Jesus was the shepherd and overseer

JESUS WAS THE SHEPHERD AND OVERSEER
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
1 Peter 2:25 25For"you were like sheep going astray,"
but now you have returned to the Shepherd and
Overseerof your souls.
New Living TranslationOnce you were like sheep who
wandered away. But now you have turned to your
Shepherd, the Guardianof your souls.
King James Bible For ye were as sheep going astray;
but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop
of your souls.
ContemporaryEnglishVersion You had wandered
away like sheep. Now you have returned to the one
who is your shepherd and protector.
Good News TranslationYou were like sheep that had
lost their way, but now you have been brought back to
followthe Shepherd and Keeper of your souls.
Aramaic Bible in PlainEnglishFor you had gone
astray like sheep, and you have returned now to The
Shepherd and The Caregiverof your souls.

BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Shepherd And Bishop Of Souls
1 Peter2:25
A. Maclaren
This letter is addressedto scatteredstrangers. Butthough locallyseparated,
over wide lands, a handful here, a single soul there, they were in spirit united,
and, seentruly, were a flock gatheredround the one Shepherd. Long ago
Peterhad heard the greatwords, "Other sheepI have... them also I must
bring,... and there shall be one flock, and one Shepherd." And in these Gentile
Christians, thinly sownover the Asiatic peninsula, he sees the beginning of
their fulfillment. They had been wandering sheep. They are now a flock;for
the realdividing influence is sin, which drives us apart into the awful solitude
of a self-absorbedlife, and the real uniting poweris Christ, in their common
relation to whom men the most widely apart in place, race, condition, or
culture, are brought into close union with eachother. There is one flock
because the sheep clusterround the one Shepherd. These two expressions -
"Shepherd" and "Bishop" of souls - coververy much the same ground, but
they setforth our Lord's relation under somewhatdifferent aspects,each
blessed, and suggesting different phases of encouragementand exhortation.
I. THE SHEPHERD OF SOULS. It is needless to trace this metaphor through
the Old Testament, where it is employed to express the relation of Jehovah to
Israel. The most familiar of all the psalms shows us a single devout soul
appropriating the whole restand blessednessofthe thought for the
nourishment of the individual life of trust. Isaiah's greatprophecy of the

Servant of the Lord proclaims the coming of Jehovahto feed his flock like a
Shepherd. Ezekielbrings out more plainly still that not only Jehovah, but
Jehovah's "servantDavid," is to be the Shepherd in a golden future.
Zechariah's mysterious words add dark shades to the picture, and setforth
Jehovah's Shepherd as smitten by Jehovah's appointment. And all these
foreshadowings are interpreted and the scatteredbeams focusedin the words
which were as vivid in Peter's memory as when first spoken, and far better
understood than then: "I am the goodShepherd. The goodShepherd giveth
his life for his sheep." It is remarkable that, with all this prophecy and
teaching from our Lord himself, this text and one verse in Hebrews are the
only places where the name is applied to him in the New Testament, especially
when we remember how early and how universally the figure came to be
employed in the succeeding periods. What aspects ofour Lord's relation to us
does it present? The ancient application of the metaphor, not only in Israel,
but in other lands, was to kings and rulers; but we cannotconfine the meaning
thus. The twenty-third psalm and the tenth chapterof John give far deeper
and tenderer thoughts than rule. There are mainly three ideas expressed.
1. The first is guidance. The shepherd leads. "Whenhe puts forth his sheephe
goethbefore them." And under that thought is included all the shaping of
outward life, for Christ is the Lord of providence, and the hands that were
pierced for us hold the helm of the universe. But our text does not add, "of
souls," without a deep meaning. It would have us see the operationof our
Shepherd's care, not only nor chiefly in outward life. And therefore we must
think of his guidance as mainly his leading of our souls in paths of
righteousness, and"showing us that which is good." His recordedexample,
the touch of his hand on our wills, the sweetconstraintof his love, the wisdom
which directs breathed into the soulwhich lives in fellowship with him, and
has silencedthe loud voice of self that his voice may be heard, - these are the
Shepherd's guidance of the sheep. His sceptre is a simple shepherd's staff. He
says," Come, follow me;" and his sheepwalk not in darkness, but have the
light of life.
2. The secondthought is guardianship. David learned to trust his Shepherd's
care over him in dangers by meditating on his own hazarding his life against
the "lion and the bear." Our Shepherd gives his life to drag us from the

mouth of the lion. Body and soul are under his care. Himself may sometimes
strike a straying sheep with his merciful rod, but he will let no foe touch us,
and our sorrows are tokens of his care, not of their power. If we keepwithin
hearing of his voice, sin, which is our only realenemy, will not harm us. Our
docile submission is the correlative of his guidance, and our trust should
answerto his defense. If he guard, let us press close to the shelter of his
presence, and everlook for the benediction of his eye.
3. The third thought is provision. He will not leadwhere we must starve, but
even in the most unpromising situations will show his flock some scattered
blades of grass whichthey may crop. "Theirpastures shall be in all high
places, the very bareness ofthe mountain-tops yielding food. He himself is the
Pasture as well as the Shepherd of the soul, and ever gives himself to satisfy
the hunger of the human heart, which needs a changelessand perfect love, a
personaltruth, an all-commanding will to feed upon, else it aches with hunger.
And for outward wants these too he remembers, and on the lowliestshore will
kindle a fire of coals, and himself prepare food for his servants. So let us wait
on the Shepherd of our souls, assuredthat his sheep never 'look up, and are
not fed.'"
II. CHRIST THE BISHOP OF OUR SOULS. Undoubtedly the allusion here is
to the bishop or elder of the early Church, with distinct reference to the
etymologicalmeaning of the word as wellas to the functions of the officer.
Looking to the later development of these, and to the associationswhichthey
have connectedwith the word, the marginal rendering of the RevisedVersion
("overseer")is perhaps better than "bishop." How closelythe two ideas of
"shepherd" and Church "overseer" are connectedis clearfrom Paul's
address to the elders at Ephesus (Acts 20.), and from the exhortations in this
Epistle (1 Peter5:1, 7) to the elders to feed the flock, as well as from the
universal use of "pastor" as a synonym. What aspects ofChrist's relation are
thus presented?
1. We have the greattruth that he is himself the Source from which all
Church officers draw at once their authority and their faculty. He gives all
gifts to men, and sets them in his Church. If they forgetthat, and use their
offices for themselves, or fancy that they originate the gifts which they but

receive, they are usurpers. From him are they all. To him should they all live
and serve. There is but one Authority and one Teacherin the Church; the rest
are delegates. There is but one Fountain; the others are cisterns. "One is your
Master, and all ye are brethren."
2. The original meaning of the word is "overseer,"and that suggeststhe
vigilant inspectionwhich he exercises overhis Church. The goodShepherd
knows eachsheepby name, and his watchful eye is on every one of the flock.
The title is the condensationinto one word of the solemn clause in the
apocalyptic vision of the Christ in the midst of the goldenlamps, which tells
how "his eyes were as a flame of fire," and of the sevenfold"I know thy
works," whichheralds eachmessageto the Churches. The thought has many
sides, according to the spiritual condition of each. To Ephesus which has left
its first love, to Sardis ready to die, to Laodicea sinking from lukewarmness to
ice, it comes monitory, rebuking and putting to shame, though even in these
the cleareye sees for the most part something to commend. To Smyrna,
threatened with persecutionand martyrdom, it brings courage andthe
assurance ofa crownof life. To Philadelphia, which has kept his Word, it seals
the joy of his approbation, which is reward indeed. So to us all, the thought
that we walk ever in the light of his countenance and are searchedby the
flame of those eyes may be a gladness, as bringing the assuranceofhis perfect
knowledge who loves as he knows, and is guided by it in all his care for us and
gifts to us. "Searchme, O Lord, and know my heart."
3. The thought that Christ discharges foreachsoul an office of which the
elders in the Church is a shadow, may also be suggested. He teaches and he
rules. All authority over and all illumination in our souls are his. And that not
merely through men, nor only by the influence of his past life and death as
recorded, but by a present and continual operationon our spirits. We have
not only a Christ who lived and died, and so declared the Father, but a Christ
who lives, and from his throne in the heavens is still declaring him to all
listening loving hearts. The present activity of Christ is plainly implied here.
Nor have we to think of him as only helping and teaching the collective body,
but single souls. He is not here spokenof as the Shepherd of the flock and the
Overseerofthe Church, blessedas that truth is; but he is held forth as
Shepherd and Bishop of eachunit in the Church, for he sustains these

relations to the individual, and will draw near to eachof us, solitary and
small, if we will only believe that by his stripes we are healed, and, conquered
by his dying love, turn from our wanderings and couch trustful at his feet. -
A.M.
Ye were as sheepgoing astray
The former and present state of believers contrasted
R. Walker.
I. Let me, then, call upon believers in Christ SERIOUSLYTO REVIEW
THEIR FORMER CONDITION,whenthey, as well as others, were as sheep
going astray. The fitness of this similitude to exhibit the natural state of
mankind may justly be inferred from the frequent use that is made of it in the
sacredwritings. Thus a sheep that has forsakenthe goodpasture and strayed
into the barren wilderness presents to us, in the most affecting light, an
emblem of indigence, perplexity, and disappointment. Again, this figurative
representationdenotes a state of danger as well as of indigence and
dissatisfaction. Few animals are besetwith more enemies than sheep;and
perhaps none are possessedofless cunning to elude or of less courage to resist
them. With what awful precision doth this part of the similitude exhibit to us
the state of unconverted sinners! Their spiritual enemies are both numerous
and mighty. Once more: though sheep are not the only creatures that are
prone to wander, yet they of all others discoverleast sagacityin finding the
way back to the place from whence they strayed; so that in them we likewise
behold a most descriptive emblem of man's helpless state by nature, and of his
utter inability by any efforts of his ownto regainhis primeval happiness and
glory. But still there remains one other ingredient in man's apostasyfrom God
to which the similitude, comprehensive as it is, cannotbe extended; the fatal
ingredient I mean is guilt. A sheepgone astray is an objectof pity rather than
of blame. Man's apostasywas the effectnot of weakness, but of wilfulness; the
guilt that lieth upon us is nothing less than proud and obstinate rebellion —
rebellion blackenedwith the vilest ingratitude.

II. "YE ARE NOW RETURNED UNTO THE SHEPHERD AND BISHOP
OF YOUR SOULS." Ye are returned to Him who came from heavento earth
"to seek andto save that which was lost";who, though infinitely offended by
your criminal apostasy, hath Himself made atonement for your past
wanderings, and expiated your guilt with His own precious blood. Ye are
returned to Him who will henceforth watchover you with peculiar care, and
guard you as His property which He purchased with His blood. Ye are
returned to Him who hath not only almighty powerto guard you against
danger, but infinite compassionlikewiseto sympathise with you in all your
distresses,and to comfort you in all your sorrows.
III. What they were by nature, and what they are by grace may suffice TO
DIRECT US TO THAT TEMPER OF HEART WITH WHICH WE OUGHT
TO APPROACHTHE TABLE OF THE LORD. And it is obvious —
1. That we should do it with the deepesthumility. Are we sanctified? once we
were impure. Are we found? once we were lost. Are we made alive? lately we
were dead; it was God who quickened us, and not we ourselves. Surely, then,
pride was not made for man.
2. We should perform this service with the warmestemotions of gratitude and
love, giving thanks to the Father who sparednot His own Son, but delivered
Him to be a sacrifice andsin offering for us.
3. Godly sorrow for past offences, and holy purposes to offend no more,
should likewise attendus to the table of the Lord.
4. These purposes must ever be accompaniedwith a sense ofour own
weakness,and of our absolute need of aid from above. Even after we are
returned to the Bishop of our souls, if left to ourselves we should quickly
stumble and fall.
5. This diffidence of ourselves ought always to be qualified with a steadfast
trust, an unsuspecting confidence in the power and faithfulness of our great
Redeemer.
(R. Walker.)

