Cornerstone or stumbling stone? Week 3, 1 Peter 2:1-10 Day 3: Multiple choice: 1) cornerstone 2) stumbling stone It’s summer time in Texas as I write. And when it is summer time, one of our main concerns is the foundation of our house. The clay substrata can shift and sway resulting in damage to our home’s foundation. Before long, the doors don’t close securely and cracks can appear in the walls of our home. If we aren’t careful, the value of our house can drop sharply. In today’s study, the passage is referring to our spiritual foundation that God has laid. Jesus is called a cornerstone. In construction terminology, the cornerstone is the first and most important part of a building’s foundation. In spiritual terms, Jesus is the foundation of our faith. In verse 5, Peter says that we, as believers, are living stones which are being built up as a spiritual house. If Christ is the foundation of the house, the house will be well-constructed. Conversely, if the spiritual foundation is not Christ, it is faulty and the building will not stand. As you read today’s passage, watch for references to stones and builders and how the spiritual response to the cornerstone makes all the difference! 1 Peter 2:6–8 6 For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 7 [So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,]* “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message — which is also what they were destined for. * ESV’s translation has been intentionally inserted for verse 7a. What are the two responses to the cornerstone? What is the result of each response? In verse 7, who are the builders who rejected the cornerstone? Two options — forcing one choice Even a brief reading of this section will reveal a stone God has placed in Zion, a stone mentioned in three passages in the Old Testament (Psalm 118:22–23; Isaiah 8:14–15 and 28:16). Jobes explains that many ancient Jewish interpreters already identified the stone with the Messiah. “All that remained was for the NT writers to identify Jesus as the Messiah.”[1] In quoting the Old Testament[2] in verse 6, Peter adopted the language of a well-known Greek translation because it ends with the words “the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Peter has already said that Jesus is “the living Stone” in verse 4, so the reader knows how to fill in the identity of “a stone in Zion” (verse 6a). Moreover, this excellent cornerstone is a person in whom the people may put their faith, and those who have such faith “will definitely not experience shame” (Dubis’s translation[3]). Recall that shame and honor were core values in the Mediterranean world, and Peter will further develop those themes in the following verses. Whose honor? Michaels informs us that “the great majority of commentators”[4] understand the translation of verse 7a to be consistent with ESV’s translation: “So the honor is for you who believe.” We prefer ESV rather than NIV’s translation: “Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.” We offer “So the honor is for you who believe” as the correct translation of verse 7a, and this conclusion shows again the value of the shame-honor framework for Bible interpretation. More discussion may be found in the NET Bible Notes for 1 Peter 2:7. Why did Peter need to strengthen the sense of honor felt by his readers? In the second half of verse 7, Peter turns his attention to those who “do not believe” (verse 7b) in the cornerstone, who is Christ. They will have their expectations thwarted, because he has become the cornerstone anyway! Jobes explains the implications: “The imagery implies two building projects, one constructed by human builders, the other by God. The human builders examine Christ and find him unfit for building upon.”[5] That certainly compels us to ask: which building project are we participating in? A forced decision Verse 8 continues the discussion about the consequences experienced by “those who do not believe” (verse 7a). To understand this difficult verse, we must start in verse 6, where Peter reveals God’s firm decision to “lay a stone in Zion.” The intent of this divine action was to force a decision by every person. We have seen that those who trust in Jesus, the cornerstone, “will never be put to shame” (verse 6b). However, the others reject the good news about Jesus — the gospel — and thereby fall over him into a God-designed condition of eternal shame. In their case, Jesus becomes “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense” (verse 8a, ESV). Commentator Leonhard Goppelt ably puts the situation like this: “Christ is laid across the path of humanity on its course into the future. In the encounter with him each person is changed: one for salvation, another for destruction. ... One cannot simply step over Jesus to go on about the daily routine and pass him by to build a future.”[6] This is the decision God intended each person to make! What examples can you give of people you know who are trying to avoid the decision God is putting in their path? Why do you think they are doing so? With this background, we are ready to tackle the difficult verse 8b by considering two different translations: “They stumble because they disobey the message — which is also what they were destined for.” (NIV) “Because they refuse to believe in the word, they stumble. Indeed, this is the end to which they were appointed.” (CEB) In our view, the CEB makes the progression of events more clear. Commentator R.T. France explains what God has appointed by saying that it means “not that certain people were destined not to believe, but that God’s decree is that those who do not believe will stumble and fall.”[7] So, God has appointed three things: The encounter of each person with Jesus Christ, the “stone in Zion.” The eternal honor of those who believe in him. The eternal shame of those who reject the good news of Jesus Christ. Paul teaches the same theology. As Romans 1:18–21 makes clear, those who suppress the truth of God then experience a specific, God-designed consequence: “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Rom. 1:21). So, when 1 Peter 2:8 speaks of those who “disobey the message,” it refers to those who will certainly stumble and fall because they walk in the darkness. To prevent that, we must carry out our mission to proclaim God’s mighty act of salvation in Jesus Christ! A final word In the past two days, we’ve seen Jesus described as the living stone, the cornerstone, the choice stone and the precious stone. Our response to the message of the stone determines whether we become living stones built upon the cornerstone and priests offering up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God, OR whether we will be stumble over the stone and be crushed because of our disobedience.
Posted on: Wed, 25 Sep 2013 17:45:58 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015