To whom coming, as unto a Living Stone, &c.— By coming unto Christ is meant the joining oneself to him as a part of this spiritual building, or embracing his religion with the heart unto righteousness. The reason why St. Peter compares Jesus Christ to a stone was, because he had, under the Spirit of God, his eye upon those passages of the Old Testament which he quotes in the following verses. Plants and animals are alive, as long as there is a proper communication of nourishment through their several vessels; so likewise rocks and stones are said to be alive, as long as they are not cut out of the quarry, but continue to partake of that nourishment which circulates from vein to vein; so long as they grow to it, and have the most close and firm union. Milton, however, has an image, which may further illustrate this of St. Peter's:
"Anon out of the earth a fabric huge "Rose, like an exhalation; with the sound "Of dulcet symphonies, and voices sweet; "Built like a temple; where pilasters round "Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid "With golden architrave." PAR. LOST, b. 1 : 50: 710, &c.
For though the stone here spoken of is supposed to be now in the building, or at the foundation of it, yet it is represented as still alive, and therefore, in much the same way with the image in Milton, St. Peter intended to signify, that from a living stone at the foundation, a temple grows, and that it all partakes of such common nourishment as circulates through the living rock. By such means it has the most intimate union, and is rendered one firm and compact building. See Ephesians 2:20; Ephesians 2:22. The image, Daniel 2:34-35; Daniel 2:45 is somewhat different; but so far it agrees with this, as that the stone cut out of the mountains without the hands of men, is there supposed to be still a living stone, and to grow up itself into a great mountain. Disallowed of men, means "rejected of the chief priests, scribes, and elders, the rulers of the Jews, who were looked upon as master-builders in Israel." Instead of lively stones, 1 Peter 2:5 we should certainly read living stones, as 1 Peter 2:4 the word being the same. The Jews used to call themselves the temple of the Lord, because they worshipped at that temple. The Christian church is here called a spiritual house, not as deriving that title from their worshipping in the temple at Jerusalem, in which the Jews so much boasted: that was indeed called the house of God; but it was a lifeless building, compared with this spiritual house, of which Jesus Christ is the foundation, and Christians themselves the superstructure, 1 Timothy 3:15. Grotius has observed, that among the Hebrews the Levites used to be called the stones to the temple; but this appellation is here applied to all Christians. When all Christ's disciples are represented as living stones, which ought to be united into one spiritual house or temple, it may put us in mind of that harmony and concord which is requisite to fit Christians into one well-united and complete society. Having, in the foregoing sentence, compared them to the house or temple of God, in the next sentencethe apostle rises somewhat higher, and compares them to the priests of the family of Aaron, who were appointed to minister in the temple. The Jews gloried in such a holy and magnificent building as the temple, and in their chief priests and other sacred persons of the tribe of Levi, who were appointed to perform the temple service; but Christians have among them what is superior to both. In Israel there was only a part of one tribe appointed to be priests, and it was unlawful for the rest of the tribe, or for any person of any other of the tribes, to exercise the priest's office; nor could the priests offer sacrifices in any place but the temple: but under the Gospel, not the ministers of the gospel only, but all Christians, are represented as a holy priesthood, who are obliged to offer up the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise, and who may offer them as acceptably in one place as another. See 1 Peter 2:9. The sanctity of this priesthood does not arise from their being anointed with oil, or any solemn instalment; neither does it consist in robes and vestments, or in their observation of rites and ceremonies; but in faith and love, in their holy and righteous lives, in their piety towards God, good-will to men, and wise government of themselves, particularly of their passions and appetites. This is the true sanctity wherewith all Christians should be clothed, as Aaron and his sons were with the holy garments, which were for glory and for beauty. Exodus 28:2.Hebrews 13:15. The allusion to the temple led the apostle of course to speak of the priests; and from the priests it was an easy transition to the sacrifices which they offered in the temple; and so to the spiritual sacrifices of prayer, praise, and obedience, which are all acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, who is the great High-priest over the house of God, and whose intercession alone can recommend to the Father such imperfect services as ours. See Ephesians 5:2.