“A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”This phrase refers to Jesus Christ as the cornerstone, a concept rooted in Old Testament prophecy, particularly
Isaiah 8:14 and
Psalm 118:22. In the context of 1 Peter, the imagery of a stone is significant because it highlights the rejection of Jesus by the Jewish leaders and many of His contemporaries. The metaphor of a "stone of stumbling" suggests that Jesus, while being the foundation for believers, becomes a barrier for those who reject Him. This duality is central to understanding the role of Christ in salvation history. The "rock of offense" indicates that the message of the cross is a scandal to those who do not believe, as Paul also notes in
1 Corinthians 1:23.
They stumble because they disobey the word—
The stumbling is directly linked to disobedience to the word of God, which in this context refers to the gospel message. This disobedience is not merely a passive act but an active rejection of the truth revealed in Jesus Christ. The concept of stumbling is often used in Scripture to describe a spiritual downfall or failure to recognize God's plan, as seen inRomans 9:32-33. The disobedience here is a willful choice, highlighting human responsibility in responding to God's revelation.
and to this they were appointed.
This phrase touches on the doctrine of divine sovereignty and election. It suggests that God, in His omniscience, has appointed the consequences of disobedience for those who reject His word. This does not imply that God causes unbelief, but rather that He has foreordained the outcome of rejecting Christ. This concept is echoed inRomans 9:18-22, where Paul discusses God's sovereign right to show mercy or harden hearts. The appointment here underscores the seriousness of rejecting the gospel and the inevitable judgment that follows.
Persons / Places / Events
1.
PeterThe apostle of Jesus Christ, traditionally believed to be the author of this epistle. He writes to encourage and instruct believers facing persecution.
2.
Jesus ChristReferred to metaphorically as the "stone of stumbling" and "rock of offense." He is central to the passage as the cornerstone rejected by some.
3.
BelieversThe recipients of Peter's letter, who are encouraged to remain steadfast in their faith despite opposition.
4.
UnbelieversThose who reject the message of the Gospel, leading to their stumbling as described in the passage.
5.
Old Testament ProphetsThe passage references prophecies from Isaiah, indicating the continuity of God's plan through both Old and New Testaments.
Teaching Points
The Rejected CornerstoneJesus is the cornerstone of our faith, yet He is rejected by many. Believers must recognize the significance of Christ as the foundation of their lives.
The Consequence of DisobedienceDisobedience to the Gospel leads to stumbling. This serves as a warning to remain obedient and faithful to God's Word.
The Sovereignty of GodThe phrase "to this they were appointed" underscores God's sovereignty. Believers can trust that God is in control, even when others reject the Gospel.
Living as a Chosen PeopleAs believers, we are called to live differently from the world, embracing our identity as a chosen people and royal priesthood.
Responding to RejectionWhen faced with rejection or persecution for our faith, we should respond with grace and continue to share the truth of the Gospel.
Bible Study Questions and Answers
1.What is the meaning of 1 Peter 2:8?
2.How does 1 Peter 2:8 describe the consequences of rejecting Christ's message?
3.What does "stumble because they disobey the word" mean for believers today?
4.How can we ensure we are not "appointed" to stumble as in 1 Peter 2:8?
5.Which Old Testament prophecies connect to the "stone of stumbling" in this verse?
6.How can understanding 1 Peter 2:8 strengthen our daily walk with Christ?
7.What does 1 Peter 2:8 mean by "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense"?
8.How does 1 Peter 2:8 relate to Jesus being a cornerstone?
9.Why do some people stumble according to 1 Peter 2:8?
10.What are the top 10 Lessons from 1 Peter 2?
11.1 Peter 2:8: Does applying Isaiah’s prophecy here conflict with the prophet’s original context or meaning?
12.What is the meaning of Rock of Offense?
13.1 Peter 2:4-5: How can the metaphor of believers as 'living stones' be validated scientifically, historically, or archeologically?
14.What is the definition of a stumbling block?What Does 1 Peter 2:8 Mean
“A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”Peter reaches back toIsaiah 8:14 andPsalm 118:22 to say that Jesus, the honored cornerstone (1 Peter 2:6-7), is also the very stone that unbelievers trip over.
• In God’s plan the same Christ who secures our faith (Acts 4:11) exposes unbelief.
• When people meet Him, they must choose: trust and be built up (Ephesians 2:20-21) or reject Him and fall (Luke 20:17-18).
