1 Peter 2:6-8 meaning

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Peter quotes Isaiah and the psalms to demonstrate that Jesus is the perfect cornerstone upon which the spiritual building of believers is being built. By faith, we gain benefit in Jesus the Cornerstone, but through disobedience to the word we lose that benefit and stumble over Him.

In 1 Peter 2:6-8, the Apostle Peter now quotes various (Old Testament) scriptures to his Jewish audience to prove the point he made in the prior section, that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is a living corner stone. Jesus, as a Living Stone, serves as a cornerstone for a “spiritual house for a holy priesthood” made up of all believers in Jesus (1 Peter 2:5).

He introduces his biblical teaching by saying For this is contained in Scripture (v. 6a). By this he refers to the metaphor of Jesus as a stone. found in the sacred writings of the Old Testament. At the time Peter wrote this letter, the New Testament was (obviously) still being written, so the Old Testament would have been the primary scriptures in circulation.

Peter quotes various Scriptures which confirm the metaphor of Jesus as a living corner stone, the first of which is Isaiah 28:16, “Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed” (v. 6b).

In the context of Isaiah 28, the prophet Isaiah is prophesying about Israel’s future captivity. Israel’s spiritual leaders are pictured as drunk and disobedient in contrast to the Lord of hosts who “will become a beautiful crown and a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people” (Isaiah 28:5). God speaks to His people, but they will not listen. Therefore, God says that Israel, “May go and stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive” (Isaiah 28:13).

In the midst of this prophecy, Judah and Jerusalem are chastised for making a “pact” with “Sheol,” the place of death. This apparently refers to some sort of commitment they made to false deities, as Isaiah quotes the people of Israel as saying “The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by” (Isaiah 28:15). They apparently are saying that since they made a deal with death they are therefore protected from the Babylonian invasion.

Isaiah interprets this statement as being equivalent to them saying “For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception” (Isaiah 26:15). Their faith is misplaced and will not serve them well. God then addresses their falsehood and pact with death in which they have trusted. God tells them “Your covenant with death will be canceled” (Isaiah 28:18).

This assertion appears to have two fulfillments. One will be that Judah and Jerusalem will be decimated, as Isaiah says when an “overwhelming scourge passes through” (Isaiah 28:18). Their deal with death will not save them; they will be destroyed by Babylon and death will sweep through their country.

On another front though, death will be overcome in a different manner, because Jesus will gain victory over death. Their faith is misplaced, but a time will come when those who place their faith in Jesus will be saved. Isaiah calls Jesus a “costly cornerstone”:

“Therefore thus says the Lord God,
‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,
A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.
He who believes in it will not be disturbed.”
(Isaiah 28:16)

Isaiah’s prophecy is that while Israel’s covenant with death will not save them from destruction at the hands of Babylon, God will raise up a “costly cornerstone” that will overcome death through faith. “He who believes” will “not be disturbed” by death. This is because all who believe in Jesus the Cornerstone will overcome death. This is the opposite of those who deceive themselves, perhaps by thinking they can appease a deity of death. Peter, moved by the Holy Spirit, applied this metaphor of the cornerstone to Jesus, the Messiah.

Just as the Apostle Peter quotes Isaiah 28:16 in 1 Peter 2:6, in Romans 10:33 the Apostle Paul also quotes Isaiah 28:16. Paul asserts that Israel’s rejection does not mean that God has rejected His people; he makes the point that he is of Israel and believes in Jesus (Romans 11:1). Rather, Israel’s rejection of Jesus as The Cornerstone had the result that salvation came to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11).

All who believe in Jesus overcome death and are raised to new life (Romans 6:4). Jesus makes each person who believes in Him a new creation in Him (Corinthians 5:17). To believe in Jesus on the cross is to be saved/delivered from the deadly venom of sin (John 3:14-15). So, unlike the Jews of old who vainly believed in a pact they made with death to deliver them, those who believe in the Cornerstone (Jesus) “will not be disturbed.”

