Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, (5) you also, as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (6) Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,
“Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”
(7) Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,
“The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,”
(8) and
A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.”
They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. (9) But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light
The Apostle Peter wrote this first letter to Christians in distant parts of the Roman Empire. He wrote to encourage them in times of persecution and to remind them that the resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of our faith and hope.
Peter uses a common biblical metaphor of Christ as the living cornerstone of salvation and of the Church. The new truth is that through Jesus every Christian is part of a new priestly order. In the Old Testament there was a priestly family and sacrifices would be offered through them to please God. Now Peter is telling his audience that in the New Testament the word priest is applied to all people of God and all believers are priests – all have access to God through Jesus Christ. It is the character and attitude of the giver that makes spiritual gifts acceptable.
Belief in Christ is essential: not just a passive belief but a decisive and obedient action. People are confused when they hold a strong and sincere belief in something that does not matter. i.e. they can strongly believe that a chair is God and worship that chair – such people are sincerely wrong. However the gospel tells us the beginning and end of our faith is Christ and we are to look for everything in Him – the Word of God proclaims this and history confirms it. Our fundamental relationship is with Christ and if we neglect or reject Him we “stumble” over Him and offend God.