Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Peter 2:21

"For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps:" — 1 Peter 2:21 (ASV)

For even to this were you called. Such a spirit is required by the very nature of your Christian vocation; you were called into the church so that you might demonstrate it. (See the notes on 1 Thessalonians 3:3).

Because Christ also suffered for us. A marginal note says, "Some read, for you." The latest editions of the Greek Testament adopt the reading "for you." The sense, however, is not essentially varied. The object is to hold up the example of Christ to those who were called to suffer, and to tell them that they should bear their trials in the same spirit that he demonstrated in his. (See the notes on Philippians 3:10).

Leaving us an example. The apostle does not say that this was the only object for which Christ suffered, but that it was an object, and an important one. The word rendered example (upogrammon) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It means properly a writing copy, such as is set for children; or an outline or sketch for a painter to fill up; and then, in general, an example, a pattern for imitation.

That you should follow his steps. That we should follow him, as if we stepped exactly along behind him, and should place our feet precisely where his were. The meaning is, that there should be the closest imitation or resemblance. The things in which we are to imitate him are specified in the following verses.