In 1 Peter 2:6, Peter interprets the word translated “disturbed” in Isaiah 28:16 as a Greek word English translators render as “disappointed.” The Hebrew word translated “disturbed” can mean “agitated.” It seems the idea is that the immediate subjects of Isaiah’s prophecy would, understandably, be greatly agitated or disturbed, and therefore disappointed, when their pact with death failed and Jerusalem and Judah were destroyed by the Babylonians. Later beneficiaries of Isaiah’s prophecy, those who believe in the Cornerstone, would not be disappointed, because they will actually be delivered from death through faith in Jesus.

Peter now applies this cornerstone metaphor to contrast those who believe in Jesus with those who continue to rebel and disobey. He first makes an application to the readers of his letter, This precious value, then, is for you who believe; (v 7a).

Peter is writing to believers in Jesus (for you who believe). The words precious value, relate back to the quote from Isaiah 28:16 where Jesus is referred to as a “costly cornerstone,” or, as Peter renders it, a “precious cornerstone” (v. 6b).

The believers to whom Peter is writing understand that Jesus gave His life for them. And all who believe gain eternal life, which gives them ultimate victory over death. Jesus gave something of infinite value, His life, to pay a debt that could not otherwise be repaid (2 Corinthians 8:9). So for them, the death of Jesus is a precious value because it paid for all their sins and raised them to everlasting life (Colossians 2:14).

Peter then contrasts with those who disbelieve. Those who do not believe in Jesus will not gain redemption from sin and death. The free gift of being delivered from separation from God through being spiritually born again only benefits those who believe (John 3:16, Ephesians 2:8-9). Peter next quotes Psalm 118:22:

Peter says but for those who disbelieve,

“THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED,
THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,” (v. 7b).

The builders here would appear to be those attempting to build up Israel, which would initially have been Israel’s leaders. They rejected Jesus (John 11:47-50). The result of their rejection was that instead of Jesus becoming a cornerstone just for Israel, He became the cornerstone of a much greater building. That building is made up of “living stones,” composed of all who believe (1 Peter 2:4-5).

Peter continues detailing biblical support for the idea that Jesus is the Living Cornerstone of a great spiritual building made up of living stones. Conversely, for those who disbelieve, “The stone which the builders rejected, This became the very corner stone” (v. 7). The following verse after this verse in Psalm 118:22 says:

“This is the LORD’S doing;
It is marvelous in our eyes.”
(Psalm 118:23)

This particular psalm is one of thanksgiving for Israel’s deliverance through her Messiah. But part of the praise is that the stone that was rejected would become the very cornerstone of the great house of God. Peter applies this passage to assert that the house of which Jesus is the very cornerstone is a house made up of “living stones”—each of which is a believer in Him (1 Peter 2:5). The Hebrew word translated “marvelous” can also be translated “wondrous” or “miraculous.”

The idea that a stone rejected by the “builders” became the very cornerstone of the greatest of all buildings is miraculous, wondrous, stupendous. It is stupendous because a person, Jesus, who was elevated so high was brought so low (Matthew 28:18, 2 Corinthians 8:9, Philippians 2:7-10). It is also stupendous because of the great gift Jesus gives to all who believe. As the prior verse in Psalm 118 states:

“I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me,
And You have become my salvation.”
(Psalm 118:22)

In the ancient near east a “corner stone” was the first stone laid in the foundation of a building that set the angles for the walls and floor of a house being constructed. Perhaps in the back of Peter’s mind his remembers the words Jesus spoke to him at Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus said He would build His church on the rock (Matthew 16:16-19). If so, Peter is applying what he heard from Jesus to these passages from scripture, and states that Jesus is the cornerstone of the church, and each additional stone is a believer that is added as a living stone.

Jesus quoted this passage about the stone being rejected from Psalm 118:22 when He told the parable of the vinedressers. That parable appears in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke (Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10, Luke 20:17). That means that during his journeys with Jesus, Peter would have heard this teaching and understood that Jesus was the stone that was rejected. Peter took what he learned from Jesus and also quoted Psalm 118:22 during his defense of the gospel before the Jewish religious leaders (Acts 4:11).

