1 Peter 5:1-2 (KJV)
The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

It has been a focus of mine, this time through my New Testament, to look for the local church in the epistles of the Bible not generally viewed that way:

• Hebrews
• James and now
• 1 Peter

all obviously have a local church element.

This, of course, does not mean they were intended to be used by just one local church. The Epistles to the Corinthians, Ephesians, and even to Titus, Philemon and Timothy were all written to a specific audience. But, under the supervision of God, they have purpose for a much broader audience.

“The elders among you” can easily refer to elders or pastors of various congregations. “Feed the flock of God” requires a local church interpretation. A flock would be specific, local and even limited. Individual flocks might be of various sizes but they would, no doubt, have a finite number.

Our presumptions about the Bible so often cloud our understanding of the Bible. Sometimes, once we have committed to a particular understanding of the Bible, we refuse to see any other interpretation for what that might do to our understanding of other spiritual disciplines.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4400 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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1 Peter 5:1-2 (KJV) Local Church Element

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