1 Peter 2:4-10, Living Stones (1)

We have been meditating on the command to love one another fervently from the heart.  To do this we are to lay aside those attitudes and actions that destroy others and instead be renewed in our minds through the milk of the word.  All of this is based on v3 which properly says, since you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.  Peter is not questioning their faith; he assumes.  

Thus in v4 he continues on that assumption, stating that we tasted the graciousness of the Lord by coming to Him as to a living stone. Peter is laying a groundwork here before he admonishes these believers to be submissive in various aspects of life.  The groundwork for the lifestyle of the Christian is always the recognition of what it meant to believe in Christ.  What happened in that moment?  In whom did we put our trust?  What did it mean to believe?  The answers to these questions tell us how we are to live out our salvation.  We begin by faith; we walk by faith.  We begin by grace; we grow in grace. 

It should be no surprise that the picture the Holy Spirit uses with these Jewish believers is that of the temple.  The temple in Jerusalem was still standing (this letter was written around 64-65AD).  The temple was central in Jewish thinking and culture.  Certainly a few years after these words were penned they would be quite powerful for believers.  It is quite possible the Lord had this in mind for His Church and especially those who had come to Him from Judaism.

However we believe that the destruction of Jerusalem is not a necessary backdrop for Peter’s words.  He is actually building on a theme from the Old Testament.  In v6 he quotes Isa. 28:16 about the precious cornerstone.  Many Jewish Rabbis viewed this as referring to a Davidic King, but perhaps Hezekiah rather than the Messiah.  The New Testament writers (Paul also quotes this verse in Rom. 9:33 and 10:11) refer it to Messiah.  The reason may be that the passages Peter quotes in v7 (Psalm 118:22) and v8 (Isa. 8:14) also use the stone imagery and are both Messianic passages.  Psalm 118 was quoted by Christ in the Gospels (e.g. Mt. 21:42) and in Acts 4:11 by Peter when he and John appeared before the Sanhedrin.  And Isaiah 8:14 is in the middle of the Immanuel Prophecy (Isa. 7-12).

So yes, we have come to Christ as a living stone, the cornerstone of a spiritual house.  The most common Hebrew term that refers to the temple in the OT is the word for house.  It is the house of God, the place where He would have His dwelling.  Jesus, the great I AM, means this spiritual house is blessed with God’s presence as well.  This living stone is said three times in the passage to be precious or valuable.  He is truly the One on whom we believe; and if we believe on Him we will never be put to shame.  What tremendous value we see in Jesus!  He is the line of demarcation, the stone of stumbling and rock of offense for those who are disobedient, but the Chief Cornerstone for those who were obedient to the call of the gospel.  Have you stumbled over or are you resting on the Stone?