1 Peter 5:5

νεώτεροι, the younger members of each Church were perhaps more or less formally banded together on the model of the σύνοδοι τῶν νέων, which are mentioned in inscriptions as existing distinct from the Ephebi in Greek cities, especially in Asia Minor (Ziebarth Die Griechische Vereine, 111 115). Compare the modern Guilds and Associations of Young Men. In 1 Timothy 4:1, these natural divisions of elders and youngers are also recognised. πάντες δὲ … Elders must serve; youngers submit. May all be lowly-minded towards one another there is no need to add detailed commands. ἐγκομβώσασθε is explained by Oecumenius as ἐνειλήσασθε περιβάλεσθε (wrap yourselves in, put round you), so the command corresponds to ἐνδύσασθε … ταπεινοφροσύνην of Colossians 3:12. But the choice of this unique word must have some justification in associations which can only be reconstructed by conjecture. The lexicographers (Hesychius, Sindas, etc.) give κόμβος κόσυμβος and ἐγκόμβωμα as synonyms. Pollux explains ἐγκομβ. as the apron worn by slaves to protect their tunic; so Longus, Pastoralia, ii. 35 f., in “casting his apron, naked he started to run like a fawn”. Photius (Epistle 156) takes George Metropolitan of Nicomedia to task for his suggestion that it was a barbarous word: “You ought to have remembered Epicharmus and Apollodoru … the former uses it frequently and the latter in the ‘Runaway' (a comedy) says τὴν ἐπωμίαν πτύξασα διπλῆν ἄνωθεν ἀνεκομβωσάμην.” But the LXX of Isaiah 3:18 has τοὺς κοσύμβους = front-bands and Symmachus τὰ ἐγκομβώματα in Isaiah 3:20 for bands or sashes. Peter is therefore probably indebted again to this passage and says gird yourselves with the humility which is the proper ornament of women. If the word be taken in this sense a reference to John 13:4 ff., Taking a napkin He girded Himself, may be reasonably assumed θεὸς … χάριν = Proverbs 3:34, LXX (θεός being put for κύριος, which to a Christian reader meant Christ); the Hebrew text gives scoffers he scoffs at but to the humble he shows favour. The same quotation is employed in similar context by St. James (1 Peter 4:6); the devil (see below) is the typical scoffer.