Men as sheep
C. Stanford, D. D.
Amongst all the varied tribes of nature there could not be selecteda more
perfect type of a life liable to wander. The passagebird is never lost. High
over the waves of the Atlantic it strikes a right path to its home a thousand
leagues away. With unerring certainty the creature of the forestfinds a right
path to its cave;but the sheephas no such sure accuracyof self-direction;it is
in its nature a helpless and dependent tiling, and but for its shepherd would
lose its path to the final shelter. Just as helpless and dependent is your soul. If
you travel in the right path it is not because youhave an unerring instinct, or
an unerring reason, oran unerring sense ofright, but because youhave an
unerring Leader.
(C. Stanford, D. D.)
Are now returned
The new life
H. W. Beecher.
The Israelites were a pastoralpeople. For although in the time of the apostle
the pastorallife had largely given way to the agricultural, yet all their history,
all those elements which excited their imagination and rejoicedtheir
patriotism, were of the pastoralcharacter. It went into their poetry, and the
agricultural and pastoralfigures exceedin number, and certainly equal in
exquisite beauty, any others that are to be found in the whole range of not
only the Bible, but of universal literature. This is eminently seenin the Old
Testament, but the New Testamentis not without a trace of such a feeling.
Here we are calledwanderers. Men that are converted are the men that have
wand: red awayfrom the right ideals of life, and have been brought back
again;they were wanderers. We are representedas going astrayfrom right
dispositions, and from right actions, and from right directions. Our aims, our

conduct, and our characterare malformed. Religionin the soul is what the
right use of the organs is to the body. When all the organs of a man's body are
carried on according to the laws of nature you have health. So when a man
has gone astray, he has lostnothing, except the right use of himself. He has not
lost will power; he has not lostintellectual power. And when a man is recalled
from wandering, and it is said he is born again, we mean that from his wrong
use of himself he turns toward the right use of himself. He is brought to
recognise a higher standard of living, body, mind, and soul, and enters upon
that better understanding. Then we say he has been recalledby his shepherd;
he has returned. Every organ of the body is, according to the designof God in
nature, good. It is wrong use that produces evil. Every faculty of the human
mind and soul is right and needful to the body and soul, to socialrelations and
universal truth. But the wrong use of right things is sinfulness. It may be in a
single act, or in a continuity of acts until they become habit; then it is
character;and characteris nothing but an automatic practice of wrong uses
induced by individual acts of sin. Now, on the other hand, when a man is
calledof God, here is the one grand ideal: "Love is the fulfilling of the law."
He who carries his whole nature obediently to the grand law of love and all its
interpretations in God's Word, that man has been restoredto himself, and in
so far to his God. Conversion, then, is the beginning, under inspiration's
teaching, an example of the reconstructionof a man's voluntary life. It is the
beginning of rebuilding characterand conduct, on the basis of love. It is the
beginning. It is no more than the beginning. The Church is not, then, an
assemblyof saints. It is a schoolwith all manner of instruments that are
designedto help men. Merely being in the Church does not save men. It is an
assemblyof men beginning, mostly, and certainly the incoming into any
Church is of men that have been lost, wandered, gone out of pasture, gone
away, and they are calledback again. A man coming into the Christian
Church is coming into right conditions in which be may learn how to rectify
the aberrations of his conduct, and, so far as his nature has been positively
made morbid, rectify his nature. A man has found out that the way of his life,
the wayof selfishness,ofpride and evil passions is the bad way; it is contrary
to God and nature — the best nature — contrary to the welfare of society, of
the family, and of the individual. He is so convincedof it that in covenant, in
his secretthought with God he says, "If Thou wilt help me, I will from this

hour" undertake to re-educate myself into the Christ spirit." If you want to
know whether you are sinful or not, just take any of these greatcharacteristic
commands of Jesus Christ; take any point of example in Himself, any conduct,
anywhere, and try it on. How shall a man know whether his clothes fit or not?
He goes into a store and says to his tailor, "Look here, how do 1 know what
size I want?" He looks athim a moment, then takes a boy's coatand says,
"Try that on, if you please." He gets one arm half way down, and he can't find
any armhole on the other side. "Oh, that is a world too small for me. I can't
get into that." Try moral qualities in the same way. You have one text that
leads to this very analogyor figure, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ," as a
garment. Put it on your con science.Put on the Lord Jesus Christas an
element of love. Put on the saving and helping of men, instead of hating men.
Try on eachone of these Christian graces, andsee whether they fit you, or
whether you canget them on. A person should come into the Church of Christ
joyfully, yet not so much on accountof attainment, but because he has put
himself now in the way of attaining, and may hope to grow in grace and in the
knowledge ofthe Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ unto the end.
(H. W. Beecher.)
The return of the flock
Homilist.
It is well to look back sometimes.
I. ESTRANGEMENT. "Forye were as sheep going astray." "All we like
sheephave gone astray." There is a depth of meaning in the expression"going
astray" which very fittingly represents the condition of man with regardto
Divine things. It implies —
1. A state of dissatisfaction. Neithermen nor animals, as a rule, leave that
which gives them satisfactionand enjoyment. With regardto man and God
the word very far from expresses the real state. Man is more than dissatisfied.
He abhors the necessities whichthe Divine fold entails. He hates the restraint,
the associations, the duties.

2. A state of unrest. It is a constantwandering; a going hither and thither
without a settledpurpose; a drifting on the sea without an aim; going whither
chance or the whim of the moment may lead.
3. A state of danger.
II. RECONCILIATION. "Butare now returned." There is something very
pleasantin the word "return." It speaks ofold associations renewed, severed
connections reunited. It means something so different to a new breaking of the
ground. The reunion with old familiar places, persons, orthings has a charm
which has in itself the spirit of poetry and the reality of prose. The sheep
returning to the fold goes back to the familiar ways, familiar surroundings,
and the familiar voice of the shepherd. And so the soul going to God is only
returning to its normal condition. Don't let us forgetthat the coming to the
fold of Christ is a return. An important point concerning this return is that it
is not natural. It is not easyor pleasantto retrace our steps, to acknowledge
our folly.
III. SAFETY. "Return to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." Here is
ample protection, security, and supply.
(Homilist.)
The Shepherd and Bishop of your souls
The Shepherd and Bishop of souls
W. A. Snively, D. D.
There is no symbol upon which the early Church seems to have dwelt with
more delight than that of Christ as the GoodShepherd, bringing home to the
fold the lost sheep. It was engravedon gems;it furnished the legends of seals;
it gives today an almostfabulous value to fragments of broken glass;it was
painted upon the chalice ofthe Holy Communion, it was carvedupon the
tomb of martyrs in the catacombs. In the text there is presented to us a two-
fold truth.

I. The first is THE ASPECT OF INFINITE LOVE, AS REVEALED IN THE
OFFICE AND FUNCTION OF A SHEPHERD;and the secondis THE
WEAKNESS AND HELPLESSNESSOF HUMAN SOULS, as revealedin the
figure of a flock. And these are expanded by the additional idea of our Lord's
episcopate as the Bishop of souls, and the implied necessityof a fold where
there is a flock. And then, as the shadow of sin must ever rest upon our
brightest hope, and the wail of penitence mingle with our highest song of
praise, there is the reminder of the fact, that from the care of this eternal
Shepherd, and the safety of this Divine fold, there are those who are going
astray. What, then, does this word teachus of Christ's care for His people?
Now, the vocationof a shepherd has always beenthe symbol of the most
tender and vigilant watchfulness. The ruling idea of the shepherd's vocation
was that he was the appointed defender of his flock, and their safety was
committed to him. When the lion and the bear came upon the flock which the
youthful David was tending, he slew them both, and delivered the lamb, even
at the peril of his ownlife. And yet, bold as the shepherd was to all that would
assailhis flock, to the flock itself he was the embodiment of tenderness and
care. His authority was the powerof love. His only emblem of authority was
the pastoralcrook;the well-knowntones of his voice were the guiding power;
and, going before his flock, he led them through green pastures, calling them
all by their names, and carrying the lambs in his bosom. In this day of
intenser activities, we can hardly appreciate all that is meant by such a
metaphor. But these are the hints which the symbol gives us, of the tender
watchcare of the greatShepherd of souls over His flock, as He first rescues
them from the devil going about as a roaring lion, seeking whomhe may
devour, and then folds them safely within the sacredenclosure ofHis Church,
and then watches overthem in every pathway of their daily life. The symbol of
a flock suggeststhe complementary truth, and teaches us the lessonof trust
and reciprocalduty. For it defines our relation to Him, and the obligations
involved in that relation. Within the fold of Christ we are not compared to
cattle, to be driven by force or fear; we are not as swine, to wallow in the mire
and filth of sin; but we are sheep, to follow a Divine Shepherd's voice. If the
tenderness and love of Christ be not a sufficient power to make us obedient,
He will use no force. If the constraining powerof the Cross fails to guide our
waywardfeet, then we will not be guided by Him at all. And the severest

penalty of our disobedience will be our own going astray; our self-exclusion
from the fold of Christ; our loss of His watchful care, and our exposure to the
powerof the adversary. And then, as if to interpret for all time the fulness of
this office of our Lord, another word is added, whose meaning was destinedto
be permanently fresh in every age. The pastorallife of Oriental lands might
lose its meaning when transplanted to other lands and centuries; but the office
and function of a bishop is preservedforever from oblivion by its inherent
position in the organisationofthe Church. And this word the apostle places
side by side with the other word of localsignificance, that both might go down
the ages together, andeachinterpret the meaning of the other. And so the
GoodShepherd is also the Bishop of souls. The title, in its comprehensive
significance, lifts our thoughts to that Divine episcopate whosecathedralis the
temple not made with hands, eternalin the heavens;whose diocese is the
universe of souls, and whose affairs are administered today from the right
hand of the Majestyon high. The collective pastorate ofthe Church on earth,
acting in His name, is 'but the representative of the infinite care and
ominiscient watchfulness of the greatShepherd above.
(W. A. Snively, D. D.)
The Guardian of souls
Homilist.
I. THAT MEN HAVE SOULS. First, the fact is the most demonstrable fact to
man.
1. All the evidence that we have both for the existence of matter and mind is
derived from phenomena. The essenceofboth is hidden.
2. The essence whosephenomena come most powerfully under consciousness
is most demonstrated.
3. The phenomena of mind come far more powerfully under consciousness
than that of matter. Thought, feeling, volition, we are conscious ofthese.
Secondly, the factis the most important factto man. Considerthe capacities,

