2:4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,
Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) Peter offers a “behind the scenes” insight of who Jesus is and how as the Messiah, He can offer salvation to us. As we approach Jesus we should recognize that despite the fact that He was rejected by His people, He is God’s chosen Messiah and precious in the His sight.
Even though the Bible consists of writings from as many as forty different authors, we know that the Bible has one true author, the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) Just as we would expect from a single author the use of terms, phrases, metaphors and idioms are always consistent. Scholars define this as “expositional constancy” (see note at end of this lesson on how to use expositional constancy for your personal Bible study).
Here in verse four, Peter describes Jesus as a “living stone,” he qualifies this stone as being different than every other stone by calling it ‘living’. Which is quite the contrast when you compare to nearly every other ‘religion’ as they typically have something (or someone) that is ‘dead’ in the center of their beliefs. Jesus is very much alive! The term stone or rock is used throughout Scripture as a metaphor for Jesus (for example, read Deuteronomy 32:3-4, 15, 18; Psalm 18:2, 30-31; Isaiah 26:4; 44:8; 1 Corinthians 10:4), a term that clearly describes His strength and unchangeable nature (read Hebrews 13:8). Peter continues by saying that ‘men’ rejected this stone (see also Isaiah 53:3). As we know many people, not just Jews, including the leaders of that time refused, and still refuse today, to follow Jesus (see Matthew 23:37-39, see also an example of rejection in Matthew 26:57-68).
Peter then shifts to God’s perspective, “but in the sight of God,” Jesus is chosen (a word that is often translated as elected) and precious (meaning prized and of great value). Jesus is not only a living stone vital for everyone desiring to be in heaven, He is our cornerstone (for example see Isaiah 28:11; Psalm 118:22-23; Acts 4:11). A cornerstone is the first stone placed in the construction of a building. If the stone is in any way off-square, or not level, the entire building is at risk. Jesus through His sinless life provides us a with straight line to build on, a ‘plumb line’, if you will, that shows us when we are wrong or going off in a tangent away from God. Jesus is not only our Lord and Savior, He should also be our mentor, someone we strive to become like.
2:5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Peter now tells us that we are like living stones too. God is changing us; we are His house (see 1 Corinthians 3:9-11; Ephesians 2:19-22; Hebrews 3:4-6). We are in the process of being built up (growing like what Peter describes in verse two) as a spiritual house (remember we are God’s temple, see 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 6:19-20) to be a holy priesthood (not to be confused with any person with the title of ‘priest’).
In the Old Testament the Aaronic Priesthood was exclusive to the bloodline of Aaron (Moses’ brother from the tribe of Levi) they had to perform many cleansing rituals prior to serving as a priest, their lives were very protocol driven (if anyone did anything incorrectly it could mean death), they also had to interact with the Israelites since they were the liaisons between God and man including handling all of the sacrifices. Plus, the High Priest had to once a year enter the Most Holy Place (also known as the Holy of Holies) to make atonement for the Israelites. Here Peter tells us that Jesus made us holy priests (later in verse nine Peter will tell us that we are also royal priests) to offer (the Greek word for ‘offer’ implies the willingness to take on a burden, such as being burdened for the lost, feeding the poor, etc.)[1] spiritual sacrifices. The concept of sacrifices is often lost for us today. In the Old Testament sacrifices were for both atonement and worship. Paul tells us that our “spiritual act of worship” is when we accept the burden of ignoring the world (not allowing it to corrupt our lives or faith in God) and willingly obey Jesus (read Mark 12:33; Romans 12:1-2; Hebrews 13:15).
We are to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. What makes something acceptable to God? This is where we see throughout history people trying multiple protocols and rituals to answer this question. Some read that we are to follow the procedures given to man early on in the Old Testament, while others have defined it as being faithful disciples. It is interesting to note that when Jesus was asked about which commandment was the greatest, He did not quote from the Ten Commandments (see Exodus 20:2-17), instead He quoted Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, regarding loving God and loving others (read Matthew 22:37-39). We respond to Jesus’ gift of salvation through our daily obedience, but not because we have to, but we want to. Jesus even quoted Hosea 6:6 “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (similar phrases were repeated multiple times in the Old Testament, see also Matthew 9:13). For those people hearing these words for the first time in the Old Testament and then later when Jesus quoted them during His ministry, must have been confusing to them since God set up the sacrificial system along with all of the rules and regulations regarding obedience, and now He’s saying that He doesn’t want them!!? It’s simple! He does not want our rote behavior without our desire to serve. He doesn’t want our traditions to interfere with our relationship with Him. We need to serve and follow God with all of our heart; real love will be seen and heard in our actions. We should regularly ask ourselves, what’s in our hearts? Is it love for Jesus and for our neighbors?
2:6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Peter returns to the Old Testament to illustrate his point by quoting Isaiah 28:16, a verse that his audience would have likely known very well. God, speaking through Isaiah, says He is laying (like a brick layer laying bricks) a stone in Zion (a mountain in Israel next to Jerusalem, an often-used idiom for Israel, see 2 Samuel 5:7; 1 Kings 8:1; Psalms 48:2; 51:18; 102:21; Isaiah 2:3; 4:3; 10:12; 24:23; 30:19; 52:2; Jeremiah 26:18; Amos 1:2; Micah 3:12; Zephaniah 3:16; Zechariah 1:17; Hebrews 12:18-23). The stone here in Isaiah 28 is described using the same words used to describe Jesus in verse four. Peter is making it clear that Jesus is the person Isaiah is writing about and that salvation is only available through Him. Access to God is open to anyone who accepts and believes in Him (see also John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Hebrews 4:14-6; 9:11-15). Those that do believe will not be put to shame (Greek ‘kataischynthē’ can be translated disgraced, ashamed, disappointed, shattered, or confounded), in other words, their belief will not be proven wrong.
An Easy Bible Study Tool to Consider (just don’t let the name scare you away)
Expositional Constancy can be helpful during your personal Bible study especially if a word is confusing or there is more than one meaning. Words when translated often lose their meaning or require more words by the translators to relay the proper context. I encourage serious Bible readers to obtain an exhaustive concordance. They are usually very large and very heavy (no, that is not why they are called ‘exhaustive’). These differ from the ‘concordances’ that are often found in the rear of many Bibles as they contain every word and term used in the Bible (except all of the common words like ‘and’ and ‘the’ but all other words will be listed, giving its name as being exhaustive, meaning complete). Try finding a word or phrase you want to know more about and look up the original word (the word in original language) in the exhaustive concordance. Find where the word was originally used and look up that verse in the Bible. Read the entire story (the verses before and after that verse so you can understand the context) and then go back and apply that definition you learned to the verse or word in question. More often than not this insight opens up the meaning to potentially confusing verses. This is also known as the rule of first mention.
There are several types of exhaustive concordances, make sure you have one that matches your Bible translation (for example the popular Strong’s Concordance is for KJV, etc.) You might also want to see if there is a basic Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek dictionary included, as they are handy to find out a little more about the word in question. Many Bible study software packages, websites, apps for tablets and smartphones, as well as several online resources are available that provide the same capability.
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[1] Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers. Strong’s Greek No. 399