November 02, 2021 – Tuesday
1 Peter 2:4-6 NIV
4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—
5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6 For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
Comment.
Only yesterday, November 1st on Monday, we looked at Romans 9:33 which had the same quote, See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame from portions of Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16. There we discovered most translations of Isaiah 28:16 did not end in will never be put to shame as in Romans 9:33 and now in 1 Peter 2:6. That is except for the Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV) of the Bible which does have Isaiah 28:16 as Whoever believes will not be put to shame which had the following note, The translation follows the Greek text. The Hebrew and Latin read will not be in haste.
How did this come to be? Turns out what we call the Old Testament, also known as the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek in the third and second century BC. It was called the Septuagint (meaning 70) or the LXX translation. The story of ‘The Translation of the Seventy’ as it was called may be found here, here, and here. While Paul would have been familiar with both the Hebrew and Greek, it is clear he chose the Greek as the most fitting translation and the one likely best known to the Jewish and Greek world. Peter was likely unschooled in Hebrew and thus likely only knew the Greek version from the Septuagint. Both would have wanted to use the LXX version as that is the one best known to Greek and Hebrew alike in the first century A.D.. It is of note that many scholars today consider the LXX to be superior to later translations of the Hebrew Bible.
Jesus is of course the living Stone in verse four above and He is the chosen and precious cornerstone in verse six as well.
From this we can see the message is that Jesus is the cornerstone of a new temple that is under construction. The other stones used for this temple are His followers, His believers. As stated before, a cornerstone is critical in any masonry building project as it sets the proper placement for the rest of the building. Verse five tells the building is a temple as it involves a priesthood and sacrifices.
Peter wants us to know this end-time temple is under construction and expanding as more and more people become believers and followers of Jesus. It is not so much a physical temple, but a spiritual temple. And further, from verse six, those who do trust Jesus will experience honor instead of shame.
As for those who do not believe, who refuse Jesus’ message of Grace, well that’s covered in the next few verses and we will look at them tomorrow.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, It is a blessing to have Peter reenforce Paul’s message in Romans 9:33. Thank You for providing such emphasis. – In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
RileyD, nwJ
Riley D. Driver – Pastor
Calvary Chapel of Dayton in Beavercreek