What Does 1 Peter 2:21 Mean in the King James?
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
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.
“Christ” in this verse is Christos. 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 rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.THE THREAD
I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?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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