“To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,”
King James Version (KJV)
2:4 To whom coming - By faith. As unto a living stone - Living from eternity; alive from the dead. There is a wonderful beauty and energy in these expressions, which describe Christ as a spiritual foundation, solid, firm, durable; and believers as a building erected upon it, in preference to that temple which the Jews accounted their highest glory. And St. Peter speaking of him thus, shows he did not judge himself, but Christ, to be the rock on which the church was built. Rejected indeed by men - Even at this day, not only by Jews, Turks, heathens, infidels; but by all Christians, so called, who live in sin, or who hope to be saved by their own works. But chosen of God - From all eternity, to be the foundation of his church. And precious - In himself, in the sight of God, and in the eyes of all believers.
1Pe 2:4 To whom coming. To Christ the Lord. [As unto] a living stone. Christ is often called a Stone, or Rock, as the foundation whom which we build our spiritual life, and of the church; a "living stone" because he imparts life to all who build upon him, and himself lives eternally. See 1Jo 1:1 Re 1:18 Ac 4:11. Disallowed indeed of men. Rejected by the Jewish nation. But chosen of God. Not of men but of God who raised him from the dead. See also 1Pe 2:6.