Believers and Unbelievers.
I. The relation which Jesus Christ sustains to believers: "Unto you therefore which believe He is precious." (1) The first element in our idea of preciousness is rarity. (2) Another important element in our idea of preciousness is usefulness. (3) There must also be real intrinsic worth. All these we have in Christ Jesus.
II. The relation which Christ sustains to unbelievers. (1) He is by them rejected. (2) He becomes to them a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. (3) Those who through unbelief crucify to themselves afresh the Son of God do themselves incalculable moral hurt.
J. C. Jones, Studies in First Peter,p. 288.
References: 1 Peter 2:7; 1 Peter 2:8. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. v., No. 242; vol. xvi., No. 931; vol. xxi., No. 1224; Ibid., Evening by Evening,p. 61; H. Allon, The Vision of God,p. 75; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit,vol. ix., p. 124.