Submission: The church is to maintain order (1 Cor. 14:40), and the congregation is to submit to the leadership which God has placed over them.[1] Peter first exhorts a specific population of the church most prone to insubordination: younger people. Younger people often have the greatest hubris and assert superiority over their elders. But this is not to say that humility is irrelevant to the rest. We all are to pursue humility (Phil. 2:3-4).

Humility: All the church members are to clothe themselves with humility toward one another. Men and women, older and younger, master and slave, rich and poor, everyone is to exhibit humility in their interactions with one another. Peter points out our greatest motivation for humility: God’s grace. It is to the humble that God gives grace; the proud face His opposition. We put our pride to death and pursue humility, because we want the grace of God in our lives. No sensible person wants the opposite; nothing is more terrifying than to have the omnipotent God as your adversary.[2] Well, how can we learn to be humble? We start with vertical humility. We first accept in our hearts that God is big and we are small. We humbly recognize His supreme power and submit ourselves under “His mighty hand.” We also stop taking matters into our own hands; we trust God to decide when and how He will exalt us. As Peter points out, the place where we exercise this humility is prayer. We cast all our anxiety on God, and so we live dependent on His care for us.[3]

[1] The entire church is called to submit to their leadership (Heb. 13:17) as the Lord has ordained them to this oversight over their respective flock/church (Acts 20:28; 1 Thess. 5:12-13; 1 Pet. 5:3).

[2] Cf. Prov. 6:16-17; Isa. 2:11-12, 17; Heb. 10:26-31. Cf. also Ex. 10:3; Josh. 7:1-5; Isa. 10:12-16; Dan. 4:30-37.

[3] The mode of life for believers has always been to constantly depend on God. Cf. Ps. 27:14; 34:15; 37:5; 46:1-2, 10; 55:22; 56:3-4; 142:5; Matt. 6:25-34; Lk 12:32; Phil. 4:6; Heb. 13:5-6.