Christ suffered as an example

Read 1 Peter 2:21-23

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Peter has said that Christians will be commended for enduring unjust suffering (19-20) and he now gives two reasons for that. Firstly, it is part of our calling. As God’s people we’ve been called “out of darkness into his light” (2:9) and “to his eternal glory in Christ” (5:10). So we are also called to be like Christ in the way we live in this world now (Rom.1:7).

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That’s Peter’s second reason – “because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (21). The death of Jesus is the supreme illustration both of undeserved suffering (22) and of how to respond to it (23). Both Peter and Paul write that we “participate in the sufferings of Christ” (4:13; Phil.3:10) i.e. those who take up the cross will be treated as Jesus was and are called to respond to that in the same way that Jesus did.

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That’s what it means to “follow in his steps” (21). Holiness is being like Jesus, with the same gracious endurance and obedient trust in God which he showed when he suffered. If we are to do that then we need to “fix our eyes on Jesus... Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful people so that you will not grow weary and lost heart” (Heb.12:2-3).