“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.”
1 Peter 2:4-8 presents the Lord Jesus as three stones: a “living stone,” a “precious cornerstone,” and a “stone of stumbling.” Jesus is a living stone to the believer because he sits in the heavens. He is a priest forever. We are in him, and we are, therefore, priests. Now we come to Jesus as the “chief cornerstone.”
Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,
Verses 6-8 are a series of citations from the Old Testament. Peter now gives three citations from Scripture to prove his point. These citations deal with Jesus as the great stone.
This is an allusion to Isaiah 28:16. This is documentation of the fact that Christ is the cornerstone. In Isaiah 28, Isaiah pronounces a woe against Ephraim. Ephraim perverted herself with drink and became known for drunkenness (Isa 28:1). They distorted the beauty of the Lord (Isa 28:6,8). Because of this, Isaiah predicted the Assyrian invasion. Despite Ephraim’s rejection, the Lord placed in Zion a “chief cornerstone.” If anyone believes in him, God will deliver him from the Assyrian invasion. If anyone in Ephraim does not believe in him, they will stumble over him.
“Contained” indicates that this is not an exact quotation, but this reference strives for the essence of the idea. The truth of who Jesus is lies within the Word. The only way we will capture the preciousness of Jesus is to study the Word.
The appeal is to what is written (“Scripture”), not what is spoken—scriptural proof for what we believe is crucial for documentation of what we believe. The Word is the norm and standard for what we believe.
PRINCIPLE:
We need to substantiate what we believe from Scripture.
APPLICATION:
Much teaching to Christians today cannot be substantiated by the Word of God. Many Christians today are loosed from the moorings of Scripture. If the Lord Jesus and the apostles quoted Scripture as authoritative, should not the modern Christian?
