What does 1 Peter 2:4 mean?

In beginning a new thought, Peter again makes an assumption about his readers and about Christians, in general. We should continually come to the Lord. Coming to the Lord—the Word of God—is a way in which we drink the "pure spiritual milk" and "taste" that He is good. And who is this Lord that we come to? In addition to being the "living hope" (1 Peter 1:3) and the "living word" (1 Peter 1:23), the Lord is now identified as the "living stone." Each of the three emphasize that Jesus was resurrected after His death on the cross.

Specifically, Peter calls Jesus the living stone rejected by men, a reference to Psalm 118:22. Peter also quoted this verse when making his defense of Jesus before the Jewish religious leaders after they arrested him for preaching the gospel. There, he specifically called out those men who had Christ crucified as the rejecters described in Psalm 118.

In this verse, Peter identifies the Lord both as the rejected one and the chosen one—rejected by Israel's official leadership, but chosen by God Himself and precious (of enormous value). As the coming verses will reveal, Christians who experience the world's rejection can be encouraged by two things: Jesus was rejected as we are and, like Him, we are also chosen by God and precious to Him.