relations, influence, deathlessness ofa soul. Thirdly, the fact is the most
practically disbelieved factby man. Mostmen profess to believe it, but few
men really do so.
II. THAT MEN'S SOULS REQUIRE A GUARDIAN; an ἐπισκοπος, an
overseer. This is clearfrom three things. First, from the natural fallibility of
souls. No finite intelligence, howeverholy and exalted, can do without a
guardian. Secondly, from the fallen condition of souls. They "have gone
astray." Look at the mistakes they make about the chief good, worship, etc.
Thirdly, from the natural instincts of souls. Souls through all ages have been
crying out for guardians.
III. THAT CHRIST IS THE ONE GUARDIAN OF HUMAN SOULS. He is
the Bishop. What should be the qualification of him who can take care of
human souls? He that would do so should at leasthave four things. First,
immense knowledge. He should know the nature of souls, the moral situation
of souls, the right wayof influencing souls. Secondly, unbounded love and
forbearance. The waywardness, the insults, the rebellion of souls would soon
exhaust any finite amount of love and patience. Thirdly, ever increasing
charms. Souls are to be drawn, not driven. Fourthly, inexhaustible power.
Powerto extricate from present difficulties, to guard againstfuture, and to
lead on through interminable ages. Christhas all these qualifications, and
more. Let Him, then, be my overseer.
(Homilist.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(25) Forye were as sheepgoing astray.—The right reading does not attach
“going astray” to “sheep,” but as predicate of the sentence, “ye were going
astraylike sheep.” The “for” introduces an explanation of how they came to
be in need of “healing.” “Imay well say that ye were healed;for Israelites

though you are, your consciencesandmemories tell you that you were as far
gone in wilful error as any Gentiles, and needed as complete a conversion.”
(Comp. 1Peter2:10.) Jew and Gentile take different ways, but both alike fulfil
the prophecy, “everyman to his own way.” The two metaphors, of healing
and going astray, do not match very well, but the fact that both are quotations
from Isaiah 53 makes their disagreementless harsh. We must notice how
deeply that prophecy (the interpretation of which was probably learned from
the Baptist) had sunk into St. Peter’s mind. (See 1Peter1:19.)
But are now returned.—The tense of the original verb points to the actual
historicaltime at which it took place, rather than the position now occupied,
“but now ye returned.” The word “now” is used in the same way in 1Peter
2:10, where literally it is, “but now did obtain mercy.” “Returned” does not in
the Greek imply that they had at first been under the Shepherd’s care and
had left Him. The word is that which is often rendered “were converted,” and
only indicates that they turned round and moved in a contrary direction.
The shepherd and bishop of your souls.—Undoubtedly this means Christ. The
first of the two titles is of course suggestedby the simile of the sheep. The
image is so natural and so frequent, that we cannot say for certain that it
proves St. Peter’s acquaintance with the parable of the GoodShepherd in
John 10. More probably, perhaps, he is thinking of Psalm23:3, “He converted
my soul” (LXX.), where “the Lord,” as usual, may be takento mean the Son
of God rather than the Father; or else of Ezekiel34:11;Ezekiel34:16, where
the words rendered “seek them out” in our versionis representedin the LXX.
by that from which the name of a “bishop” is derived. (Comp. Ezekiel34:23;
Ezekiel37:24;also Isaiah40:11, which lastcitation comes from a passage
which has been in St. Peter’s mind just before, 1Peter1:24.)It is hardly
necessaryto add that to the Hebrew mind the thought of superintendence and
ruling, not that of giving food, was uppermost when they spoke ofshepherds,
and that the pastors spokenof in the Old Testamentare not the priests or
givers of spiritual nutriment, but the kings and princes. Thus it will here be
nearly synonymous with the secondtitle of bishop. This name suggests in the
first instance not so much overseeing as visiting—i.e., going carefullyinto the
different cases broughtunder the officer’s notice. (Comp. 1Peter5:2; 1Peter
5:4, and Acts 20:28.)Both words were alreadyfamiliar as ecclesiasticalwords

already, and as such were especiallyappropriate to Christ, the Head of the
Church; but as they had not yet become stereotypedin that sense, the writer
adds, “ofyour souls,” to show that it was not an outward sovereigntyand
protectorate which the Messiahhad assumedover them. “Soul” is a word of
which St. Peter is fond (1Peter1:9; 1Peter1:22; 1Peter2:11;1Peter4:19;
2Peter2:8), but which is, perhaps, never used by St. Paul in this sense. It is to
be remarked how St. Peterworks almostevery sectionof the Epistle round, so
as to end with some encouragementto the readers to cling to Jesus as the
Messiah, andto their Christian state, from which they were in danger of
receding into Judaism. He makes even the specialexhortations lead up to that
which is the main exhortation of the Letter.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
2:18-25 Servants in those days generally were slaves, and had heathen
masters, who often used them cruelly; yet the apostle directs them to be
subject to the masters placedover them by Providence, with a fear to
dishonour or offend God. And not only to those pleasedwith reasonable
service, but to the severe, and those angry without cause. The sinful
misconduct of one relation, does not justify sinful behaviour in the other; the
servant is bound to do his duty, though the mastermay be sinfully froward
and perverse. But masters should be meek and gentle to their servants and
inferiors. What glory or distinction could it be, for professedChristians to be
patient when correctedfor their faults? But if when they behaved well they
were ill treated by proud and passionate heathenmasters, yetbore it without
peevish complaints, or purposes of revenge, and perseveredin their duty, this
would be acceptable to God as a distinguishing effectof his grace, andwould
be rewarded by him. Christ's death was designednot only for an example of
patience under sufferings, but he bore our sins; he bore the punishment of
them, and thereby satisfiedDivine justice. Hereby he takes them awayfrom
us. The fruits of Christ's sufferings are the death of sin, and a new holy life of
righteousness;for both which we have an example, and powerful motives, and
ability to perform also, from the death and resurrectionof Christ. And our
justification; Christ was bruised and crucified as a sacrifice forour sins, and

by his stripes the diseasesofour souls are cured. Here is man's sin; he goes
astray; it is his own act. His misery; he goes astrayfrom the pasture, from the
Shepherd, and from the flock, and so exposes himself to dangers without
number. Here is the recovery by conversion;they are now returned as the
effectof Divine grace. This return is, from all their errors and wanderings, to
Christ. Sinners, before their conversion, are always going astray; their life is a
continued error.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
For ye were as sheep going astray - Here also is an allusion to Isaiah53:6, "All
we like sheephave gone astray." See the notes at that verse. The figure is
plain. We were like a flock without a shepherd. We had wanderedfar away
from the true fold, and were following our own paths. We were without a
protector, and were exposedto every kind of danger. This aptly and forcibly
expresses the condition of the whole race before God recovers people by the
plan of salvation. A flock thus wandering without a shepherd, conductor, or
guide, is in a most pitiable condition; and so was man in his wanderings before
he was sought out and brought back to the true fold by the GreatShepherd.
But are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls - To Christ,
who thus came to seek and save those who were lost. He is often calleda
Shepherd. See the notes at John 10:1-16. The word rendered "bishop,"
(ἐπίσκοπος episkopos,)means "overseer."It may be applied to one who
inspects or oversees anything, as public works, orthe executionof treaties;to
anyone who is an inspector of wares offeredfor sale;or, in general, to anyone
who is a superintendent. It is applied in the New Testamentto those who are
appointed to watchover the interests of the church, and especiallyto the
officers of the church. Here it is applied to the Lord Jesus as the great
Guardian and Superintendent of his church; and the title of universal Bishop
belongs to him alone!
Remarks On 1 Peter2
In the conclusionof this chapterwe may remark:

(1) That there is something very beautiful in the expression"Bishopof souls."
It implies that the soul is the specialcare of the Saviour; that it is the objectof
his specialinterest;and that it is of greatvalue - so greatthat it is that which
mainly deserves regard. He is the Bishop of the soul in a sense quite distinct
from any care which he manifests for the body. That too, in the proper way, is
the objectof his care;but that has no importance compared with the soul.
Our care is principally employed in respectto the body; the care of the
Redeemerhas specialreference to the soul.
(2) it follows that the welfare of the soul may be committed to him with
confidence. It is the object of his specialguardianship, and he will not be
unfaithful to the trust reposedin him. There is nothing more safe than the
human soul is when it is committed in faith to the keeping of the Sonof God.
Compare 2 Timothy 1:12.
(3) as, therefore, he has shown his regard for us in seeking us when we were
wandering and lost;as he came on the kind and benevolent errand to find us
and bring us back to himself, let us show our gratitude to him by resolving to
wander no more. As we regard our own safetyand happiness, let us commit
ourselves to him as our greatShepherd, to follow where he leads us, and to be
ever under his pastoralinspection. We had all wanderedaway. We had gone
where there was no happiness and no protector. We had no one to provide for
us, to care for us, to pity us. We were exposedto certain ruin. In that state he
pitied us, sought us out, brought us back. If we had remained where we were,
or had gone further in our wanderings, we should have gone certainly to
destruction. He has soughtus out; be has led us back; he has takenus under
his ownprotection and guidance;and we shall be safe as long as we follow
where he leads, and no longer. To him then, a Shepherd who never forsakes
his flock, let us at all times commit ourselves, following where he leads, feeling
that under him our greatinterests are secure.
(4) we may learn from this chapter, indeed, as we may from every other part
of the New Testament, that in doing this we may be calledto suffer. We may
be reproachedand reviled as the greatShepherd himself was. We may
become the objects of public scornon accountof our devoted attachment to
him. We may suffer in name, in feeling, in property, in our business, by our

honest attachmentto the principles of his gospel. Manywho are his followers
may be in circumstances ofpoverty or oppression. Theymay be held in
bondage;they may be deprived of their rights; they may feel that their lot in
life is a hard one, and that the world seems to have conspired againstthem to
do them wrong;but let us in all these circumstances look to Him "who made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,"Philippians 2:7-8;
and let us remember that it is "enoughfor the disciple that he be as his
master, and the servantas his lord," Matthew 10:25. In view of the example of
our Master, and of all the promises of support in the Bible, let us bear with
patience all the trials of life, whether arising from poverty, an humble
condition, or the reproaches ofa wickedworld. Our trials will soonbe ended;
and soon, under the direction of the "Shepherd and Bishop of souls," we shall
be brought to a world where trials and sorrows are unknown.
(5) in our trials here, let it be our main objectso to live that our sufferings
shall not be on accountof our own faults. See 1 Peter2:19-22. Our Saviour so
lived. He was persecuted, reviled, mocked, condemnedto die. But it was for no
fault of his. In all his varied and prolonged sufferings, he had the ever-abiding
consciousnessthathe was innocent; he had the firm convictionthat it would
yet be seenand confessedby all the world that he was "holy, harmless,
undefiled," 1 Peter 2:23. His were not the sufferings produced by a guilty
conscience, orby the recollectionthathe had wrongedanyone. So, if we must
suffer, let our trials come upon us. Be it our first aim to have a conscience void
of offence, to wrong no one, to give no occasionforreproaches and revilings,
to do our duty faithfully to God and to people. Then, if trials come, we shall
feel that we suffer as our Masterdid; and then we may, as he did, commit our
cause "to him that judgeth righteously," assuredthat in due time "he will
bring forth our righteousness as the light, and our judgment as the noon-
day," Psalm37:6.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
25. (Isa 53:6.)
For—Assigning their natural need of healing (1Pe 2:24).

