I Peter 2:8
A plain-spoken deep dive on this verse. Read the chapter →
and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word—and to this they were appointed.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
stone of stumbling, &c.--quoted from Isa 8:14. Not merely they stumbled, in that their prejudices were offended; but their stumbling implies the judicial punishment of their reception of Messiah; they hurt themselves in stumbling over the corner-stone, as "stumble" means in Jer 13:16; Dan 11:19. at the word--rather, join "being disobedient to the word"; so Pe1 3:1; Pe1 4:17. whereunto--to penal stumbling; to the judicial punishment of their unbelief. See above. also--an additional thought; God's ordination; not that God ordains or appoints them to sin, but they are given up to "the fruit of their own ways" according to the eternal counsel of God. The moral ordering of the world is altogether of God. God appoints the ungodly to be given up unto sin, and a reprobate mind, and its necessary penalty. "Were appointed," Greek, "set," answers to "I lay," Greek, "set," Pe1 2:6. God, in the active, is said to appoint Christ and the elect (directly). Unbelievers, in the passive, are said to be appointed (God acting less directly in the appointment of the sinner's awful course) [BENGEL]. God ordains the wicked to punishment, not to crime [J. CAPPEL]. "Appointed" or "set" (not here "FORE-ordained") refers, not to the eternal counsel so directly, as to the penal justice of God. Through the same Christ whom sinners rejected, they shall be rejected; unlike believers, they are by God appointed unto wrath as FITTED for it. The lost shall lay all the blame of their ruin on their own sinful perversity, not on God's decree; the saved shall ascribe all the merit of their salvation to God's electing love and grace.
Open source ↗The general exhortation to holiness is continued, and enforced by several reasons taken from the foundation on which Christians are built, Jesus Christ, and from their spiritual blessings and privileges in him. The means of obtaining it, the word of God, is recommended, and all contrary qualities are condemned (Pe1 2:1-12). Particular directions are given how subjects ought to obey the magistrates, and servants their masters, patiently suffering in well doing, in imitation of Christ (Pe1 2:13 to the end).
Open source ↗2:8 they meet the fate that was planned for them (literally for which they were appointed): It is not clear whether these people were appointed by God to unbelief or whether they were, because of their unbelief, appointed by God to suffer condemnation.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
And He will be a sanctuary— but to both houses of Israel a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, to the dwellers of Jerusalem a trap and a snare.
but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
To you who believe, then, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
What if God, intending to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the vessels of His wrath, prepared for destruction?
For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed—ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.
For God has not appointed us to suffer wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Then Simeon blessed them and said to His mother Mary: “Behold, this Child is appointed to cause the rise and fall of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against,
But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power to you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
To the one, we are an odor of death and demise; to the other, a fragrance that brings life. And who is qualified for such a task?