• The shock is not in the stone itself but in hearts unwilling to accept it; Christ’s holiness confronts human pride (1 Corinthians 1:23,Romans 9:32-33).
“They stumble because they disobey the word”Peter clarifies that the cause of stumbling is active disobedience, not a lack of information.
• God’s word always calls for a response (James 1:22); refusal to obey is refusal to believe (John 3:18).
• Disobedience shows itself in rejecting the gospel (Acts 7:51), resisting the Spirit’s conviction (Hebrews 3:15), and preferring darkness to light (John 3:19-20).
• Those who live outside Christ stumble again and again, building a life on sand rather than rock (Matthew 7:24-27,1 John 2:3-4).
“—and to this they were appointed”God’s sovereignty stands behind history without canceling human responsibility.
• Scripture affirms that the Lord “works out everything according to the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11) while judging real human choices (Romans 2:6-8).
• In His justice He can harden hearts already set against Him (Romans 9:18-23;2 Thessalonians 2:10-12), yet He never delights in wickedness (Ezekiel 33:11).
• The appointment here is to the consequence of unbelief, not to an arbitrary fate; those who persist in rejecting the Word discover that their downfall was foreseen (Acts 2:23,Proverbs 16:4).
• For believers, this truth breeds humility and urgency: salvation is God’s mercy, and proclamation of the gospel is still His chosen means (Romans 10:14-15).
summaryJesus is simultaneously the cornerstone and the stumbling stone. Those who embrace Him are built into God’s house; those who refuse Him trip over the very truth that could save them. Their fall comes through deliberate disobedience, yet all unfolds under God’s sovereign, righteous oversight. The passage calls believers to rest gratefully on Christ and to share Him plainly, knowing that He alone determines whether He will be a foundation of life or a rock of offense.
(8)
And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.--Another quotation, no doubt suggested by the word "a stone," but conveying a totally different metaphor. Here there is no thought whatever of the stone as a material for building; the thought is that of a mass of rock on the road, on which the terror-stricken fugitives stumble and fall. The words are taken from
Isaiah 8:14, and are translated directly from the Hebrew. The LXX. not only makes nonsense, but can again be hardly acquitted of "guile" (
1Peter 2:1) in its endeavour to make out the best possible case for Israel by deliberately inserting the word "not" twice over. We shall find St. Peter in
1Peter 3:14 quoting the verses which immediately precede our present citation, and again the point lies in the context. The words are no mere phrase hastily caught up to serve the turn. They come out of the great Immanuel section of Isaiah, and immediately involve, like the quotation in
1Peter 2:6, the sharp contrast between the Jews who trust in Immanuel (the presence of God with Israel) and the Jews who do not, but rely on "confederacies." To the one party, the Lord of Hosts will be "for a sanctuary;" but to the other party, who are described as "both houses of Israel," and specially as the "inhabitant of Jerusalem," He will be "for a stone of striking, and for a rock of stumbling over," and also "for a snare." The "sanctuary" does not seem to mean a temple (though this would connect it with the preceding words of St. Peter), but rather such a "sanctuary" as that of Bethel (
Genesis 28:18), a consecrated stone to which a man might flee as an asylum. In the flight of terror before the face of the Assyrians the very stone which afforded right of sanctuary to those who recognised and trusted it, was a vexatious and dangerous obstacle, a trap full in the way to those who did not. Once more, therefore, the Hebrews of the Dispersion, in separating themselves from "both houses of Israel" and the "inhabitant of Jerusalem," were obeying the warnings of the Immanuel prophecy, which every Hebrew recognised as Messianic. Though the coupling of these passages of the Old Testament together certainly seems to show traces of the influence of St. Paul (comp.
Romans 9:32-33), yet St. Peter must have been present and heard "the Lord of Hosts" Himself put them together (
Luke 20:17-18), and probably St. Paul's use of the passages is itself to be traced back to the same origin. . . .
Verse 8. -
And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. St. Peter combines
Isaiah 8:14 with his first quotations, as St. Paul also does (Ram. 9:33), both apostles quoting from the Hebrew, not from the Septuagint, which is quite different, inserting two negatives. The living Stone is not only made the Head of the corner to the confusion of the disobedient, but becomes also to their destruction a Stone of stumbling; they fall on that Stone, and are broken (
Matthew 21:44). That Stone is a Rock (
πέτρα), the Rock of Ages, the Rock on which the Church is built; but to the disobedient it is a Rock of offense (
πέτρα σκανδάλου).
