It is our second chapel service today in this 1st semester of academic year 2025-2026. As expected, the school president is the speaker. He talked about Jesus as the Living Stone based on 1 Peter 2:4-10.
As my usual practice, while listening, I am also doing an exegetical outline of the passage. I found the same theme.
Cornerstone
However, the idea of a living stone for contemporary readers appears strange. And then I got a hint that this living stone is also called the cornerstone. The Greek word is akrogōniaion (ἀκρογωνιαῖον) in its noun form.
Speaking of a stone in a structure, I think almost everyone is familiar with the foundation stone. Interestingly, the cornerstone is the first stone laid in a building's foundation to ensure proper alignment of the entire structure. Such a stone is huge and carefully selected because all other stones would be set in reference to it.
And so we see here the connection between a cornerstone and a foundation stone. So while all cornerstones are foundation stones, not all foundation stones are cornerstones.
The apostle Peter, in describing Jesus as the Living Stone, meant that he holds the entire structure, which is the church or the new humanity.
Your Life's Foundation
Relating the theme to our time, I could not avoid thinking about someone's life's foundation.
I invite you to a mental exercise. Just think of the person right now, of the person that you trust the most. Or someone that you love the most. Did it ever cross your mind what would happen to you in case he suddenly disappeared? How about if that person suddenly dies? Or abandons you for another lover? What would be its impact on you?
Are these questions hypothetical? Or do they describe the reality in our time?
With the ongoing gender war and the debate between the masculine woman and the feminine man, we are now witnessing the disintegration of what I consider the most sacred of human bonds. If this moral dilemma will not be corrected, I foresee social chaos in years to come. How I wish I were mistaken. Of course, we have been living in such chaos since the advent of the modern age. However, many thinkers agree that we see no sign of positive development in the moral crisis of our time. What they describe as "rotten to the very core" is getting worse as months and years pass by. The social chaos I am referring to is the withdrawal of men from the dating field and marriage and the increase in pornography and prostitution.
Whether you agree or not as to the accuracy of such an interpretation of the modern age, I think the question of life's foundation, whether it's personal or social, is crumbling down as the morality continues to decline.
An Overview of Homiletical Outline
I cannot provide the whole exposition of the passage due to time constraints and lack of tools. However, I can only give a general outline of the relevance of the idea of taking Jesus as the Living Stone.
What is your life's foundation? Or maybe it is not a thing but a person. Who is the person that you consider the foundation of your life? The prophet said, "Cursed is he who puts his trust in man" (Jeremiah 17:5). And that man includes you.
In the Christian worldview, Jesus is the only person considered as the true stable foundation of life, both personal and social. The question is, is he your life's foundation? If he is indeed your life's foundation, then what does God expect you to do?
God expects you to come to Jesus, for you know that in coming to him, you are being built as part of his people, verses 4-5.
The phrase "being built" requires further explanation, which I cannot do this time. What is clear in the text is that the people of God are described in glorious terms such as "living stones," "spiritual house," and a "holy priesthood." To have a proper interpretation of these titles requires sound knowledge of both the Old and the New Testaments.
God expects you to have a high view of the Holy Scriptures, verses 6-8.
This is one serious problem in our time, even within the evangelical circle. It appears that everyone has a low view of the Bible. The idea of the Holy Scriptures as an oracular book is now dismissed as primitive and irrational.
However, this kind of knowledge that considers Jesus as the Living Stone, the cornerstone, and the foundation stone cannot be found anywhere else but from the sacred pages. Moreover, the Holy Scriptures also distinguished between those who trust and those who reject Jesus as the cornerstone. Definitely, such rejection will have serious consequences in one's life. If such rejection becomes part of the culture, a few Christian philosophers equate that with cultural suicide.
God expects you to have a firm conviction about your status as members of His people, verses 9-10.
Such a status is enumerated with fourfold descriptions and twofold contrasts. The descriptions include "a chosen race," "a royal priesthood," "a holy nation," and "a people belonging to God."
The twofold contrasts:
Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.
Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Observe the contrast between the past and the current status of those who trust in Jesus as the foundation of their lives.