1 Peter 2:4

2:1-10 Evil-speaking is a sign of malice and guile in the heart; and hinders our profiting by the word of God. A new life needs suitable food. Infants desire milk, and make the best endeavours for it which they are able to do; such must be a Christian's desires after the word of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ is very merciful to us miserable sinners; and he has a fulness of grace. But even the best of God's servants, in this life, have only a taste of the consolations of God. Christ is called a Stone, to teach his servants that he is their protection and security, the foundation on which they are built. He is precious in the excellence of his nature, the dignity of his office, and the glory of his services. All true believers are a holy priesthood; sacred to God, serviceable to others, endowed with heavenly gifts and graces. But the most spiritual sacrifices of the best in prayer and praise are not acceptable, except through Jesus Christ. Christ is the chief Corner-stone, that unites the whole number of believers into one everlasting temple, and bears the weight of the whole fabric. Elected, or chosen, for a foundation that is everlasting. Precious beyond compare, by all that can give worth. To be built on Christ means, to believe in him; but in this many deceive themselves, they consider not what it is, nor the necessity of it, to partake of the salvation he has wrought.

Though the frame of the world were falling to pieces, that man who is built on this foundation may hear it without fear. He shall not be confounded. The believing soul makes haste to Christ, but it never finds cause to hasten from him. All true Christians are a chosen generation; they make one family, a people distinct from the world: of another spirit, principle, and practice; which they could never be, if they were not chosen in Christ to be such, and sanctified by his Spirit. Their first state is a state of gross darkness, but they are called out of darkness into a state of joy, pleasure, and prosperity; that they should show forth the praises of the Lord by their profession of his truth, and their good conduct. How vast their obligations to Him who has made them his people, and has shown mercy to them! To be without this mercy is a woful state, though a man have all worldly enjoyments. And there is nothing that so kindly works repentance, as right thoughts of the mercy and love of God. Let us not dare to abuse and affront the free grace of God, if we mean to be saved by it; but let all who would be found among those who obtain mercy, walk as his people.

{4} To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, (4) He advances the same exhortation, but uses another kind of borrowed speech, alluding to the temple. Therefore he says, that the company of the faithful is as a certain holy and spiritual building, built of the living stones, the foundation of which is Christ, as a living stone sustaining all that are joined to him with his living power and knitting them together with himself, although this great treasure is neglected by men.

1 Peter 2:4 . To whom coming — With desire and by faith; as unto a living stone — Living from eternity; alive from the dead; and alive for evermore: and a firm foundation, communicating spiritual life to those that come to him, and are built upon him, making him the ground of their confidence and hope for time and for eternity. The apostle alludes to Isaiah 28:16 , where the formation of a Christian church, for the spiritual worship of God, is foretold under the image of a temple, which God was to build on the Messiah as the foundation-stone thereof. See the note there. There is a wonderful beauty and energy in these expressions, which describe Christ as a spiritual foundation, solid, firm, durable; and believers as a spiritual building erecting thereon, in preference to that temple which the Jews accounted their highest glory; and St. Peter, speaking of him thus, shows he did not judge himself, but Christ, to be the rock on which the church was built; disallowed — Αποδεδοκιμασμενον , rejected indeed of, or by, men — First and primarily by the Jews and their rulers, as not answering their carnal and worldly expectations, nor suiting their way of building; that is, not to be made use of for the carrying on and promoting of their worldly projects and interests.

By representing Christ as being rejected of men, the apostle intimated that he was the person spoken of Psalm 118:22 ; The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner; a passage which our Lord himself, in his conversation with the chief priests and elders, referred to as a prophecy which they were about to fulfil by rejecting him; but whose exaltation, notwithstanding all they could do to prevent it, should assuredly take place. See on Matthew 21:42 . But the Jews, or, added to them, the Turks, heathen, and infidels, are not the only people that have rejected, and do reject Christ; but all Christians so called, who live in known sin on the one hand, or who expect to be saved by the merit of their own works on the other, reject him; as do also all hypocrites, formalists, lukewarm, indolent, worldly-minded professors, and all those backsliders who, having begun in the Spirit end in the flesh, and draw back unto perdition, instead of continuing to believe, love, and obey, to the saving of their souls, Hebrews 10:38-39 . But chosen of God — From all eternity, to be the foundation of his church; and precious — Of unspeakable dignity and worth in himself, in the sight of God, and in the eyes of all true believers.

Coming (προσερχόμενοι) Indicating a close (πρός) and an habitual (present participle) approach and an intimate association. A living stone (λίθον ζῶντα) Omit as unto. So Rev. The words are in apposition with whom (Christ). Compare Peter's use of the same word, stone, in Acts 4:11, and Matthew 21:42. It is not the word which Christ uses as a personal name for Peter (Πέτρος); so that it is not necessary to infer that Peter was thinking of his own new name. Disallowed (ἀποδεδοκιμασμένον) Rev., rejected. See on the simple verb, 1 Peter 1:7. The word indicates rejection after trial. Of God (παρὰ Θεῷ) Of in the A. V. is equivalent to by; but πατά has a stronger sense, implying the absolute power of decisive choice which is with God. Render, as Rev., with God; i.e., God being judge; and compare Matthew 19:26; Romans 2:11. Precious (ἔντιμον) At 1 Peter 1:19 (precious blood) another word is used (τίμιος), denoting essential preciousness. The word here indicates the preciousness as recognized or held in honor.