Σκάνδαλον (
in Attic Greekσκανδάληθρον) is properly the catch or spring of a trap, which makes animals fall into the trap; then a stumbling-block - anything which causes men to fall. We cannot fail to notice how St. Peter echoes the well-remembered words of our Lord, recorded in
Matthew 16:18, 23. Peter was himself then a
πέτρα σκανδάλου, a rock of offense. Even to them
which stumble at the Word, being disobedient; literally,
who being disobedient stumble at the Word - the relative referring back to "them which be disobedient" in ver. 7. This seems better than (with Huther and others) to take
τῷ λόγῳ with
ἀπειθοῦντες, "who stumble, being disobedient to the Word."
Ἀπειθοῦντες, literally," unbelieving," contains here, as frequently, the idea of disobedience, willful opposition. St. Peter seems to come very near to St. John's use of
Λόγος for the personal Word, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Whereunto also they were appointed. "Whereunto" (
εἰς ὄ) cannot refer back to ver. 5; God had appointed them to be built up in his spiritual house, but they were disobedient. It must refer either to
ἀπειθοῦντες - sin is punished by sin; for sin in God's awful judgment hardens the heart; the disobedient are in danger of eternal sin (
Mark 3:29, according to the two oldest manuscripts) - or, more probably, to
προσκόπουσιν; it is God's ordinance that disobedience should end in stumbling; but that stumbling does not necessarily imply condemnation (see
Romans 11:11). The word, the preaching of Christ crucified, was to the Jews a stumbling-block (
1 Corinthians 1:23). But not all stumbled that they might fall. Nevertheless, perseverance in disobedience must end in everlasting death.
Parallel Commentaries ...
Greek
and,Καὶ(Kai)Conjunction
Strong's 2532:And, even, also, namely.“A stoneΛίθος(Lithos)Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3037:A stone; met: of Jesus as the chief stone in a building. Apparently a primary word; a stone.of stumblingπροσκόμματος(proskommatos)Noun - Genitive Neuter Singular
Strong's 4348:A stumbling-block, an occasion for falling, a moral embarrassment. From proskopto; a stub, i.e. occasion of apostasy.andκαὶ(kai)Conjunction
Strong's 2532:And, even, also, namely.a rockπέτρα(petra)Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 4073:A rock, ledge, cliff, cave, stony ground. Feminine of the same as Petros; a rock.of offense.”σκανδάλου(skandalou)Noun - Genitive Neuter Singular
Strong's 4625:A snare, stumbling-block, cause for error. Scandal; probably from a derivative of kampto; a trap-stick, i.e. Snare.[They]Οἳ(Hoi)Personal / Relative Pronoun - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3739:Who, which, what, that.stumble [because]προσκόπτουσιν(proskoptousin)Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 4350:From pros and kopto; to strike at, i.e. Surge against; specially, to stub on, i.e. Trip up.they disobeyἀπειθοῦντες(apeithountes)Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 544:To disobey, rebel, be disloyal, refuse conformity. From apeithes; to disbelieve.theτῷ(tō)Article - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588:The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.message—λόγῳ(logō)Noun - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3056:From lego; something said; by implication, a topic, also reasoning or motive; by extension, a computation; specially, the Divine Expression.andκαὶ(kai)Conjunction
Strong's 2532:And, even, also, namely.toεἰς(eis)Preposition
Strong's 1519:A primary preposition; to or into, of place, time, or purpose; also in adverbial phrases.[this]ὃ(ho)Personal / Relative Pronoun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3739:Who, which, what, that.they were appointed.ἐτέθησαν(etethēsan)Verb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 5087:To put, place, lay, set, fix, establish. A prolonged form of a primary theo to place.
Links
1 Peter 2:8 NIV1 Peter 2:8 NLT1 Peter 2:8 ESV1 Peter 2:8 NASB1 Peter 2:8 KJV
1 Peter 2:8 BibleApps.com1 Peter 2:8 Biblia Paralela1 Peter 2:8 Chinese Bible1 Peter 2:8 French Bible1 Peter 2:8 Catholic Bible
NT Letters: 1 Peter 2:8 And a stone of stumbling (1 Pet. 1P iP i Pet) 