now—Now that the atonement for all has been made, the foundation is laid
for individual conversion:so "ye are returned," or "have become converted
to," &c.
Shepherd and Bishop—The designationof the pastors and elders of the
Church belongs in its fullest sense to the greatHead of the Church, "the good
Shepherd." As the "bishop" oversees(as the Greek term means), so "the eyes
of the Lord are overthe righteous" (1Pe 3:12). He gives us His spirit and feeds
and guides us by His word. "Shepherd," Hebrew, "Parnas,"is often applied
to kings, and enters into the compositionof names, as "Pharnabazus."
Matthew Poole's Commentary
For ye were, while ye continued in your Judaism, and had not yet received the
gospel, as sheepgoing astray, from Christ the greatShepherd, and the church
of believers his flock, and the way of righteousness in which he leads them. Ye
were alienatedfrom the life of God, bewildered and lost in the way of sin,
Isaiah53:6.
But are now returned, in your conversion to the faith,
to the Shepherd; Christ the goodShepherd, John 10:11,14,16, thattakes care
of souls, as a shepherd doth of his sheep.
And Bishop of your souls;superintendent, inspector, or, as the Hebrews
phrase it, visitor, i.e. he that with care looks to, inspects, and visits the flock.
This he adds for the comfort (as of all believers, so) particularly of servants,
that even they, as mean as they were, and as much exposedto injuries, yet
were under the care and tuition of Christ.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
For ye were as sheep going astray,.... This is a proof of their being healed,
namely, their conversion;in which an applicationof the blood of Christ, and

pardon, and so healing by it, was made to their souls. The apostle has still in
view the prophecy of Isaiah 53:6. God's electare sheepbefore conversion;not
that they have the agreeable properties of sheep, as to be meek, harmless,
innocent, clean, and profitable, for they are the reverse of all this; nor can
some things be said of them before conversion, as may be after, as that they
hear Christ's voice, and follow him; nor are they so called, because
unprejudiced against, and predisposedunto the Gospel, for the contrary is
true of them; but they are so in electing grace, and were so consideredin the
Father's gift of them to Christ, and when made his care and charge, and hence
they are called the sheep of his hand; and when Christ laid down his life, and
rose again, which he did for the sheep, and as the greatShepherd of them; and
when called by grace, fortheir being sheep, and Christ's own sheep by the
Father's gift, and his own purpose, is the reasonwhy he looks them up, calls
them by name, and returns them: but then they are not yet of his fold; they
are lostsheep, lost in Adam, and by his fall, and by their own actual
transgressions;they are as sheepgoing astray from the shepherd, and from
the flock, going out of the right way, and in their own ways;and are, like
sheep, stupid and insensible of their danger; and as they never return of
themselves, until they are sought for, and brought back:hence it follows,
but are now returned; not returned themselves, but were returned by
powerful and efficacious grace:saints are passive, and not active in first
conversion;they are turned, not by the power of their own free will, but by
the powerof God's free grace;they are returned under the illuminations and
quickenings of the blessedSpirit, and through the efficacious drawings ofthe
Father's love, unto Christ:
unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls;by whom Christ is meant, who
bears the office of a Shepherd, and fully performs it by feeding his sheep,
providing a goodfold and pasture for them; by gathering the lambs in his
arms, and gently leading those that are with young; by healing their diseases,
and preserving them from beasts ofprey; hence he is called the good, the
great, and chief Shepherd: and he is the "Bishop" or "Overseer"ofthe souls
of his people, though not to the exclusionof their bodies:he has took the
oversightof them willingly, and looks wellto his flock, inspects into their
cases, and often visits them, and never forsakesthem; nor will he leave them

till they receive the end of their faith, the salvationof their souls; which he has
undertook and effectedby his obedience, sufferings and death. Philo the Jew
(l) observes, that "to be a shepherd is so gooda work, that it is not only a title
given to kings and wise men, and souls perfectly purified, but to Godthe
governorof all---who, as a Shepherd and King, leads according to justice and
law, setting over them his right Logos, "the first begotten Son", who has taken
the care of this holy flock, as does the deputy of a greatking.
(l) De Agricultura, p. 194, 195.
Geneva Study Bible
For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd
and Bishopof your souls.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
1 Peter2:25. ἦτε γὰρὡς πρόβατα πλανώμενοι]This explanatory clause (γάρ)
points back, as the continuance in it of the direct address (ἰάθητε … ἦτε)
shows, in the first instance, to the statement immediately preceding οὗ τῷ
μώλωπι ἰάθητε, but at the same time also to the thought ἵνα … τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ
ζήσωμεν, to which that assertionis subservient. For the foregoing figure a new
one is substituted, after Isaiah 53:6 : LXX. πάντες ὡς πρόβατα ἐπλανήθημεν;
if πλανώμενοι be the correctreading, then from it the nearer definition of
πρόβατα is to be supplied, the sheepare to be thought of as those which have
no shepherd (Matthew 9:36 : ὡσεὶ πρόβατα μὴ ἔχοντα ποιμένα;comp.
Numbers 27:17; 1 Kings 22:17).
For the figure describing the state of man separatedin his sin from God,
comp. Matthew 18:12-13;Luke 15:4 ff.
ἀλλʼ ἐπεστράφητε νῦν] ἐπεστράφητε is, in harmony with the uniform usage of
Scripture, to be takennot in a passive (Wiesinger, Schott), but in a middle

sense:“ye have turned yourselves.”[164]Luther translates:“but ye are now
turned.” The word ἘΠΙΣΤΡΈΦΕΙΝ means to turn oneselfawayfrom (ἈΠΌ,
ἘΚ), towards something (ἘΠΊ, ΠΡΌς, ΕἸς), (sometimes equal to: to turn
round); but it is not implied in the word itself that the individual has formerly
been in that place towards which he has now turned round, and whither he is
going (therefore, in Galatians 4:9, ΠΆΛΙΝ is expressly added). Weiss (p. 122)
is therefore wrong when from this very word he tries to prove that by
ΠΟΙΜΉΝ God, and not Christ, is to be understood, although the term
sometimes includes in it the secondaryidea of “back;” cf. 2 Peter2:21-22.
ἘΠῚ ΤῸΝ ΠΟΙΜΈΝΑΚΑῚ ἘΠΊΣΚΟΠΟΝ ΤῶΝ ΨΥΧῶΝ ὙΜῶΝ] cf.
especiallyEzekiel34:11-12;Ezekiel34:16, LXX.: ἘΓῺ ἘΚΖΗΤΉΣΩ ΤᾺ
ΠΡΌΒΑΤΆΜΟΥ ΚΑῚ ἘΠΙΣΚΈΨΟΜΑΙ ΑὐΤΆ, ὭΣΠΕΡ ΖΗΤΕῖ Ὁ
ΠΟΙΜῊΝ ΤῸ ΠΟΊΜΝΙΟΝ ΑὐΤΟῦ … ΤῸ ΠΛΑΝΏΜΕΝΟΝ
ἈΠΟΣΤΡΈΨΩ;besides, with ΠΟΙΜΉΝ, Psalm23:1; Isaiah40:11. From the
fact that in these passagesGodis spokenof as the shepherd, it must not be
concluded, with Weiss, that ΠΟΙΜῊΝ ΚΑῚ ἘΠΊΣΚΟΠΟς refers not to
Christ, but to God. Fornot only has God, calling Himself a shepherd,
promised a shepherd (Ezekiel34:24, LXX.: ἀναστήσω ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ποιμένα ἕνα
… τὸν δοῦλον μου Δαυίδ, Ezekiel37:24), but Christ, too, speaks ofHimself as
the goodShepherd; and Peterhimself, in chap. 1 Peter5:4, calls Him
ἈΡΧΙΠΟΙΜΉΝ. In comparisonwith these passages, chap. 1 Peter 5:2 is
plainly of no account. All interpreters—exceptWeiss—rightlyunderstand the
expressions here used as applying to Christ. The designationἘΠΊΣΚΟΠΟς
would all the more naturally occurto the apostle, as it was, like ΠΟΙΜΉΝ,
the name of the presidents of the churches who were, so to speak, the
representatives ofthe One Shepherd and Bishop, the Head of the whole
church.
ΤῶΝ ΨΥΧῶΝ ὙΜῶΝ belongs, as the omissionof the article before
ἙΠΊΣΚΟΠΟΝ shows, to both words; with the expression, cf. chap. 1 Peter
1:9; 1 Peter1:22.

[164]Schott’s counter-remark: “The question is not here what they did, but
what in Christ was imparted to them,” has all the less weight, that conversion,
though the personalact of the Christian, must still be regardedas effectedby
Christ. Hofmann maintains, without the slightestright to do so, that in this
passagethe chief emphasis lies on the readers’own act, though at the same
time he correctlyunderstands ἐπεστράφητε in a middle sense.
Expositor's Greek Testament
1 Peter2:25 = Isaiah 53:6, πάντες ὡς πρόβατα ἐπλανήθημενcombined with
Ezekiel34:6, where this conceptionof the people and their teachers (the
shepherds of Israel)is elaboratedand the latter denounced because τὸ
πλανώμενον οὐκ ἐπεστρέψατε Further the use of this metaphor in the context
presupposes the saying I am the goodshepherd.… I lay down my life for the
sheep(John 12:15).—ἐπίσκοπον, cf. Ezekiel34:11, ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐκζητήσω τὰ
πρόβατά μου καὶ ἐπισκέψομαι αὐτά. It is to be noted that the command which
Jesus laid on Peter, feeding sheep, comes from Ez. I.c.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
25. For ye were as sheep going astray] The sequence of thought is suggestedby
the “allwe like sheep have gone astray” of Isaiah53:6, but the imagery could
scarcelyfail to recallto the mind of the Apostle the state of Israel “as sheep
that had no shepherd” (Matthew 9:36), and the parable of the lost sheep
(Matthew 18:12-13;Luke 15:4). The image had been a familiar one almost
from the earliesttimes to describe the state of a people plunged into anarchy
and confusionby the loss of their true leader (Numbers 27:17; 1 Kings 22:17).
but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls]We can
scarcelyfail to connectthe words with those which St Peter had once heard as
to the “othersheep” who were not of the “fold” of Galilee and Jerusalem
(John 10:16). In the “strangers ofthe dispersion” he might wellrecognise
some, at least, of those other sheep. In the thought of Christ as the “Shepherd”
we have primarily the echo of the teaching of our Lord just referred to, but