In all three passages that speak of Jesus applying Psalm 118:22 to Himself, the leaders of Israel understood that He spoke this parable about them. That likely means they understood that Jesus claimed to be God’s Son, and that in rejecting Him they were rejecting God, His Father, the owner of all things (Matthew 21:45-46, Mark 12:12, Luke 20:19).

Now, in his first epistle, Peter uses Psalm 118:22 again, this time to contrast the believing Jews to whom this letter is written with the unbelieving Jews who rejected Jesus - including the religious leaders to whom Jesus addressed the parable. By being part of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation through faith in Jesus, these believers displace the Jewish leaders who rejected Jesus and fulfilled the prophecy of Psalm 118:22.

In Matthew 16, Jesus calls Peter a “petros” which means “stone” while He referred to Himself as “petra” which means a large stone or bedrock. It could be that Jesus is painting the same picture in Matthew 16:16-19 that Peter draws here from Isaiah and the Psalms.

After quoting Psalm 118:22, Peter next quotes Isaiah 8:14 to point out the same cornerstone that the builders rejected became A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense (v. 8). Peter connects this verse from Isaiah with Psalm 118:22 with a conjunction, and. This indicates that he is contending that each passage is speaking of the same thing, that Jesus is the cornerstone.

Jesus is the cornerstone that saves those who believe (1 Peter 2:6 quoting Isaiah 28:16).
Jesus is the cornerstone that the builders rejected (1 Peter 2:7 quoting Psalm 118:22), and
Jesus is the cornerstone that became a rock of offense (1 Peter 2:8 quoting Isaiah 8:14).

Peter says of those who reject Jesus, the “builders” or leaders: for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed (v. 8).

Peter explains why unbelievers stumble over Christ, for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word (v. 8). The word likely refers to the scripture, as in 1 Peter 2:2. Here word translates the Greek word “logos.” The Apostle John asserts that Jesus is the “Logos,” the living Word (John 1:1). Those who stumble over Jesus do so because they are disobedient to the written word which reflects the truth of the Living Word.

The illustration brings to mind someone seeking to get to a destination but failing to get there because they fell over a stone. We usually fall over something because we did not notice it or take it into account. Israel’s leaders at the time of Jesus were intent on having a kingdom that was free of the Romans, but their true path to do that (that they did not recognize) was through Jesus. And instead of recognizing the hour of their visitation, they stumbled over the rock that was their salvation (John 11:47-50, Luke 19:44).

The Apostle Paul also refers to Isaiah 8:14 in Romans 9:33. Just like Peter, Paul pairs this with Psalm 118:22. It could be that Paul learned this from Peter, since he visited Peter early in his ministry and likely learned from him (Galatians 1:18). It could also be that Paul learned directly from Jesus (2 Corinthians 12:4). It could also be that Peter learned this from Paul, since Peter considered Paul’s writings as scripture (2 Peter 3:15-16).

In Romans 9-11, Paul asserts that though Israel has rejected Jesus, Jesus has not rejected Israel. Paul asserts that God’s promises to them are still intact, since God’s promises are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). Israel’s destiny is that all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:26). Israel’s rejection had the result that salvation was brought to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11). The Jews will bless the Gentiles, then the Gentiles will return the favor, and Israel will be saved as well (Romans 11:12, 26).

Spiritual Israel still has a destiny that will be a great inheritance with God. But the rejection of Jesus resulted in a terrible outcome for physical Israel. One generation after Jesus was rejected, Jerusalem was destroyed (Luke 19:43-44, Mark 13:1-2). Peter says of those who rejected Jesus: and to this doom they were also appointed (v. 8).

The word doom is not part of the original Greek text. It is inferred in that those who rejected Jesus stumble because they are disobedient to the word. A natural consequence of disobeying the word is to stumble over Jesus. That phrase were also appointed means God has laid down a principle that disobedience to His Word leads to stumbling over the truth.