1 Peter 2:4

‘To whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious,'

For if they have truly tasted that the Lord is gracious they will come to Him as the One Who is the ‘living' cornerstone described in the Scriptures, rejected by men, but chosen by God and precious, the One Who is the ‘living' stone around which their lives are to be built, the One Whose words provide a solid foundation (Matthew 7:24; Matthew 16:18). They are to become one with His life and to share with Him in a holy union. The basic picture is taken from Isaiah 28:16 as cited in 1 Peter 2:7, but Peter also emphasises the fact that the stone, when thought of in terms of Jesus, is vibrant with life and is life-giving. It is emphasising that he is not speaking of Jesus as an example that we can follow from the past, but as One Who is alive and with whom we are to be connected because we have received life from Him. The idea of a ‘stone' is of a dressed stone of large proportions usable in building.

To Peter this picture was especially vivid. For he had heard this stone (the word indicates a dressed stone) spoken of on the lips of the Lord Himself (Matthew 21:42), in the context of the wicked tenants who had slain the only Son (Matthew 21:33), and he had even cited it himself in Acts 4:11. And he had seen men reject Jesus throughout His ministry (John 6:66) and had watched in helplessness His final rejection at the hands of the Jewish leaders. He had known in experience what it meant for the stone which God had provided to be rejected, and it had made an indelible mark on his heart. But at the same time he had known in his heart that Jesus really was God's true and living cornerstone, the One Who was chosen and precious to God, the One Who offered life (‘Lord to whom shall we go, for you have the words of eternal life' - John 6:68). It had been a belief which had faltered for a time towards the end, but which had been finally re-established by His resurrection. And now he was full of it.

His description of Jesus as ‘a living stone' brings out the vibrancy of life in his illustration, tying in with chapter 1 where being begotten to life through the resurrection and the living word has been paramount (1 Peter 1:3; 1 Peter 1:23). He wants his readers to recognise that above all what he is describing is  Someone Who is alive and gives life. Peter no doubt carried in his heart Jesus' words, ‘as the Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son also to have life in Himself' (John 5:26; compare 1 John 5:12), and he could not think of Him in terms of a mere stone, even a chief cornerstone. Rather He saw Him as a living and life-giving stone. None were more aware that Jesus was alive, than those who had gone through the agonies of His death, and had then experienced the resurrection appearances. There may well also here be the implication of the indwelling of the Spirit of life and of Jesus' heavenly nature, for he would remember how Jesus had connected the idea of ‘living water' with life through the Spirit in John 4:10; John 7:37, and even more of how Jesus spoke of Himself as ‘the living bread Who had come down from Heaven' (John 6:51). To him Jesus was the living One Who gave men and women life from Heaven. Compare the living hope in 1 Peter 1:3.