What Does 1 Peter 2:21 Mean?

(21) **For even hereunto were ye called.**—Namely, to the combination of suffering and well-doing. To this they “were called” by the Gospel which St. Paul had preached to them; it ought not to be a surprise to them when it comes. (See 1Peter 4:12.) It was a special point in St. Paul’s preaching to forewarn fairly of the tribulations attending all who wished to enter the kingdom of God. Comp. 1Thessalonians 3:3-4, and Acts 14:22, which latter passage refers to preaching in the very homes of some of the recipients of this Epistle. **Because.**—This justifies the last assertion. It appeared on the very face of the gospel message that we should all (slave and freeman alike) have to do well, and at the same time suffer, because the gospel told us that it was so with Him, the subject of the gospel. Notice what a fine assumption lies in this “because”—viz., that Christ’s experience must needs be that of every Christian. **Christ also suffered.**—It is to be carefully observed again that he does not say “*Jesus* suffered;” the whole point is that these Hebrew Christians have given in their adhesion to a *suffering Messiah.* (See Note on 1Peter 1:11.) And the true reading immediately after is “for *you, *leaving *you* an example, that ye should follow His steps;” not, of course, that St. Peter exempts himself from the need of the atonement or the obligation of following Christ’s steps, but because it is his accustomed style to give a charge (as it were) rather than to throw himself in with those whom he addresses. (See Note on 1Peter 1:12.) There is one important point to be observed. Christ is said to have suffered “for you,” but this does not mean “in your *stead*” but “on your behalf, for your good.” Christ’s atonement for us is not represented in this passage as *vicarious.* He did not, according to St. Peter’s teaching, die as a *substitute* for us, any more than He *rose again* as our substitute. So far as the words themselves go, the death of the Messiah “for us” might have been such a death as that of the hero who, in the battle of Murgarten, gathered the Austrian spears like a sheaf into his own bosom, “*for*” his fellow-patriots, clearing the way for them to follow. The addition “for you” conveys the thought that in gratitude we ought to suffer with, or even for, Him. **Leaving us** (*you*) **an example.**—This clause seems added as a kind of explanation of the abrupt “because” just before. “You were called to suffering, I said, *because* Christ, too, suffered; for in so suffering He left (“as something to *survive* Him” is implied in the word) an example to *you.*” (This last “you” stands very emphatically in the Greek). The curious word for “example,” nowhere else used in the New Testament, means primarily the “copy” given to a child to write from, or a “plan” suggested for carrying out in detail, a sketch to be filled in. It is used in this literal sense in 2 Maccabees 2:28-29, and in the metaphorical sense it occurs repeatedly in the Epistle of St. Clement; in one passage (chap. 16) apparently with a reminiscence of this place, for the author has been quoting the passage of Isaiah to which we shall come presently, and then adds, “See then, beloved sirs, what is the copy which has been set us; for if the Lord was so lowly-minded. what shall we do who through Him have come under the yoke of His grace?” The leaving us of this copy was one of the benefits of His passion implied in “suffered *for you.”* **Follow his steps.**—In all probability St. Peter used the word rendered “example” without any sense of its containing a metaphor, or else it would accord badly with the metaphor here. The word for “follow” is a strengthened form, and in 1Timothy 5:10 is rendered “diligently follow;” in 1Peter 2:24 of the same chapter it is “follow after”—*i.e.,* “dog;” the only other place being Mark 16:20. It means (as in 1Timothy 5:24) rather “to follow up,” made still more vivid by the addition of “His steps” (Romans 4:12; 2Corinthians 12:18). St. Peter could remember the day when he was called to follow, and he did so literally (Matthew 4:19; John 21:19); but the Pontine Christians, who had believed without having seen (1Peter 1:8), could only “follow Him up” by the footprints which He had left.