The church leaders are first of all exhorted to be shepherds of the flock (literally “tend the flock”). Tending, or taking care of the flock, is of course the responsibility of the shepherd, which explains the Good News Translation rendering. The image of sheep and shepherd, referring to Christians and to Christ respectively, already appears in 2.25. Elsewhere in the New Testament, this image frequently appears referring to church members and church leaders (John 2.15-27; Acts 20.28; Eph 4.11). The Old Testament itself contains many references to God as shepherd and to his people as the flock (Psa 23; Isa 40.11; Jer 23.1-4; etc.). The shepherd has general supervision over his flock; he protects them, leads them to good pasturelands, takes care of them in every way, and provides them with adequate food and shelter. It is these functions of the shepherd which make it naturally easy to use the image metaphorically for church leaders.

It may be important in a number of languages to fill out the figurative expression in the first part of verse 2, namely, to be shepherds of the flock that God gave you, for example, “to take care of the group of believers that God has given to you even as a shepherd takes care of a group of sheep” or “… as a person would take care of a group of sheep.”

The flock that God gave you is literally “the flock of God among you.” The flock belongs to God; they are entrusted to the shepherd, who in the performance of his duties works under Christ, the Chief Shepherd (verse 4). This meaning is made clear in the Good News Translation and many other translations (for example, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “the herd which God has entrusted to you”; New English Bible “the flock of God whose shepherds you are”; Barclay “the flock of God which is in your charge”).

The flock that God gave you reflects two important relationships; first, that the flock belongs to God, and secondly, that the care of this flock has been entrusted to certain elders. It would be possible to express both of these relationships by a translation such as “the group of believers who belong to God and who have been given to you to take care of” or “… which God has given to you to take care of.”

What follows is a set of three antitheses (“not … but”), describing more fully the role of the shepherd and his attitude toward the flock.

The first of these antitheses is that they are to take care of the flock not unwillingly, but willingly. Take care is literally “oversee”; it is from this Greek word (episkopountas) from which the word for “bishop” (episkopos) is derived, although there is nothing in the letter to allow us to suppose that episcopacy was already an established office at that time. To oversee the flock is to take care of it, watch over it, and to accept responsibility over its welfare and protection (compare New American Bible “watch over it”; Phillips “accept the responsibility of looking after them”; Barclay “exercise your oversight over them”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “take care of them”). There is some doubt whether “oversee” is part of the original text, since many important manuscripts do not have it. If it is not original, its addition may be an expansion of “tend” at the beginning of the verse. The third edition of the UBS Greek text includes it but encloses it in brackets, to indicate a certain degree of uncertainty that it belongs to the original text.

To take care of may be rendered in a number of different ways, for example, “to see to their needs,” “to help in whatever way is necessary,” or “to provide what they require.” It may be important to use a rather highly generic expression so as to make the statement doubly applicable both to sheep as well as to people. It would be wrong, for example, to use some expression which might be only applicable to sheep, for example, “to provide pasture for.”

In a number of languages willingly is expressed most satisfactorily in terms of the related emotion of being glad or happy about something, for example, “to be happy in taking care of the flock” or “… the believers.”

The word for unwillingly is used nowhere else in the whole New Testament; it denotes the idea of doing something by force, necessity, or compulsion. Perhaps some church leaders were appointed to their tasks, and they would then discharge their responsibilities as a matter of duty and not because they really wanted to. Also included may be the idea that often the duties of these elders would be overly excessive and demanding, with the result that they would perform these duties grudgingly and reluctantly. Whatever the compulsion may have been, these elders are advised not to make it their motivation for doing their job; rather, they should perform their responsibilities willingly, that is, “gladly” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Jerusalem Bible) and voluntarily (compare New English Bible “of your own free will”).

As God wants you to (literally “according to God”) is not found in some very important manuscripts, but is included in the UBS Greek text for the simple reason that it is hard to explain why it was added if it was not part of the original text. As God wants you to may be expressed as a completely independent sentence, for example, “This is what God wants you to do.”

And not unwillingly simply emphasizes the manner in which the elders are to take care of the believers. The phrase and not unwillingly may be expanded into a complete clause, for example, “you should not be unhappy about doing this work” or “you should not do this work as someone who is forced to do it.”

The second antithesis is not for mere pay, but from a real desire to serve. The Greek does not contain an explicit verb, and many translations understand the verb to be “oversee”; the Good News Translation, however, makes this into a separate sentence, and supplies the verb Do your work. Not for mere pay translates a word which can be literally rendered as “not for shameful gain” (Revised Standard Version) or “not with greediness for material gain.” The reference is clearly money, and the danger is not so much in enriching oneself through his office (as in Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), but in accepting a job purely for monetary considerations (compare Jerusalem Bible “not for sordid money”; Barclay “not for the mean motive of what you can get out of it”). Church leaders of that day probably already received a salary for their work (compare 1 Cor 9.7-14; 1 Tim 5.17, 18; Matt 10.10). From a real desire to serve translates a word which means “eagerly” (Revised Standard Version), that is, with zeal and enthusiasm for one’s work (compare Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “out of enthusiasm for the cause of Christ”; Phillips “because you are really concerned for their well-being”; Barclay “men eager for the task”).

Do your work must refer to the responsibility of taking care of the believers; it should not be a reference to any kind of secular employment. Accordingly, Do your work, not for mere pay may be rendered as “do not take care of the believers just in order to be paid” or “do not take care of the believers merely for the sake of a salary” or “… for the sake of the money which you will receive.”

But from a real desire to serve may be rendered as “but because you really want to help them” or “… want to provide for them.”

The last antithesis is “not as domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock” (Revised Standard Version). “Domineering over” translates a Greek word which means “lording it over,” “showing one’s authority over,” “rule.” The same verb is used in Mark 10.42, where Jesus is quoted as saying “You know that the men who are considered rulers of the people have power over them, and their leaders rule over them.” Then Jesus continues, “This, however, is not the way it is among you. If one of you wants to be great, he must be the servant of all.” This saying of Jesus may have been part of Christian catechetical teaching, and seems to serve as a perfect background for Peter’s advice to church leaders. The idea is that while they have the authority over their charge, yet they should not use such authority as the basis of their relationship with them (compare New English Bible “Never be a dictator over…”; Phillips “you should aim not at being ‘little tin Gods’ ”).

In translating Do not try to rule over those who have been put in your care, it is obviously important to employ an expression which will suggest being overbearing, and as such, having wrong motivations. Sometimes Do not try to rule over may be rendered as “do not be constantly shouting orders to,” but frequently one can use a figurative expression, for example, “do not act like little kings in dealing with” or “do not act like a strong-armed chief in dealing with.”

Those in your charge translates the plural of the Greek word klerōs. Klerōs refers to an object used in drawing lots and, by extension, what is obtained as a result of drawing lots, hence a share or a portion. When used of persons, as in the present case, it refers to those who are assigned to certain people for supervision, care, and oversight, hence Good News Translation those who have been put in your care (compare Jerusalem Bible “any group that is put in your charge”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “those who are entrusted to you”). The picture given here is that each church elder is assigned a certain group or parish for which he is responsible.

The passive expression those who have been put in your care may be made active by introducing God as the agent, for example, “those whom God has put in your care” or “those whom God has given to you to take care of.”

Instead of lording it over those in his charge, the elders are exhorted to be examples to the flock, referring clearly to their way of life, primarily in their actions. The idea is that they should live in such a way as to be worthy of emulation by others. Be examples to the flock may require some semantic expansion, for example, “behave in such a way that the believers may imitate you” or “… will want to imitate you.”

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The First Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .