1 Peter 5:1-4

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

² Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;

³ nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;

⁴ and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

Verse one — The Greek word “elder” was used as a designation of a man advanced in years. It became one of the official designations of an officer in a local church who in other places is called an overseer or a bishop (Acts 20:17, 28; 1 Timothy 3:2), and whose duty it was to exercise spiritual oversight and authority over its members. … The word “witness” … does not refer to the act of seeing, but to the act of testifying to what one has seen. — Wuest, page 124.

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The flock belonged to God (v.2). It was among, not beneath the under-shepherds. It was God’s great heritage. They were not lords over God’s heritage, but only examples. — Williams, page 1004.

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examples (v.3) = literally “a print left as an impression after a blow has been struck, a pattern or model of something else.” Under-shepherds should be living patterns or models of the Chief Shepherd, the Lord Jesus. — Wuest, page 125.

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Verse four — The Greek word translated “crown” referred to a crown of victory in the Greek athletic games, a crown given for military valor, or a festal garland worn at marriage feasts. … “Fadeth” is a participle in the Greek describing this crown. The word in its noun form was the name of a flower that did not wither or fade, and which when picked, revived in water. The crown given to victors in either athletics or war was made of oak or ivy leaves, the festal garlands of the marriage feast, of flowers. These would wither and fade. But the victor’s crown which the Lord Jesus will give His faithful under-shepherds will never wither or fade. — Wuest, page 126.