the name at leastsuggestsa possible reference to the older utterances of
prophecy and devotion in Psalm23:1, Isaiah40:11, Ezekiel34:23;Ezekiel
37:24. In the word for “Bishop” (Episcopos)(betterperhaps, looking to the
later associationsthat have gatheredround the English term) guardian or
protector, we may, possibly, find a reference to the use of the cognate verb in
the LXX. of Ezekiel34:11. It deserves to be noted, however, that the Greek
noun is often used in the New Testamentin specialassociationwith the
thought of the Shepherd’s work. Comp. Acts 20:28, 1 Peter 5:4. So in like
manner, “Pastors”or“Shepherds” find their place in the classificationof
Christian Ministers in Ephesians 4:11. There is, perhaps, a specialstress laid
on Christ being the Shepherd of their souls. Their bodies might be subjectto
the powerand caprices oftheir masters, but their higher nature, that which
was their true self, was subjectonly to the loving care of the Great Shepherd.
Bengel's Gnomen
1 Peter2:25. Οὑ τῷ μώλωπι αὐτοῦ ἰάθητε ἦτε γὰρ ὡς πρόβατα πλανώμενα, by
whose stripe ye were healed; for ye were as sheepgoing astray) Isaiah 53:5-6,
Septuagint, τῷ μώλωπι αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς ἰάθημεν·πάντες ὡς πρόβατα
ἐπλανήθημεν. A paradox of the apostle:Ye were healedwith a stripe. But
μώλωψ, a weal, is common on the person of a slave:Sir 23:10.—ποιμένακαὶ
ἐπίσκοπον, shepherd and bishop) whom you are bound to obey. Synonymous
words. Comp. ch 1 Peter5:2.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 25. - For ye were as sheep going astray; rather, with the best
manuscripts, for ye were going astraylike sheep. The apostle is probably still
thinking of the greatprophecy of Isaiah, and here almostreproduces the
words of the sixth verse, "All we like sheephave gone astray." He who had
been thrice chargedto feedthe sheepand the lambs of Christ would think also
of the parable of the lost sheep, and of the people of Israel who were "as sheep
having no shepherd" (Matthew 9:36). But are now returned unto the
Shepherd and Bishop of your souls; literally, but ye returned (the verb is
aorist); that is, at the time of their conversion. The aoristpassive, ἐπεστράφην,
is so frequently used in a middle sense that the translation, "ye were

converted," cannotbe insistedon (comp. Mark 5:30; Matthew 9:22; Matthew
10:13). Christ is the Shepherd of our souls. The quotation from Isaiah
doubtless brought before St. Peter's thoughts the sweetand holy allegoryof
the goodShepherd, which he had heard from the Savior's lips (comp. also
Isaiah40:11; Ezekiel34:23;Ezekiel37:24;also Psalm 22.). The word
"bishop" (ἐπίσκοπος) is used in a similar connectionin Acts 20:28, "Take
heed... to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghosthath made you overseers
(ἐπισκόπους);" comp. also Ezekiel34:11, "Iwill both searchmy sheep, and
seek them out," where the Greek wordfor "seekthem out" is ἐπισκέψομαι.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the chief Shepherd (1 Peter5:4). He is also the chief
Bishop or Overseerofthose souls which he has bought to be his own with his
most precious blood.
Vincent's Word Studies
For ye were as sheep going astray (ἦτε γὰρ ὡς πρόβατα πλανώμενοι);
i.e., as commonly understood, ye were like straying sheep. But the ye were
should be construedwith the participle going astray, the verb and the
participle togetherdenoting habitual actionor condition. Render, as Rev., ye
were going astray like sheep. See on Mark 12:24.
Bishop
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PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
1 Peter2:24-25 Commentary

1 Peter2 Resources
Updated: Mon, 02/11/2019 - 08:12 By admin
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1Peter2:24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we
might die to sin and live to righteousness;for by His wounds you were healed.
(NASB: Lockman)
Greek:os tas hamartias hemon autos anenegken(3SAAI) en to somati autou
epi to xulon, hina tais hamartiais apothenomenoi(AMPMPN)te dikaiosune
zosomen;(1PAAS) ou to molopi iathete. (2SAPI)
Amplified: He personally bore our sins in His [own] body on the tree [as on an
altar and offered Himself on it], that we might die (cease to exist) to sin and
live to righteousness.By His wounds you have been healed. (Amplified Bible -
Lockman)
KJV: Who His own selfbare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we,
being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness:by whose stripes ye were
healed.
NLT: He personallycarried awayour sins in his ownbody on the cross so we
can be dead to sin and live for what is right. You have been healedby his
wounds! (NLT - Tyndale House)
Phillips: And he personally bore our sins in his own body on the cross, so that
we might be dead to sin and be alive to all that is good. It was the suffering
that he bore which has healed you.
Wuest: Who himself carriedup to the Cross our sins in His body and offered
himself there as on an altar, doing this in order that we, having died with
respectto our sins, might live with respectto righteousness,
Young's Literal: who our sins himself did bear in his body, upon the tree, that
to the sins having died, to the righteousness we may live; by whose stripes ye
were healed,

AND HE HIMSELF BORE OUR SINS: hos tas hamartias (sins is first for
emphasis) hemon autos anenegken(3SAAI):
Ex 28:38; Lev 16:22;22:9; Nu 18:22;Ps 38:4; Is 53:4, 5, 6,11;Mt 8:17; Jn
1:29, 36;Heb 9:28
1 Peter2 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
1 Peter2:24-25 The Meaning Of The Cross - Steven Cole
1 Peter2:24-25 The Suffering Jesus:Our Substitute and Shepherd - John
MacArthur
1 Peter2:24-25 The Suffering Jesus:Our Substitute & Shepherd - Study
Guide (see dropdown) - John MacArthur
THE SAVIOR OUR
SINLESS SUBSTITUTE
The Jews ofall people should have understood this powerful picture of a
Substitute Who would bear our sins, for it is clearly foreshadowedin the Law
and then clearlyportrayed in the prophets. So on the Day of Atonement we
read in Leviticus 16:22+ that “The goatshall bear on itself all their iniquities
to a solitary land; and he shall release the goatin the wilderness." And then
the indisputably clearportrayal by the prophet Isaiah who wrote (not once,
not twice but THREE TIMES!) that the Suffering Servantwould bear the sins
(clearly this was not the nation of Israel, for how could the nation bear the
sins of others? Impossible! No, this is a clearpicture of the Messiah, Christ
Jesus")"ourgriefs", "their iniquities," "the sin of many"...
Isa 53:4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet
we ourselves esteemedHim stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isa 53:11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One (ED: THE SINFUL NATION OF
ISRAEL COULD HARDLY BE CALLED "THE RIGHTEOUS ONE!"), My
Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear (Lxx = anaphero) their
iniquities.

Isa 53:12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will
divide the booty with the strong; BecauseHe poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;Yet He Himself bore (Lxx =
anaphero) the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.(Isaiah
53:4,11,12-see in depth commentary)
He Himself bore our sins - This is an intensive pronoun "He", Jesus Himself,
no substitute. This alludes to Isaiah's two prophecies - Isaiah53:4 ("He
Himself bore")and Isaiah 53:12 ("He Himself bore.")Jesus (the GreatHigh
Priest) like the high priest of old, brought the sacrifice to the altar, the OT
altar foreshadowing the NT Cross, on which the offering was placed, and in
this greatstory of divine redemption, the GreatHigh Priest was Himself the
blemish-free, sinless sacrificialoffering!Amazing grace indeed! Christ's body
was the "offering" to God, Paul writing in 1 Cor 11:24 "whenHe had given
thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for (preposition
huper here means "in your place" = substitutionary sacrifice for) you; do this
in remembrance of Me.”
MacArthur add that He Himself "is an emphatic personalizationand stresses
that the Son of God voluntarily and without coercion(John10:15, 17, 18) died
as the only sufficient sacrifice for the sins of all who would ever believe (cf.
John 1:29; 3:16; 1Ti 2:5, 6; 4:10; He 2:9 [note] He 2:17 [note]). The very name
Jesus indicated that He would “save His people from their sins” (Mt 1:21). (1
Peter. Chicago:Moody Press)
Bore (399)(anaphero from ana = up, again, back + phero = bear, carry)
literally means to carry, bring or bear up and so to to cause to move from a
lowerposition to a higher position. It serves as a technicalterm for offering
sacrifices offerup (to an altar) offered up like Ge 8:20. Anaphero is the verb
the translators of the LXX Old Testamentusually used to picture the offering
of a sacrifice. Figuratively(as used here by Peter)anaphero means to take up
and bear sins by imputation (act of laying the responsibility or blame for) as
typified by the ancient sacrifices. Jesus ourGreat High Priestbore our sins as
our substitutionary sacrifice, dying in our place, in order to bring about
atonement for our sins. The priests in the Old Covenant could not bear our
sins.

Anaphero is used 9 times in the NT in the NAS (see below)and is translated
as:bear, 1; bore, 1; brought, 1; led, 1; offer, 3; offered, 2.
Matthew 17:1 And six days later Jesus took with Him Peterand James and
John his brother, and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves.
Mark 9:2 And six days later, Jesus took with Him Peterand James and John,
and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves. And He was
transfigured before them;
Luke 24:51 And it came to pass, while he blessedthem, he was parted from
them, and carriedup into heaven. (KJV only)
Hebrews 7:27 (note) who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer
up sacrifices, firstfor His own sins, and then for the sins of the people,
because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
Hebrews 9:28 (note) so Christ also, having been offered (prosphero) once to
bear (anaphero) the sins of many, shall appear a secondtime for salvation
without reference to sin, to those who eagerlyawaitHim.
Comment: The writer of Hebrews utilizes anaphero with a meaning similar to
Peteri.e., to refer to Christ's propitiatory or satisfactorysacrifice
Hebrews 13:15 (note) Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice
of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
Comment: DearNT believers, you who are now priests of the MostHigh God
and thus have the incredible privilege of continually doing what only the
JewishLevitical priests could do in the Old Testament. Are you "taking
advantage" ofyour high and holy privilege as members of a royal priesthood?
[1Pe 2:9-note]
James 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, whenhe offered
up Isaac his son on the altar?
Comment: Justified in this context could be translated "shownto be
justified". In other words, his offering up of Isaac showedthat he had been
declaredrighteous.

