1 Peter 2:4

Not only is Jesus Christ the source of the believer’s spiritual sustenance, He is also our foundation. Peter not only changed his metaphor from growing to building, but he also changed it from an individual to a corporate focus. However, unlike a piece of rock, Jesus Christ is alive and able to impart strength to those who suffer for His sake. "Living stone" is an oxymoron, a figure of speech in which the writer joins contradictory or incongruous terms to make a point. The point here is that even though Jesus Christ is the church’s foundation, He is also alive today. Builders quarried and chiseled huge blocks of stone to support large buildings in the ancient Near East. Some of the Old Testament writers compared God to such a foundation (e.g., Deuteronomy 32:4; Deuteronomy 32:15; Deuteronomy 32:18; Deuteronomy 32:30-31; Psalms 18:2; Psalms 18:31; Psalms 18:46; Psalms 62:2; Psalms 62:6; et al.; cf. Matthew 7:24-25; Matthew 16:18). Peter modified this figure and used it to describe Jesus Christ. [Note: See C. Norman Hillyer, "’Rock-Stone’ Imagery in I Peter," Tyndale Bulletin 22 (1971):58-81; and Frederic R. Howe, "Christ, the Building Stone, in Peter’s Theology," Bibliotheca Sacra 157:625 (January-March 2000):35-43.]

Here Peter began to give the basis on which the four preceding exhortations rest. These exhortations were: be holy (1 Peter 1:13-16), be fearing (1 Peter 1:17-21), be loving (1 Peter 1:22-25), and be consuming the Word (1 Peter 2:1-3). They grow out of our relationship to God who has begotten us.

The apostle referred to Psalms 118:22 that both Jesus and he had previously quoted to the Sanhedrin (Matthew 21:42; Acts 4:11).