“For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21 NLT).
Our journey through this passage now ends with a brief look at Jesus’ role in setting an example for His followers. 1 Peter 2:21 presents that role in a manner that is easily accessible, even to young children.
When a small child first learns to write the letters of the alphabet, he or she often will begin with a pencil and a sheet of tracing paper. As the child places the tracing paper over the alphabet and begins to reproduce the shape of each letter, he or she effectively learns the art of writing. This, in fact, is precisely what the word “example” means in the original language of this passage. (1)
One commentator offers some additional insight into this analogy…
“Just as a child slowly, with painstaking effort and close application, follows the shape of the letters of his teacher and thus learns to write, so saints should with like painstaking effort and by close application, endeavor to be like the Lord Jesus in their own personal lives. Or, as a small child endeavors to walk in the footprints made by his father’s feet in the snow, so we are to follow in the path which our Lord took.” (2)
Peter learned this truth directly from Jesus Himself in a rather painful manner…
“And [Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men'” (Mark 8:31-33 and following).
Through the use of the phrase, “Get behind me Satan,” Jesus revealed to Peter that he had inadvertently played into the hands of his spiritual adversary. In this instance, Peter had deviated from God’s agenda- and much like the devil before him, Peter sought to persuade Jesus to follow a plan that served a different objective. That led to a painful rebuke, and Peter made certain to ensure that his readers understood the gravity of that message.
(1) See G5261 hupogrammos https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g5261/kjv/tr/0-1/
(2) Kenneth S. Wuest, Word Studies in the Greek New Testament [1 Peter 2:21] Copyright © 1942-55 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.