1 Peter2:5 (note) you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual
house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ.
Comment: Believers now can offer up holy sacrifices becausethe Holy One
offered up Himself! Precious truth!
1 Peter2:24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, thatwe
Anaphero is found 135 times in the Septuagint (LXX) (Greek translation of
the OT Hebrew)
Ge 8:20; 22:2, 13; 31:39;40:10; Ex 18:19, 22, 26; 19:8; 24:5; 29:18, 25;30:9,
20; Lev. 2:16; 3:5, 11, 14, 16; 4:10, 19, 26, 31;6:15, 26;7:5, 31; 8:16, 20f, 27f;
9:10, 20;14:20; 16:25;17:5f; 23:11; Num. 5:26; 14:33;18:17; 23:2, 30; Deut.
1:17; 12:13f, 27; 14:24;27:6; Jdg. 6:26, 28; 11:31;13:16, 19; 15:13;16:8, 18;
20:26, 38;21:4; 1 Sam. 2:19; 6:14f; 7:9f; 10:8; 13:9f, 12;15:12; 18:27;20:13; 2
Sam. 1:24; 6:17; 21:13;24:22, 24f; 1 Ki. 2:35; 3:4; 5:13; 8:1; 9:15; 10:5; 12:27;
17:19;2 Ki. 3:27; 4:21; 1 Chr. 15:3, 12, 14;16:2, 40; 21:24, 26;23:31;29:21; 2
Chr. 1:4, 6; 2:4; 4:16; 5:2, 5; 8:12f; 9:4, 16;23:18; 24:14;29:21, 27, 29, 31f;
35:14;Ezra. 3:2, 6; Neh. 10:38; 12:31;Job 7:13; Ps. 51:19;66:15; Prov. 8:6;
Isa. 18:7; 53:11f; 57:6; 60:7; 66:3; Jer. 32:35;Ezek. 36:15;43:18, 24; Da 6:23
Wuest's paraphrase conveys Peter's allusionto the Old Testamentsacrificial
system -- Jesus
Himself carried up to the Cross our sins in His body and offered Himself there
as on an altar
It is notable that anaphero is used 25 times in the Septuagint translationof
Leviticus regarding offerings!For example, Mosesrecords that
Aaron's sons shall offer it up (anaphero = bear, carry) in smoke on the altar
on the burnt offering, which is on the wood that is on the fire; it is an offering
by fire of a soothing aroma to the LORD. (Lev 3:5)

Jesus, as our GreatHigh Priest , offered up the sacrifice ofHimself by
bringing His body up to the Cross. Anaphero is used in Hebrews which
records that Jesus
"does not need daily, like those (Jewish)high priests, to offer up sacrifices,
first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this He did
once for all when He offeredup Himself." (He 7:27-note)
Exodus discussesthe parallel role of the OT high priests recording that
Aaron shall take away(to lift, to carry) the iniquity of the holy things which
the sons of Israelconsecrate, withregard to all their holy gifts; and (the
turban) shall always be on his forehead, that they may be acceptedbefore the
Lord. (Ex 28:38)
Comment: This was but a shadow of which Jesus was the Substance. (Col
2:17)
Isaiahin his famous prophecy of the suffering Servant (the Messiah)is
repeatedfrom above but here note the bold font which repeatedly highlights
the role of the Personof Jesus the Messiah...
Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried. Yet we
ourselves esteemedHim stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was
pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities. The
chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are
healed. All of us like sheephave gone astray, eachof us has turned to his own
way, but the Lord has causedthe iniquity of us all to fall on Him. (Isa 53:4, 5,
6+)
As a result of the anguishof His soul, He will see it and be satisfied;By His
knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will
bear (LXX uses anaphero) their iniquities. (12) Therefore, I will allotHim a
portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong, because
He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors.
Yet He Himself bore (LXX uses anaphero) the sin of many, and interceded for
the transgressors. (Isa 53:11,12+)

When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to him he declaredthe fulfillment of
Isaiah's prophecy (and all the OT Messianic prophecies forthat matter)
saying
Behold, the Lamb of God Who takes awaythe sin of the world! (Jn 1:29, cp Jn
1:36)
It is interesting to note that the Jewishpeople did not crucify criminals. They
stoned them to death. But if the victim was especiallyevil, his dead body was
hung on a tree until evening, as a mark of shame (Dt 21:23). Jesus died on a
tree—a cross—andbore the curse of the Law (Gal 3:13). The force of ana =
up, appears in the fact of the altar was in fact elevated.
Anaphero is often used of carrying from a lower to a higher place (Mt 17:1;
Lk 24:51)
Sins (noun) (266)(hamartia)our many times of "missing God's mark," of
falling to do His will and selfishly seeking to do our will!
Matthew Henry writes that He Himself bore our sins teaches…
1.ThatChrist, in his sufferings, stoodchargedwith our sins, as one who had
undertaken to put them awayby the sacrifice ofhimself, Isa. 53:6.
2 That he bore the punishment of them, and thereby satisfieddivine justice.
3. That hereby he takes awayour sins, and removes them awayfrom us; as
the scapegoatdid typically bear the sins of the people on his head, and then
carried them quite away, (Lev. 16:21, 22), so the Lamb of God does first bear
our sins in his own body, and thereby take awaythe sins of the world, Jn.
1:29.
ILLUSTRATION - During the Napoleonic Wars, men were conscriptedinto
the Frencharmy by a lottery system. If your name was drawn, you had to go
off to battle. But in the rare case that you could getsomeone else to take your
place, you were exempt. On one occasionthe authorities came to a certain
man and told him that his name had been drawn. But he refused to go, saying,
“I was killed two years ago.” At first they questioned his sanity, but he
insisted that this was in fact the case. He claimed that the records would show

that he had been conscriptedtwo years previously and that he had been killed
in action. “How canthat be?” they questioned. “You are alive now.” He
explained that when his name came up, a close friend said to him, “You have a
large family, but I’m not married and nobody is dependent on me. I’ll take
your name and address and go in your place.” The records upheld the man’s
claim. The case was referredto Napoleonhimself, who decided that the
country had no legalclaim on that man. He was free because anotherman had
died in his place.
While any illustration of Jesus'substitutionary death in our place must pale
by comparison, I recently read an illustration recordedby Harry Ironside
which gives us an inkling into this great exchange and especiallyspeaksto
how this grand truth should motivate our love for the Savior…
Many years ago, ona car one day, a number of high schoolgirls were
laughing and chatting. A woman with a heavy veil over her face boarded the
car, and as she goton the wind blew the veil aside and one could see that she
had a terribly scarredface;it had evidently been badly burned. It looked
horrible and one of these girls exclaimed, “Oh, look at that fright!” Another of
the girls seeing who it was about whom they were speaking wheeledaround
and turned to the other in flaming angerand said, “How dare you speak of
my beautiful mother in that way?”
“Oh, I am so sorry, I didn’t think what I was saying. I did not mean to say
anything unkind of your mother, I did not know it was your mother.”
“Yes, it is,” the other replied, “and her face is the most beautiful thing about
her to me. Mother left me in my little crib when a small child and went to a
store to get something. When she came back the house was on fire, and my
mother fought her way through the fire and flames and wrapped me all up so
that the flames could not reachme; but when she got outside againshe fell
down burned terribly, but I was safe. And whenever I look at her I think what
a beautiful mother I have.”
They say beauty is only skin deep. Moralbeauty goes to the depths of the soul
(From Studies on Book One of the Psalms)

Comment: And even as this heroic mother was scarredfor life, our great
Redeemeris scarredfor eternity, as His hands, feetand side bear the scars of
His wounds for us on Calvary's Cross!May this truth motivate a deep,
abiding love for Him, a love that in turn motivates passionate obedience to
Him! (Jn 14:15, 21, 23, 24, 15:10, 1Jn5:3) John describes his heavenly vision
of Christ this way "And I saw betweenthe throne (with the four living
creatures)and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain… " (Rev 5:6-note) The
verb "slain" is in the perfecttense describing a past completed event (wounds
on the Cross)with continuing, abiding (permanent) effects (scars foreverand
ever). The Lamb's scars are His marks of covenantas it were (cp Isa 49:16,
Mal 3:1 - see Oneness ofCovenant-Scar& Covenant), and as such are our
assurance thatwe are forever safe and savedin Him. If you believe you can
lose your salvation, you may as wellbelieve John's recordwas a result of his
poor vision. Once saved, always saved. But be careful - you want to be certain
that you are truly saved by grace through faith, that you have truly been
transferred from darkness into light, that you truly are a new creationin
Christ (2Cor5:17-note)-- How canyou tell? New behavior. New desires. (cp
2Peter1:10, 11-note, cp 2Cor13:5-note, cp Mt 7:21-note, Mt 7:22,23-note).
IN HIS BODY ON THE CROSS:en to somati autou epi to xulon:
Dt 21:22,23;Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29;Gal 3:13
1 Peter2 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
1 Peter2:24-25 The Meaning Of The Cross - Steven Cole
1 Peter2:24-25 The Suffering Jesus:Our Substitute and Shepherd - John
MacArthur
1 Peter2:24-25 The Suffering Jesus:Our Substitute & Shepherd - Study
Guide (see dropdown) - John MacArthur
CHRIST CRUCIFIED
IN OUR PLACE
Moses records the OT teaching regarding "the tree"…

And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and
you hang him on a tree, his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you
shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursedof
God), so that you do not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you
as an inheritance. (Dt 21:22,23)
Paul quotes in part from Moses declaring thaton the Cross…
Christ redeemedus from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us--
for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE"--
(Galatians 3:13)
Take up thy cross and follow on,
Nor think till death to lay it down,
For only he who bears the cross
May hope to wearthe glorious crown. --Everest
Christ showedHis love by dying for us;
we show our love by living for Him.
Cross (3586)(xulon/xylon from xuo = to scrape)is literally woodand refers to
anything made of wood, including a tree or other woodenarticle or substance.
In Acts 5:30, 10:39, 13:29, 1Pe 2:24 and Gal 3:13 xulon refers to the old
rugged Cross. The NT idea of xulon/xylon as a cross is relatedto
Deuteronomy 21 which emphasizes the shame that befalls the one who is
exposedand punished in such a way.
If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you
hang him on a tree (Lxx = xulon) his corpse shall not hang all night on the
tree (Lxx = xulon), but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who
is hanged is accursedofGod), so that you do not defile your land which the
LORD your God gives you as an inheritance.(Deut. 21:22,23)

Later Paul in his letter to the Galatians would add a "commentary" on the
"tree" explaining that Christ became a "curse" in our place. In other words,
Christ became a curse that we might be blessed!Hallelujah, O what a Savior!
Christ redeemedus from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us–
for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE
(xulon, quoting Dt 21:22)”– (Gal 3:13+)
Richards records that "In the Roman world the cross was usedto execute only
slaves and foreigners. Those with Roman citizenship were protected from the
shame and the pain associatedwith crucifixion. As practiced by the Romans,
crucifixion involved either tying or nailing the convictedperson to a
crossbeam, which was attachedto the stauros (4716)("pole"). The cross might
be in the form of a T or, as it is more traditionally represented, as a t. Death
came slowly to a crucified person, through exhaustion or by suffocation. And
it came with greatpain. Deathby crucifixion was also considereda great
disgrace. It is the theologicalimplications of Jesus'crucifixion, however, that
are of most concernto the Christian (Richards, L O: Expository Dictionaryof
Bible Words: Regenc)
BDAG says xylon is (1) "woodas a plant substance in unmanufactured form",
then an (2) "objectmade of word" (pole = Nu 21:8, club = Mt 26:47, 55, Mk
14:43, 48, Lk 22:52, stocks (Job33:11, Ac 16:24), a woodenstructure used for
crucifixion (cf OT passagesreferring to hanging or impalement of a criminal’s
corpse on a post = Ge 40:19, Dt 21:22, 23, Josh10:26)and finally (3) a "tree"
(Ge 1:29, 2:9, 3:1ff, Is 14:8, Eccl2:5, Lk 23:31, tree of life = Re 2:7; 22:2, 14,
19)
Liddell-Scott says xulon/xylon means "woodcut and ready for use, firewood,
timber, Homer; ship-timber; a piece of wood, a post; a perch; a stick, cudgel,
club" (2) "a collarof wood, put on the neck of the prisoner; also stocks, for
the feet", (3) "a plank or beam to which malefactors were bound, the Cross";
(4) "a money changer's table" (5) "oflive wood, a tree".
TDNT "Figurativelyxylon is an “unfeeling” person. The LXX often uses xyla
for trees, but also has xylon for wood, used for cultic or secularpurposes.

