1 Peter 2:21
in 1 Peter 2For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps:
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps:
KJV
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
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This verse in 1 Peter 2
Commentary
15 notes on this verseLet us then continually persevere in our hope, and the earnest of our righteousness, which is Jesus Christ, "who bore our sins in His own body on the tree," "who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth," but endured all things for us, that we might live in Him. Let us then be imitators of His patience; and if we suffer for His name's sake, let us glorify Him. For He has set us this example in Himself, and we have believed that such is the case.
This site's exposition
For to this you were called
The servants' case becomes every believer's calling, because Christ suffered, leaving you an example. The word, hupogrammos, is a child's writing copy traced stroke by stroke, and verses 22 to 25 trace the path from Isaiah 53.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
Christ taught you to suffer, and he did so by suffering himself. Words would not be enough unless example were added. And how, precisely did he teach us, brothers and sisters? He was hanging on the cross, and the Jews were raging … he was hanging there, yet at the same time he was healing them.
Whosoever hates, says he, his brother, walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth. For he goeth unconsciously to Gehenna, in ignorance and blindness; he is hurrying into punishment, departing, that is, from the light of Christ, who warns and says, "I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." But he follows Christ who stands in His precepts, who walks in the way of His teaching, who follows His footsteps and His ways, who imitates that which Christ both did and taught; in accordance with what Peter also exhorts and warns, saying, "Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example that ye should follow His steps."
The praises referred to here are those of a person who is good, not by nature but by grace, and who invites us to join him in praising the One who is good by nature.
In this sentence the apostle Peter appears to have realized that Christ suffered for those who follow in his footsteps and that Christ's passion profits none but those who follow in his footsteps.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Having told servants to put up with unjust suffering, which was a bitter pill for them to swallow, Peter now comforts them by referring to Christ's longsuffering. It is as if he were saying: "I am not trying to persuade you to put up with …
8 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church3 voices
Leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. An example of tribulations, not of delights, of insults, scourges, pains, reproaches, thorns, the cross, wounds, death. In the psalm it is written: "Because of the words of your lips I have kept hard …
The word "fear" is used in various meanings. Fear is called, first, conscious fear; the apostle now calls it conscience; it is also called reverence. Fear is called, second, passionate fear, experienced in the face of impending punishment; this fear is observed even in animals. …
A commentator
BonaventureDisputed Questions on Evangelical Perfection, Question 2 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Likewise, Christ was most imitable according to the state He had on the cross, according to that passage of 1 Peter 2: Christ suffered for us, leaving an example, that you should follow His steps; but on the cross He was entirely naked; whence Jerome …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
For even hereunto were ye called,.... Both to well doing, of which none but those who are called with an holy and effectual calling are capable; and which they are fitted for, and are under obligation to perform, and to suffer for so doing, which they must always expect, and to patience in suffering for it, which highly becomes them.
Secondly, Jesus Christ suffered for you, or for us; it was not the Father that suffered, but he whom the Father sanctified, and sent into the world, for that end; it was both the body and soul of Christ that suffered, and he suffered for us, in our stead and for our good,
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
For even hereunto were ye called - Such a spirit is required by the very nature of your Christian vocation; you were called into the church in order that you might evince it. See the notes at 1Th 3:3. Because Christ also suffered for us - Margin, “some read, for you.” The latest editions of the Greek Testament adopt the reading “for you.” The sense, however, is not essentially varied.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Christ is an example to servants, even as He was once in "the form of a servant." called--with a heavenly calling, though slaves. for us--His dying for us is the highest exemplification of "doing well" (1Pe 2:20). Ye must patiently suffer, being innocent, as Christ also innocently suffered (not for Himself, but for us).
Hereunto were ye called - Ye were called to a state of suffering when ye were called to be Christians; for the world cannot endure the yoke of Christ, and they that will live godly in Christ must suffer persecution; they will meet with it in one form or other. Christ also suffered for us - And left us the example of his meekness and gentleness; for when he was reviled, he reviled not again. Ye cannot expect to fare better than your master; imitate his example, and his Spirit shall comfort and sustain you. Many MSS. and most of the versions, instead of Christ also suffered for Us, leaving Us, etc., read, suffered for You, leaving You, etc. This reading, which I think is genuine, is noticed in the margin.
The words behind it
18 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| εἰς | eis | To this | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| τοῦτο | touto | hereunto | G3778 → | 1381 times |
| γὰρ | gar | for | G1063 → | 1039 times |
| ἐκλήθητε, | eklethete | you have been called, | G2564 → | 147 times |
| ὅτι | hoti | because | G3754 → | 1292 times |
| καὶ | kai | also | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| Χριστὸς | christos | Christ | G5547 → | 523 times |
| ἔπαθεν | epathen | suffered | G3958 → | 42 times |
| ὑπὲρ | huper | for | G5228 → | |
| ὑμῶν, | humon | for you, | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| ὑμῖν | humin | you | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| ὑπολιμπάνων | hupolimpanon | leaving | G5277 → | |
| ὑπογραμμὸν | hupogrammon | an example | G5261 → | |
| ἵνα | ina | that | G2443 → | 668 times |
| ἐπακολουθήσητε | epakolouthesete | you may follow after | G1872 → | |
| τοῖς | tois | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἴχνεσιν | ichnesin | steps | G2487 → | |
| αὐτοῦ· | autou | of Him: | G846 → | 5565 times |
εἰςTo this
eisG1519 →1755 times
τοῦτοhereunto
toutoG3778 →1381 times
γὰρfor
garG1063 →1039 times
ἐκλήθητε,you have been called,
ekletheteG2564 →147 times
ὅτιbecause
hotiG3754 →1292 times
καὶalso
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ΧριστὸςChrist
christosG5547 →523 times
ἔπαθενsuffered
epathenG3958 →42 times
ὑπὲρfor
huperG5228 →
ὑμῶν,for you,
humonG4771 →2973 times
ὑμῖνyou
huminG4771 →2973 times
ὑπολιμπάνωνleaving
hupolimpanonG5277 →
ὑπογραμμὸνan example
hupogrammonG5261 →
ἵναthat
inaG2443 →668 times
ἐπακολουθήσητεyou may follow after
epakoloutheseteG1872 →
τοῖςthe
toisG3588 →19766 times
ἴχνεσινsteps
ichnesinG2487 →
αὐτοῦ·of Him:
autouG846 →5565 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 16:24Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.
it leads to
- Matthew 10:38
and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.
- Luke 14:27
And whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.
- 1 Peter 4:1–2
Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves with the same resolve, because anyone who has suffered in his body is done with sin.
- Luke 9:23–27
Then Jesus said to all of them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
- Mark 10:21
Jesus looked at him, loved him, and said to him, “There is one thing you lack: Go, sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then…
- Matthew 10:38
Through
1 John 3:16By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
it leads to
- Ephesians 5:2
and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- John 13:34
A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 John 4:9–11
This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.
- Ephesians 5:2
Where this verse is studied
By subject
Suffering35 verses
On this page
Studies13
About 1 Peter
This page draws on 15 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Andreas of Caesarea, CATENA; Augustine of Hippo, SERMONS 284.6; Augustine of Hippo, SERMONS 304.2; Bede, Commentary on the Catholic Epistles; Bonaventure, Disputed Questions on Evangelical Perfection, Question 2; Cyprian, Treatise 10. On Jealousy and Envy; Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Polycarp of Smyrna, Epistle to the Philippians 8 and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 Peter.