What is Peter’s main point in this metaphor? Is it just a scriptural argument for Jesus as Messiah, or there are pastoral emphasis as well? Within the metaphor of a Temple, what is the relationship between the living stones of the church and Jesus?Īs I think over what the main point in this metaphor is to state that Jesus truly is the foundation of faith for all those who believe. If Jesus is the cornerstone or capstone, then the people of God are stones building on that foundation.
In summary, Peter describes Jesus in this passage as the most important stone in a Temple. In the present age, Peter says, there are some will believe in the cornerstone, and be honored ‘in that day,” while those who reject the stone will be shamed. Paul used these same verses in a very similar way in Romans 9:33, 10:11. When Jesus returns, there will be a separation of those who honored the stone as precious, or tripped over him and stumbled. Those who honor Jesus will be honored, those who do not will be shamed. Sometimes this “stumbling-block” is described as a mostly-buried rock that someone does not really see until they trip over it and are injured. It is easy enough to connect sanctuary with temple (although the LXX has ἁγίασμα), but the image of what kind of stone Jesus is changes here – he is no longer an honored stone at the highest point in the Temple rather he is a stone on the ground that trips people up and causes them to stumble. The Lord will be a sanctuary (a holy place, the word mikdash is used for the tent of meeting and the Temple) for those who honor him, but for those who have rejected the Lord as their God, he will be a “stone of stumbling.”Īt the Southwest corner of the Temple Mount
In the original context of Isaiah 8, God has given the sign of Immanuel (a son, ben) to king Ahaz, and now Isaiah is warned to honor only the Lord as holy and to only fear the Lord (rather than the king). In response to the rejection of the stone, judgment will come. This is a thinly veiled prediction of what will happen to Jesus in just a few days and is a clear statement from Jesus that his death will be in some ways a fulfillment of Psalm 118, the rejected son ( ben) becomes the chief stone ( eben) in the building. In the Gospels, Jesus quotes Psalm 118 as a conclusion to the parable of the Vineyard, which concludes with the son of the vineyard’s owner being taken out of the vineyard and killed. David was the son who was rejected, yet he was the chose king who laid the foundation of the line of kings that would result in the coming of the Messiah. The context of the psalm is a restoration of Israel at the end of the exile, and it appears that the text was considered messianic based on the similarity of the word stone ( eben) and son ( ben) in Hebrew. In Mark 12, Jesus calls the rejected stone the “head corner stone” (κεφαλή and γωνία, corner), although “head” can mean “chief” here.
Jesus called himself the “stone that the builders rejected” after the Parable of the Vineyard in Mark 12:9-11. The idea of a chief stone connects the Psalm to Isa 28:16.
The second verse Peter quotes is from Psalm 118:22-23. Unlike modern “cornerstones” that are largely ceremonial, the cornerstone for a large building was critical for the building up of the rest of the building. But a “cornerstone” refers to a stone laid as a foundation. The Greek word (ἀκρογωνιαιος) refers to a “capstone,” an ornate stone that would be the final stone added to a building. The first line is fairly clear, but the expansion of stone into a “chosen cornerstone” needs to be unpacked. The massive Herodian era foundation stone at the Temple Mount
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