; confirm in BDAG s.v. κλῆρος.

[24] The Mennonite practices mentioned are from general knowledge of Mennonite church life and vary by conference and congregation; they are stated gently and are not offered as the only evangelical view. See the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective (1995) on the church and its leadership; it was not consulted this session, and no article number is given.

[25] Whether νεώτεροι means younger members in age or all in the congregation who are not elders is discussed in commentaries on 1 Peter; this is from general knowledge, to be confirmed.

[26] The reading of John 10:28 as teaching the security of believers is a standard evangelical position (Carson, Morris), from general knowledge; some in the Anabaptist and Arminian traditions emphasize the sheep’s continued following, and the passage should be taught with both its promise and its call in view.

[27] The dependence of 1 Peter 2:24–25 on Isaiah 53 is evident from the NKJV text and widely noted in commentary (Schreiner, Grudem), from general knowledge.

[28] Whether Ephesians 4:11 refers to one office, “pastor-teachers,” or two is a matter of commentary debate (for example Hoehner, Lincoln, O’Brien), from general knowledge and with no page numbers.