1 PETER—NOTE ON 1 Peter 2:8 stumbling. Tripping over the truth of the gospel. Unbelievers fall because they do not walk with God. In doing so, unbelievers fulfill this prophecy from Isaiah 8:14. There the stone God has established becomes the means of their falling. They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. Some understand this to teach that God has not predestined who will disobey. He has only determined the result of disobedience (that is, that those who disobey will stumble). But Peter probably teaches that God directs all that will occur (see note on Eph. 1:11). In teaching this, Peter still does not deny human responsibility (they “stumble because they disobey”).

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