First Peter 5:6–7 is bursting with hope and comfort. When I am tempted to worry, I often meditate on it. And when I come alongside people who are full of anxieties, I invariably share it with them.
But understanding why that passage is filled with hope and comfort requires a mini-grammar lesson: What is the relationship between humility and anxiety?
Cast or Casting?
Peter commands, “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” (NIV, emphasis added).
In English those are two sentences with two parallel commands:
- Humble yourselves . . . .
- Cast all your anxiety on him . . . .
But in the original Greek, it is one sentence with only one command and a participle: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (ESV, emphasis added).
The NIV says, “Cast.” The ESV says, “casting.” Why the difference?
Read the rest of Andy’s post at Desiring God.