What Does 1 Peter 2:21 Mean?
For to this you were called, because the Anointed One also suffered for us, leaving you a pattern to trace, so that you might follow in his footprints.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:THE KEY
The “example” left by the Anointed One is a pattern laid down for tracing, and the next image makes that pattern a set of actual footprints.
THE MEANING
Your calling includes a path that passes through suffering: the Anointed One suffers for you and leaves you a pattern you can trace. His suffering is both for you and before you; the image joins a copy made for tracing to the marks of actual footsteps.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that suffering means you have stepped outside your calling: here suffering is part of the calling, and the Anointed One’s path gives it a traceable pattern.
THE ROOT
ὑπογραμμόν
hypogrammon
GROWS FROM
γραφ- (graph-), from γράφω (graphō)
To write or inscribe.
The word translated “example” is ὑπογραμμός (hypogrammos), a writing model or copy made to be traced. Beside the image of footsteps, it reveals a pattern that is both set before you and marked out on the ground.
ALSO GROWS
graphē: Writing; a written text.
γραφή
The same writing root makes the “example” a marked form, not merely an idea to admire.
gramma: A written mark or letter.
γράμμα
A γράμμα (gramma) is a trace left in writing; here the pattern is likewise made visible to follow.
ἴχνεσιν
ichnesin
GROWS FROM
ἰχν- (ichn-), from ἴχνος (ichnos)
A footprint, track, or trace.
“Steps” are literally tracks or footprints: the pattern is not abstract but leaves marks along a path. The verse’s writing-copy and footprint images meet in the idea of a form you can trace.
ALSO GROWS
ichnos: Footprint, track, or trace.
ἴχνος
This is the singular form behind “steps,” grounding the image in a trail left on the ground.
ichnēlateō: To track or follow a trail.
ἰχνηλατέω
This related word evokes following by reading the marks left behind, like following the Anointed One’s steps.
Χριστός
Christos
GROWS FROM
χρί- (chri-), from χρίω (chriō)
To anoint or apply oil.
Χριστός (Christos) means “the Anointed One”; it is a title grounded in anointing, not a surname. The verse places that named identity within suffering, where the Anointed One’s path becomes a pattern others can trace.
ALSO GROWS
chriō: To anoint.
χρίω
This verb is the action beneath the title and shows the title’s root meaning.
chrisma: Anointing.
χρῖσμα
This noun shares the anointing root, keeping the title connected to the act that names the Anointed One.
THE PATTERN
The path of the called can include suffering, and the Anointed One’s endured path gives that suffering a visible pattern.
He is despised and left off by men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. And as one hiding the face, we hid our faces from him. He was despised, and we did not reckon him.Remember the word that I said to you. A servant is not greater than his lord. If they pursued me, they will also pursue you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also.And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and co-heirs with the Anointed One; if indeed we suffer together with him, so that we may also be clothed in weight with him.THE THREAD
I urged Titus, and sent the brother with him. Did Titus grasp more of you? Did we not walk in the same breath? Did we not walk in the same footprints?The Greek word ἴχνος (ichnos), meaning “footprint” or “track,” appears behind “steps” in both verses. Here the Anointed One leaves a track to follow; there, “the same steps” describes a path shared with others.
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