NIDNTT…
The word now normally translated as cross denotes in Greek an instrument of
torture and execution. It has gained a specialsignificance through its historic
connectionwith the death of Jesus. Two words are used for the instrument of
executionon which Jesus died: xylon (wood, tree) and stauros (stake, cross).
xylon meant originally wood, and is often used in the NT of woodas a
material. Through its connectionwith Deut. 21:23 (quoted in Gal. 3:13,
“Cursedbe everyone who hangs on a tree”), xylon could virtually be treated
as synonymous with stauros. In the gospels stauros is usedin the accounts of
the executionof Jesus, and in the theologicalreflectionofthe Pauline
literature it symbolizes the sufferings and death of Christ
Xylon is commonly used in classic literature for woodor timber, as a building
material, fuel, and material from which utensils and cultic objects are made
(e.g. Dem. 45, 33;Hesiod, Works 808). Cudgels, clubs, instruments of torture
and punishment in the form of sticks, blocks and collars for slaves, lunatics
and prisoners were called xylon (Hdt., 2, 63;4, 180). xylon as a tree is rare. It
is first attestedin Hdt., 3:46; 7, 65; Euripides, Cyclops, 572;and Xen., Anab.,
6, 4, 5.
In the Septuagint - Wood(xylon) is mentioned in the LXX as fuel (Gen. 22:3),
building material (Gen. 6:14; Exod. 25:10ff.;1 Ki. 6:15), and as an instrument
of torture (stocks, Job33:11, RSV). The meaning tree is more common than in
secularGk. xylon is used to denote fruit trees, cypresses andtrees planted by
running water(Ge 1:11; Isa. 14:8; Ps. 1:3)…
Disobedience turns a createdthing into a god. The tree becomes a cultic object
and the carving an idol. The prophets condemned Israel’s apostasyas
“adultery with stone and tree” (Jer. 3:9; cf. Is 40:20; 44:13, 14, 15.;Ezek.
20:32).
The concepts ofthe tree and the curse and the “tree of life” are theologically
more central (in the NT)… The picture of the tree of life reappears in Rev.
2:7. What was forbidden to Adam and Eve is given in the new creation. In the
new Jerusalemon either side of the river of life grows “the tree of life with its
twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit eachmonth; and the leaves of the tree

were for the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:2). The righteous alone have
access to the tree of life (Rev. 22:14, 19). The living tree symbolizes life, and
presents a contrastwith the cross as the woodeninstrument of death. But the
significance ofthe cross is retained. It is the place where God bears and
overcomes suffering and death, so that he may give life to a world overcome
by sin and death (Rev. 22:14). (Brown, Colin, Editor. New International
Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986. Zondervanor Computer version)
Gilbrant - ClassicalGreek uses xulon to denote a “tree,” a “piece of wood,”
“timber,” etc. As a single piece of woodxulon may representa variety of
forms: “beam, post, or log” (Liddell-Scott). Moreover, xulon can refer to
anything made of wood, including objects of punishment, such as “stocks,
clubs, gallows, stakes,”etc. A living “tree” is xulon, and metaphorically xulon
recalls the inanimate restrictions of woodor its properties of strength
(although in a negative sense, “stubbornness”)(ibid.).In the Septuagint xulon
most often translates ‛ēts, “tree, wood.” This can be a living “tree” that bears
fruit (e.g., Genesis 1:29;Exodus 10:12,15), or“wood” that has been fashioned
for constructionpurposes (e.g., Exodus 26:26; 27:1,6;Deuteronomy 20:20). A
particularly interesting use of xulon (often plural) is as a symbol of idolatry.
Thus we read of gods of woodand stone which are worshiped and served
(Deuteronomy 28:36,64;29:17). Also important religious symbols in the
religion of Israelare the “tree of life” (Genesis 2:9; 3:22,24)and the “tree of
the knowledge ofgoodand evil” (Genesis 2:9,17). It is difficult to delineate
preciselybetweenthe two. Apparently the “tree of life” continued to play a
role in Israel’s religion. We find allusions to it in Proverbs 3:18; 11:30;13:12;
15:4 in canonicalmaterial and in 4 Maccabees18:16 in the Apocrypha. In
other Jewishwritings outside of the canon it is also mentioned in 1 Enoch
24:4ff.; 2 Enoch 8:3ff.; 4 Esdras 8:52 (cf. Smick, “Tree of Knowledge, Tree of
Life,” Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, 4:901-903). We observe the
recurrence of the interestin the “tree of life” in the New Testament
(Revelation2:7; 22:2,14,19). (Complete BiblicalLibrary Greek-English
Dictionary)
Ralph Earle writes that "The word xylon has quite a history of usage. It first
meant "wood" (1Cor. 3:12; Rev18:12). Then it meant a piece of wood, and so
anything made of wood. It was used for a staff or club (Mt. 26:47, 55;Mk

14:43, 48;Lk 22:52). Only in Acts 16:24 in the NT is it used for wooden
"stocks,"into which prisoners' feetwere fastened. It is used a number of
times in the NT for the cross onwhich Jesus was hanged. Finally, in late
writers, it came to be used for a "tree," as we find in Luke 23:31. In
Revelation(Re 2:7; 22:2, 14, 19)it is used for the "tree" oflife. (Earle, R.
Word Meanings in the New Testament)
Xulon- 20xin 18v- Matt 26:47, 55; Mark 14:43, 48;Luke 22:52;23:31; Acts
5:30; 10:39; 13:29;16:24;1 Cor3:12; Gal 3:13; 1 Pet 2:24; Rev 2:7; 18:12;
22:2, 14, 19. NAS - clubs(5), cross(4), stocks(1), tree(7), wood(3).
Matthew 26:47 While He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve,
came up accompaniedby a large crowdwith swords and clubs, who came
from the chief priests and elders of the people.
Matthew 26:55 At that time Jesus saidto the crowds, "Have you come out
with swords and clubs to arrestMe as you would againsta robber? Every day
I used to sit in the temple teaching and you did not seize Me.
Mark 14:43 Immediately while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve,
came up accompaniedby a crowd with swords and clubs, who were from the
chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
Mark 14:48 And Jesus said to them, "Have you come out with swords and
clubs to arrest Me, as you would againsta robber?
Luke 22:52 Then Jesus saidto the chief priests and officers of the temple and
elders who had come againstHim, "Have you come out with swords and clubs
as you would againsta robber?
Luke 23:31 "Forif they do these things when the tree is green, what will
happen when it is dry?"
Acts 5:30 "The God of our fathers raisedup Jesus, whom you had put to
death by hanging Him on a cross.
Acts 10:39 "We are witnessesofall the things He did both in the land of the
Jews and in Jerusalem. Theyalso put Him to death by hanging Him on a
cross.

Acts 13:29 "When they had carriedout all that was written concerning Him,
they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb.
Acts 16:24 and he, having receivedsuch a command, threw them into the
inner prison and fastenedtheir feetin the stocks.
1Corinthians 3:12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver,
precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemedus from the curse of the Law, having become
a curse for us-- for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS
ON A TREE "--
1Peter2:24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we
Revelation2:7 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the
churches. To him who overcomes, Iwill grant to eatof the tree of life which is
in the Paradise ofGod.'
Revelation18:12 cargoesofgold and silver and precious stones and pearls and
fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet, and every kind of citron wood and
every article of ivory and every article made from very costlywoodand
bronze and iron and marble,
Revelation22:2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the
tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and
the leaves ofthe tree were for the healing of the nations.
Revelation22:14 Blessedare those who wash their robes, so that they may
have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.
Revelation22:19 and if anyone takes awayfrom the words of the book of this
prophecy, God will take awayhis part from the tree of life and from the holy
city, which are written in this book.
Xulon - 275xin the non-apocryphal Septuagint -
Ge 1:11f, 29; 2:9, 16f; 3:1ff, 6, 8, 11f, 17, 22, 24; 6:14; 22:3, 6f, 9; 40:19;Ex
7:19; 9:25; 10:5, 12, 15;15:25; 25:5, 10, 13, 28; 26:15, 26;27:1, 6; 30:1, 5;

31:5; 35:7, 24, 33;Lev 1:7f, 12, 17; 3:5; 4:12; 6:5; 14:4, 6, 45, 49, 51f; 19:23;
23:40;26:4, 20; Num 15:32f;19:6; Deut 4:28; 10:3; 16:21;19:5; 20:19f;
21:22f; 28:36, 64;29:16; Josh8:29; 10:26f;Judg 6:26; 9:8ff, 48; 1 Sam 6:14; 2
Sam 5:11; 21:19; 23:7, 21; 24:22;1 Kgs 5:13, 20, 22, 32;6:10, 15, 31ff; 9:11;
10:11f; 14:23;15:22; 17:10;18:23; 2 Kgs 3:19, 25;6:4, 6; 12:12f; 16:4; 17:10;
19:18;22:6; 1 Chr 14:1; 16:32f;20:5; 21:23; 22:4, 14f; 29:2; 2 Chr 2:7ff, 13,
15; 3:5, 10;7:13; 9:10f; 16:6; 28:4; 34:11; Ezra 3:7; 5:8; 6:11; Neh 2:8; 8:15;
9:25; 10:36, 38; Esth 5:14; 6:4; 7:9f; 8:7; Ps 1:3; 73:6; 95:12;103:16;104:33;
148:9;Prov 3:18; 12:4; 25:20;26:20f; Eccl2:5f; 10:9; 11:3; Song 2:3; 3:9;
4:14; Job 24:20;30:4; 33:11; 41:19;Joel1:12, 19;2:22; Hab 2:11, 19;Hag 1:8;
2:19; Zech 5:4; 12:6; Isa 7:2, 4, 19;10:15; 14:8; 30:33;34:13; 37:19;40:20;
44:13f, 23; 45:20;55:12; 56:3; 60:17;65:22; Jer2:20, 27;3:6, 9, 13; 5:14; 6:6;
7:18, 20;10:3; 11:19; 17:8; 26:22;38:12; Lam 4:8; 5:4, 13;Ezek 15:2f, 6;
17:24;20:28, 32; 21:3, 15;24:10; 26:12;31:4f, 8f, 14ff, 18; 34:27;36:30; 39:10;
41:25;47:12
This greatdoctrine of the substitutionary atonement is the heart of the gospel.
Actual atonement, sufficient for the sins of the whole world, was made for all
who would ever believe, namely, the elect.
RelatedResources:
Was Jesus crucifiedon a cross, pole, orstake?
What is the meaning of the cross?
Why is there a curse associatedwith hanging on a tree?
What is the curse of the law?
QUOTATIONS ON
THE CROSS
When Jesus said, “If you are going to follow me, you have to take up a cross,”
it was the same as saying, “Come and bring your electric chair with you. Take
up the gas chamber and follow me.” He did not have a beautiful gold cross in
mind—the cross ona church steeple or on the front of your Bible. Jesus had
in mind a place of execution. - Billy Graham in “The Offense of the Cross”

