Verses 1-3 –

• Having received the gospel (v. 25) and tasted that the Lord is gracious (v. 3), the “scattered strangers” may have picked up some “bad habits of grace,” or even some malice toward their Jewish countrymen who were not saved. They were instructed to put all of this away and grow through the Word.

  • Peter is speaking to his audience as “saved members of the Jewish nation.” His words in these verses are applicable to any believer, but it should not be assumed that the entire book can have such application.

  • Notice that Peter is not asking them to be newborn babes, but simply using an illustration to encourage growth.

    
    

• Verse 4 –

  • The recipients were coming to Christ, viewing Him rightly as a living stone, though disallowed (rejected) of men.

  • They made the right choice, since even though Christ was rejected, He is chosen of God, and precious.

    
    

• Verse 5 –

  • Christ was, to them, a living stone (v. 4). Now Peter says that they are lively stones. The word lively is the same verb as living, except in the plural. Peter likes illustrations, and this illustration seems to be directed toward the Temple. He is preparing the Jewish remnant for a soon-coming day in which there is not a Temple. As lively stones they were being made into a spiritual house and an holy priesthood prepared to offer spiritual sacrifices.

  • This is language that neither fits the dispensation of the grace of God (Eph. 3:2) nor the dispensation of law.

    • Under the law, the people brought living sacrifices to lay on dead stones at a physical house through an appointed priesthood.

    • Under grace, no sacrifices at all are brought, and there is no priesthood whatsoever.

      
      

  • If neither under law nor grace, for what is Peter writing? In my estimation, he is writing to the Jewish remnant the instructions for living their Judaism when there is no Temple.

    
    

• Verse 6 –

  • Peter, building his case that the Messiah would be rejected but followed by a remnant, quotes Isaiah 28:16.

  • Note that in Isaiah 28:16 the text says, He that believeth shall not make haste, while this quote says shall not be confounded.

    • This is a case which tells us that the sense of the original is preserved but the words are different.

    • This is interesting since Peter has told us that the rhema endureth for ever (1 Peter 1:25).

      • How can this be if rhema is the outward form/sound of the word and that is not preserved in this quote?

      • In actuality, by giving this quote we now have not only the rhema (make haste) but also the logos (be confounded).

        
        

  • The Stone was “laid” in prophecies such as Genesis 49:24 (the stone of Israel) as well as in the covenants with Abraham and David.

    
    

• Verses 7-8 –

  • Those who believed in Jesus as the Christ are not confounded (v. 6), as promised. Rather, to them he is precious.

    • Literally, as in Young’s Literal Translation, “to you, then, who are believing is the preciousness.”

    • The Greek requires an inserted verb, saying only “to you, therefore, the preciousness.”

    • The corner stone (v. 6) was precious (v. 6) but rejected. The preciousness was given to the believers alone.

      
      

  • To the disobedient (v. 7, 8), they were made shameful by rejecting the stone that became the head of the corner, and the Rock became for them a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence.

  • Those who rejected Christ were appointed unto this disobedience.

    • While it is not impossible that this appointment came from God, the text does not require it.

    • The Greek τίθημι [tithami] simply means “to set in order,” and it could have been the Pharisees or Chief Priests who “set them in order” to reject the Lord. Compare Acts 13:48, where Paul “set them in order” and they believed.

    • Even if the appointment is from God, this does not give proof to Calvinism’s scheme in which God selects all who are saved and damned.