1 Peter 5:5

Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder. Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another: for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.

Ye younger ... "The reference here is to age, not to official rank. Younger men are to defer to their elders."[22] Despite this view which is quite common among commentators, however, Kelcy observed that "There is no evidence of a transition of thought from one group to another,"[23] therefore construing the passage as a reference to the submission to the congregation's official elders, as mentioned above.

Yea, all of you ... Here there is indeed the transition to a larger group of the whole church, all of whom are commanded to be humble and submissive to others in the giving of loving service to brothers and sisters in Christ.

Gird yourselves with humility to serve one another ...

Gird yourselves... must evidently have been written by Peter in vivid remembrance of that occasion when Jesus himself girded himself with a towel and washed the disciples' feet, even Peter's (John 13:4), and that at a time when not a one of the Twelve consented to do such a thing. In this clause, the Greek word actually means "an apron worn by slaves, which was tied around them when at work, to keep their dress clean."[24] Macknight also defined it as "a frock put over the rest of the clothes,"[25] giving the meaning to be that "humility should be visible over all the other Christian virtues, in our whole behavior."[26]

God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble ... Throughout the holy Scriptures, proud and haughty spirits are condemned. Pride leads the list of all of the sins (Proverbs 6:16-18). This passage echoes the very words of the Saviour (Luke 14:11). Humility is such a wonderful virtue that all of the publican's sins did not destroy him because he had it; and all of the Pharisee's righteousness could not save him because he did not have it (Luke 18:1-14).

[22] Archibald M. Hunter, op. cit., p. 152.

[23] Raymond C. Kelcy, op. cit., p. 101.

[24] B. C. Caffin, op. cit., p. 207.

[25] James Macknight, Macknight on the Epistles, Vol. V (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1969), p. 503.

[26] Ibid.