FOLLOWING IN THE STEPS OF CHRIST

"Believers will never suffer for others' salvation, including their own. But they will suffer for Christ's sake, and His example is their standard for a God-honoring response. The word translated 'example' is hupogrammon, which literally means 'writing under' and refers to a pattern placed under a sheet of tracing paper so the original images could be duplicated. In ancient times, children learning to write traced over the letters of the alphabet to facilitate their learning to write them. Christ is the example or pattern on which believers trace their lives. In so doing, they are following 'in His steps'. Ichnesin (steps) means 'footprints' or 'tracks'. For believers as for Him, the footprints through this world are often along paths of unjust suffering."

(Source: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, 1 Peter, Moody Pub/Chicago, 2004, p. 167)