What our Lord said about cross-bearing and obedience is not in fine type. It is
in bold print on the face of the contract. - Vance Havner
Jesus was crucified, not in a cathedralbetweentwo candles, but on a cross
betweentwo thieves. - George F. MacLeod
The cross cannotbe defeated, for it is defeat. - G K. Chesterton
There are no crown-wearers in heavenwho were not cross-bearers here
below. - C H Spurgeon
We need men of the cross, with the messageofthe cross, bearing the marks of
the cross. -Vance Havner
Christ’s cross is such a burden as sails are to a ship or wings to a bird. -
Samuel Rutherford
He came to pay a debt He didn’t owe because we oweda debt we couldn’t pay.
- AnonymousThe old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them. The old
cross condemned;the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyedconfidence
in the flesh; the new cross encouragesit. - A.W. Tozer
All heavenis interested in the cross ofChrist, all hell is terribly afraid of it,
while men are the only beings who more or less ignore its meaning. - Oswald
Chambers
The figure of the Crucified invalidates all thought which takes successforits
standard. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The cross is the lightning rod of grace that short-circuits God’s wrath to
Christ so that only the light of His love remains for believers. - A. W. Tozerin
“The Old Cross and the New.”
The Biblical Evangelistwarns about a drift in modern day understanding of
the significance ofthe Cross in the life of believers…
"The New Cross" - From this new cross has sprung a new philosophy of the
Christian life; and from that new philosophy has come a new evangelical
technique—a new type of meeting and new type of preaching. This new

evangelismemploys the same language as ofthe old, but its content is not the
same, and the emphasis not as before.
The new cross encouragesa new and entirely different evangelistic approach.
The evangelistdoes not demand abnegationof the old life before a new life
can be received. He preaches not contrasts but similarities. He seeksto key
into the public view the same thing the world does, only a higher level.
Whateverthe sin-mad world happens to be clamoring after at the moment is
cleverly shownto be the very thing the gospeloffers, only the religious
product is better.
The new cross does notslay the sinner; it re-directs him. It gears him to a
cleanerand jollier way of living, and saves his self-respect… The Christian
messageis slanted in the direction of the current vogue in order to make it
acceptable to the public.
The philosophy back of this kind of thing may be sincere, but its sincerity does
not save it from being false. It is false because it is blind. It misses completely
the whole meaning of the cross.
The old cross is a symbol of DEATH. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a
human being. The man in Romantimes who took the cross and started down
the road has already said goodbye to his friends. He was not coming back. He
was not going out to have his life re-directed; he was going out to have it
ended. The cross made no compromise; modified nothing; spared nothing. It
slew all of the man completely, and for good. It did not try to keepon good
terms with the victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its
work, the man was no more.
The race of Adam is under the death sentence. There is no commutation and
no escape. Godcannotapprove any fruits of sin, howeverinnocent they may
appear, or beautiful to the eyes of men. God salvages the individual by
liquidating him, and then raising him againto newness oflife.
That evangelismwhich draws friendly parallels betweenthe ways of God and
the ways of men is false to the Bible and cruel to the souls of its hearers. The

faith of Christ does not parallel the world; it intersects it. In coming to Christ
we do not bring our old life to a higher plane; we leave it at the cross…
We, who preach the gospel, must not think of ourselves as public relations
agents sentto establishgoodwill betweenChrist and the world. We must not
imagine ourselves commissionedto make Christ acceptable to big business,
the press, or the world of sports, or modern entertainment. We are not
diplomats, but prophets; and our messageis not a compromise, but an
ultimatum.” (The Biblical Evangelist, 11-1-91, p11)
Easton's Bible Dictionary entry on Cross…
in the New Testamentthe instrument of crucifixion, and hence used for the
crucifixion of Christ itself (Eph. 2:16; Heb. 12:2; 1 Cor. 1:17, 18; Gal. 5:11;
6:12, 14;Phil. 3:18). The word is also usedto denote any severe affliction or
trial (Matt. 10:38;16:24; Mark 8:34; 10:21).
The forms in which the cross is representedare these:
1. The crux simplex (I), a "single piece without transom."
2. The crux decussata (X), or St. Andrew's cross.
3. The crux commissa (T), or St. Anthony's cross.
4. The crux immissa (t), or Latin cross, whichwas the kind of cross onwhich
our Saviour died. Above our Lord's head, on the projecting beam, was placed
the "title."
After the conversion, so-called, ofConstantine the Great(B.C. 313), the cross
first came into use as an emblem of Christianity. He pretended at a critical
moment that he saw a flaming cross in the heavens bearing the inscription,
"In hoc signo vinces", i.e., By this sign thou shalt conquer, and that on the
following night Christ himself appearedand ordered him to take for his
standard the sign of this cross. In this form a new standard, called the
Labarum, was accordinglymade, and borne by the Roman armies. It
remained the standard of the Roman army till the downfall of the Western
empire. It bore the embroidered monogram of Christ, i.e., the first two Greek
letters of his name, X and P (chi and rho), with the Alpha and Omega.

Smith's Bible Dictionary…
As the emblem of a slave's death and a murderer's punishment, the cross was
naturally lookedupon with the profoundest horror. But after the celebrated
vision of Constantine, he ordered his friends to make a cross of gold and gems,
such as he had seen, and "the towering eagles resignedthe flags unto the
cross,"and "the tree of cursing and shame" "satupon the sceptres and was
engravedand signed on the foreheads ofkings." (Jer. Taylor, "Life of
Christ," iii., xv. 1.) The new standards were called by the name Labarum, and
may be seenon the coins of Constantine the Great and his nearersuccessors.
The Latin cross on which our Lord suffered, was int he form of the letter T,
and had an upright above the cross-bar, onwhich the "title" was placed.
There was a projection from the central stem, on which the body of the
sufferer rested. This was to prevent the weight of the body from tearing away
the hands. Whether there was also a support to the feet (as we see in pictures)
is doubtful. An inscription was generallyplaced above the criminal's head,
briefly expressing his guilt, and generally was carriedbefore him. It was
coveredwith white gypsum, and the letter were black.
ISBE extracts…
CROSS - (stauros, "a cross,""the crucifixion"; skolops, "a stake," "a pole"):
The name is not found in the Old Testament. It is derived from the Latin
word crux. In the Greek language itis stauros, but sometimes we find the
word skolops usedas its Greek equivalent. The historical writers, who
transferred the events of Roman history into the Greek language, make use of
these two words. No word in human language has become more universally
known than this word, and that because allof the history of the world since
the death of Christ has been measured by the distance which separates events
from it. The symbol and principal content of the Christian religion and of
Christian civilization is found in this one word.
The suffering implied in crucifixion naturally made the cross a symbol of
pain, distress and burden-bearing. Thus Jesus used it Himself (Mt 10:38;
16:24). In Paulinic literature the cross stands for the preaching of the doctrine
of the Atonement (1Cor1:18; Gal 6:14; Phil 3:18; Col 1:20). It expressesthe

bond of unity betweenthe Jew and the Gentile (Eph 2:16), and betweenthe
believer and Christ, and also symbolizes sanctification(Gal 5:24). The cross is
the centerand circumference of the preaching of the apostles andof the life of
the New Testamentchurch.
Crucifixion: As an instrument of death the cross was detestedby the Jews.
"Cursedis everyone that hangeth on a tree" (Gal 3:13; compare Dt 21:23),
hence, it became a stumbling-block to them, for how could one accursedof
God be their Messiah? Norwas the cross differently consideredby the
Romans. "Let the very name of the cross be far awaynot only from the body
of a Roman citizen, but even from his thoughts, his eyes, his ears" (Cicero Pro
Rabirio 5). The earliestmode of crucifixion seems to have been by impalation,
the transfixion of the body lengthwise and crosswiseby sharpenedstakes, a
mode of death-punishment still well known among the Mongolrace. The usual
mode of crucifixion was familiar to the Greeks,the Romans, the Egyptians,
Persians and Babylonians (Thuc. 1, 110;Herod. iii.125, 159). Alexander the
Greatexecutedtwo thousand Tyrian captives in this way, after the fall of the
city. The Jews receivedthis form of punishment from the Syrians and Romans
(Ant., XII, v, 4; XX, vi, 2; BJ, I, iv, 6). The Roman citizen was exempt from
this form of death, it being consideredthe death of a slave (Cicero In Verrem
i. 5, 66; Quint. viii.4). The punishment was meted out for such crimes as
treason, desertionin the face of the enemy, robbery, piracy, assassination,
sedition, etc. It continued in vogue in the Roman empire till the day of
Constantine, when it was abolishedas an insult to Christianity. Among the
Romans crucifixion was precededby scourging, undoubtedly to hasten
impending death. The victim then bore his own cross, orat leastthe upright
beam, to the place of execution. This in itself proves that the structure was less
ponderous than is commonly supposed. When he was tied to the cross nothing
further was done and he was left to die from starvation. If he was nailed to the
cross, atleastin Judea, a stupefying drink was given him to deaden the agony.
The number of nails used seems to have been indeterminate. A tablet, on
which the feet restedor on which the body was partly supported, seems to
have been a part of the cross to keepthe wounds from tearing through the
transfixed members (Iren., Adv. haer., ii.42). The suffering of death by
crucifixion was intense, especiallyin hot climates. Severe localinflammation,

coupled with an insignificant bleeding of the jaggedwounds, produced
traumatic fever, which was aggravatedthe exposure to the heat of the sun, the
strained of the body and insufferable thirst. The swelledabout the rough nails
and the torn laceratedtendons and nerves causedexcruciating agony. The
arteries of the head and stomach were surchargedwith blood and a terrific
throbbing headache ensued. The mind was confusedand filled with anxiety
and dread foreboding. The victim of crucifixion literally died a thousand
deaths. Tetanus not rarely supervened and the rigors of the attending
convulsions would tearat the wounds and add to the burden of pain, till at
last the bodily forces were exhaustedand the victim sank to unconsciousness
and death. The sufferings were so frightful that "even among the raging
passions ofwar pity was sometimes excited" (BJ, V, xi, 1). The length of this
agonywas wholly determined by the constitution of the victim, but death
rarely ensued before thirty-six hours had elapsed. Instances are on recordof
victims of the cross who survived their terrible injuries when takendown
from the cross aftermany hours of suspension(Josephus, Vita, 75). Death was
sometimes hastenedby breaking the legs of the victims and by a hard blow
delivered under the armpit before crucifixion. Crura fracta was a well-known
Roman term (Cicero Phil. xiii.12). The sudden death of Christ evidently was a
matter of astonishment(Mk 15:44). The peculiar symptoms mentioned by
John (Jn 19:34)would seemto point to a rupture of the heart, of which the
Saviour died, independent of the cross itself, or perhaps hastenedby its agony.
F B Meyer writes that…
He came into the sinner’s world. — Himself sinless, he took our nature.
Accustomedto the pure atmosphere of his own bright home, He allowedhis
ears and eyes to be assailedby sounds and sight; beneath which they must
have smarted. His blessedfeet trod among the dust of death, the mounds of
graves, and the traps that men laid to catch Him. And all for love of us.
He lived the sinner’s life. — Nota sinner’s life, but the ordinary life of men.
He wrought in the carpenter’s shed; attended wedding festivals, and
heartrending funerals; ate, and drank, and slept. He sailedin the boat with his

Jesus was the shepherd and overseer

Jesus was the shepherd and overseer

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