Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 1 Peter · About this commentary
The Stone the Builders Rejected
1 Peter 2:6-8
6 Because it is contained in Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen and precious. He who believes in him will not be disappointed.” · WEB
Three stone texts are set side by side, and together they say that the same stone does two different things depending on who meets it.
Three quotations arrive in three verses, drawn from a prophet, a psalm, and the same prophet again Isaiah 28:16 Psalms 118:22 Isaiah 8:14. They were not written together and they are not about the same subject, and the letter assembles them because one word runs through all three.
The first is a foundation deliberately laid, with a promise attached: whoever believes will not be put to shame. The second is the builders' stone, discarded by the men whose trade was judging stone and then placed at the head of the corner — professional rejection reversed without the professionals being consulted.
The third turns the image over. The same stone is a stone to strike against and a rock to trip on. Nothing about the stone has changed between the second quotation and the third; what changes is the direction of travel. To those who believe, honor. To those who do not, the object in the road.
The last clause of verse 8 is the hard one, and it is best repeated exactly rather than explained past. They stumble because they disobey the word, to which they were also appointed. What the appointment attaches to — the stumbling, or the disobedience that causes it — the Greek does not settle, and the letter has just spent seven verses insisting that these readers were called out of exactly that condition 1 Peter 2:9–10.
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