1 Peter 2:4 - Printer Friendly

ESV: As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,

NIV: As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him--

NASB: And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by people, but is choice and precious in the sight of God,

CSB: As you come to him, a living stone--rejected by people but chosen and honored by God--

NLT: You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.

KJV: To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,

NKJV: Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious,

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.

1 Peter 2:1–12 describes the spiritual house God is building. Jesus is the perfect foundation stone God has chosen for the house. Those who trust in Him are also living stones used to build the house. In addition, we individually serve as both the priests and the spiritual sacrifices, our lives offered to the builder. Thus we must live good lives, as strangers in the world preparing to go home to be with our Father, engaged in battle against our desire to sin.

Peter gets specific about what it means to live as God’s set-apart people. Christ is the foundation stone of the spiritual house God is building. We must engage in battle with our selfishness and desire to sin. This includes submitting to human authorities, no matter how evil or harsh. It means enduring suffering, as Christ did for our sake when He died on the cross. Our role is not to fight a physical war for justice here; we will be going home soon.

First Peter 1 described the glorious reality of our present and future as God’s children, by His grace and through our faith in Jesus. He called us a holy people redeemed by God for new purposes. That means believers must live differently than those in the world around us. In this chapter, Peter narrows down exactly what it means to lead a holy life, including doing battle with our own desire to sin. This also means suffering under human authorities, even unjust ones.

Some 30 years after the resurrection of Jesus, Christians are facing greater persecution for their faith. How should they respond? How should we respond to suffering today? The apostle Peter writes this letter both to comfort believers and to encourage them to stay strong. He urges them to put all their hope in their perfect future with Christ, and to obey and trust Him in the present, even in their suffering. Christ suffered greatly; now the Christ-followers have the opportunity to follow Him even in this, showing His grace and power in their hopefulness, obedience, and faith.