1 Peter 2:6 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.”
Peter now quotes Isaiah 28:16 to add to his thoughts about our connection to God through Jesus Christ. The stone laid in Zion, the hill where the ancient temple was built, is Jesus. We are the new temple. The old temple of stone was destroyed first by the Babylonians and then later by the Romans. There is no need for any more temple because we as God’s people have become that temple. It is noteworthy that the second temple was destroyed after Peter wrote these words. Peter was martyred in the mid 60’s and the temple was destroyed in 70. Peter knew that God was doing something greater than preserving a building build by Herod and other people. That temple has symbolic meaning for the old ways of doing things, but God had new plans. These plans were for all people to be made into a new Israel. The old Israel had ended (contra dispensationalism). This old one was an “Israel” determined by ethnicity and not faith. The new Israel is determined by faith, by trusting in the Lord. The result will be honor and not shame. These ideas have big implications for theology and how believers should see themselves as a new community.
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