The Living Stone and Chosen People

(Isaiah 28:14–22, 1 Corinthians 3:10–15, Ephesians 2:19–22)

2 Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

4 As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, 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 it stands in Scripture:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone,

a chosen and precious cornerstone;

and the one who believes in Him

will never be put to shame.”[fn]

7 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,”[fn]

8 and,

“A stone of stumbling

and a rock of offense.”[fn]

They stumble because they disobey the word—and to this they were appointed.

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.[fn]

11 Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul. 12 Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.