An Antidote for Anxiety
Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you 1 Peter 5:5-7
Because Peter has just been writing about elders, ‘those who are older’ is more likely a continuing reference to them than to men who happen to be older (but not necessarily elders). So, young men are to be submissive to elders. Why just ‘young men?’ Why not ‘the rest of the church is to be submissive to the elders?’ Probably because back then, like now, ‘young men’ need to be reminded of this more than anyone else. The generation gap isn’t just a recent phenomenon.
‘All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another’ begins a new section. Peter has been writing about the relationship between elders and others in the church. Now he will move to touch on more general relationships that involve everyone. Our verse divisions were introduced by the publisher Stephanus in 1551. (Modern paragraph divisions are decided by each contemporary translator and so vary from translation to translation).
We are to ‘clothe (ourselves) with humility.’ The word ‘clothe’ means ‘to tie around’ as in tying around a servant’s apron. Peter could have been remembering the towel Jesus tied around His waist when He washed the disciples’ feet. No one is exempt; young and old, church officers and non-officers, new Christians and mature believers, ‘all of you.’
Why should we ‘clothe (ourselves) with humility’? Because ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’ (quoting Proverbs 3:34). The humble trust in God but the proud trust in themselves. The humble draw attention to God but the proud draw attention to themselves. The humble give glory to God but the proud seek glory for themselves, and God alone deserves the glory (Revelation 4:11). The verbs in the Proverbs 3:34 scripture are all continuous: God continues to oppose the proud while continuing to give grace to the humble.
Before others we are to ‘clothe (ourselves) with humility.’ Before ‘the mighty hand of God’ we are to ‘humble ourselves.’ We don’t wait for God to do it to us; we do it to ourselves. We give up trusting in ourselves, drawing attention to ourselves and looking for glory. We repent of how we’ve taken God’s glory in the past.
Humbling ourselves is so that ‘he may lift you up in due time.’ On the day of Pentecost Peter preached that the humble Jesus had been exalted by God to His own right hand. When the Chief Shepherd appears, humble believers will be lifted up to share in His glory. Peter doesn’t say when or how this ‘lifting up’ takes place. No doubt he saw a present reality to the promise as well as the obvious future one. Today it might show in increased spiritual blessing, deeper fellowship with Himself, greater ministry responsibility, honour or reward. God knows and it’s in His ‘due time.’
‘Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you’ is a new sentence in most translations but wasn’t for Peter. He wanted his readers to see what ‘humbling themselves’ looked like. Real humility shows by how we ‘cast all (our) anxiety on him.’
A genuine barrier to ‘humbling ourselves’ is wondering where that leaves us. If we treat others as more important than ourselves then who cares for us? God does. That’s why we can treat others as better than ourselves. Under ‘God’s mighty hand’ is God’s mighty heart for His children. He genuinely cares for us.
So casting ‘all your anxiety on him’ is the pathway to humility. It frees us from constant concern about ourselves and helps us be genuinely concerned about the needs of others. ‘Cast’ means to throw something onto someone or something else (Luke 19:35). We actually do something.
Are you anxious about something? Then do what Peter says, ‘Cast all your anxiety on him.’ You can do this ‘because he cares for you.’ This is humility in action. God alone deserves the glory. Hanging onto your anxiety robs Him of displaying His glory in your situation.
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