1 Peter 2:4 . Ὅν , whom ) Apposition: whom , that is, the Lord, the Stone .— προσερχόμενοι , approaching ) of your own accord, through faith.— λίθον , stone ) In what manner He is regarded both by believers and unbelievers, is declared, 1 Peter 2:6-7 . The name given to Peter by the Lord remained fixed in his mind: hence he alludes to it in various ways, not only under the name of Stone , Acts 4:11 , but also under the repeated mention of firmness [ stedfastness , 1 Peter 5:9 ].— ζῶντα , living ) living from the beginning, 1 John 1:1 , and raised from the dead, Revelation 1:18 , after that He had been rejected by men , both Jews and Gentiles.— ἀποδεδοκιμασμένον , disallowed ) especially before His death: 1 Peter 2:7 , note.— ἐκλεκτὸν , elect ) 1 Peter 2:6 .

To whom; to which Christ. Coming; by faith: q.d. In whom believing, John 6:35,44,45 . The word is in the present tense, the apostle describing here not their first conversion to Christ, but their present state, that they, being in Christ, were daily coming to him in the continued exercise of their faith. As unto a living; not, only having life in himself, but enlivening those that by faith adhere to him. Stone; viz. a corner-stone, as 1 Peter 2:6 . Being about to set forth the church as a spiritual building, he first mentions Christ as the foundation, and corner-stone. Disallowed indeed of men; rejected, not only by the unbelieving Jews and their rulers formerly, but still by the unbelieving world. But chosen of God; either chosen to be the foundation of the building, and then it is the same as foreordained, 1 Peter 1:20 ; or chosen is the same as choice, excellent. And precious: a different expression of the same thing. Here seems to be an allusion to those stones which men count precious, and have in great esteem; and Christ’s being precious in the sight of God, is set in opposition to his being disallowed of men, to intimate, that their unbelief, and rejecting Christ, doth not make him less valuable in himself, when his Father so much honours him.

1 Peter 2:4-10 . Passages of scripture proving that Christ is called stone are first utilised, then quoted, and finally expounded. The transition from milk to the stone may be explained by the prophecy the hills shall flow with milk ( Joel 3:18 ), as the stone becomes a mountain according to Daniel 3:21 f.; or by the legend to which St. Paul refers ( 1 Corinthians 10:4 ); compare also ποτίσαι of Isaiah 43:20 , which is used in 1 Peter 2:9 . This collection of texts can be traced back through Romans 9:32 f. to its origin in the saying of Mark 12:10 f.; Cyprian (Test. 1 Peter 2:16 f.) gives a still richer form.

4. coming—drawing near (same Greek as here, Heb 10:22) by faith continually; present tense: not having come once for all at conversion. stone—Peter (that is, a stone, named so by Christ) desires that all similarly should be living stones BUILT ON Christ, the true foundation-stone; compare his speech in Ac 4:11. An undesigned coincidence and mark of genuineness. The Spirit foreseeing the Romanist perversion of Mt 16:18 (compare Mt 16:16, "Son of the Living God," which coincides with his language here, "the LIVING stone"), presciently makes Peter himself to refuse it. He herein confirms Paul's teaching. Omit the as unto of English Version. Christ is positively termed the "living stone"; living, as having life in Himself from the beginning, and as raised from the dead to live evermore (Re 1:18) after His rejection by men, and so the source of life to us. Like no earthly rock, He lives and gives life. Compare 1Co 10:4, and the type, Ex 17:6; Nu 20:11. disallowed—rejected, reprobated; referred to also by Christ Himself: also by Paul; compare the kindred prophecies, Isa 8:14; Lu 2:34. chosen of God—literally, "with (or 'in the presence and judgment of') God elect," or, "chosen out" (1Pe 2:6). Many are alienated from the Gospel, because it is not everywhere in favor, but is on the contrary rejected by most men. Peter answers that, though rejected by men, Christ is peculiarly the stone of salvation honored by God, first so designated by Jacob in his deathbed prophecy.

4 . To whom coming, as unto a living stone ] The whole imagery changes, like a dissolving view, and in the place of the growth of babes nourished with spiritual milk, we have that of a building in which each disciple of Christ is as a “living stone” spontaneously taking its right place in the building that rests on Christ as the chief corner-stone. The new imagery is connected in St Peter’s mind with its use in Psalm 118:22 and Isaiah 28:16 , but it is not without significance to note that we have the same sequence of the two metaphors in 1 Corinthians 3:1-2 ; 1 Corinthians 3:10-11 . It may be noted also that the Greek is bolder in its use of the image than the English, and has no particle of comparison, to whom coming, even to a living stone . The term “living” is used in its fullest sense, presenting the paradox of connecting the noun with the adjective which seems most remote from it. The lower sense of the word in which Latin writers applied the term saxum vivum to rocks in their natural form as distinct from those that had been hewn and shaped, is hardly admissible here. disallowed indeed of men ] The verb is the same as the “rejected” of Matthew 21:42 . We cannot forget that the thoughts on which St Peter now enters had their starting-point in the citation of the Psalm by our Lord on that occasion.

In the substitution of the wide term “men” for the “builders” of the Psalm, we may trace the feeling that it was not the rulers of the Jews only, nor even the Jews only as a nation, but mankind at large, by whom the “head of the corner” had been rejected. Here again we see in the Epistle the reproduction of the Apostle’s earlier teaching ( Acts 4:11 ). but chosen of God, and precious ] More accurately, but with God (i.e. in God’s sight) chosen, precious (or, held in honour ). The two words emphasize the contrast between man’s rejection and God’s acceptance. Both are taken from the LXX. of Isaiah 28:16 .