1 Peter 2:1-10 closes the first part of the epistle about the Dignity of the Christian Vocation and its Responsibilities. 2:11 starts a new section with the plural noun which breaks the series of participles characterizing 1:3-2:10. 2:10 creates an inclusion with 1:3 based on the mention of "mercy".
Verses 1-3 continues the exhortation that began with 1:13. The participial verb "apothemenoi" ("laying aside") is followed by objects that are the opposites of those required by the loving attitude (philadelphia) in 1:22. At the same time, the movement of distancing oneself away evoked in "apothemenoi" is balanced by a contrary movement in "proserchomenoi", "approaching", "going/coming towards".
The phrase "newly-born babies" (2:2) recalls the participial "anagegennemenoi" (having been reborn, 1:23) and its indicative counterpart "anagennesas" ("give new birth") in 1:3. Regenerated then, Christians should desire the "spiritual milk" provided by the Lord. This feeding motiff is continued in the quote from Psalm 33:9: "Taste how sweet is the Lord." The word for "sweet", "chrestos" sounds like "Christos", "Christ". This talk about "spiritual milk" and "tasting Chrestos" may as well be a reference to the Eucharist. The milk spoken of is described as "logikon", literally, "reasonable" and may refer to the proclamation of the word which precedes the breaking of the bread, where one "tastes" the Lord1.
Verses 4-10 is structured by the "building motiff" based on the identification of Christ as the "Living Stone". How from a feeding motif, the author moves to a building motif can be explained by saying that the idea of "biological growth" is here complemented by the physical growth of the construction of a temple. There is however perhaps another reason. The conscious quotation of Psalm 33:9 could have been accompanied by an associated passage not used in the text but linked to the former in the writer's mind, that of Psalm 81:16 "I will feed you with honey from a Rock." This poetic allussion to the water extracted from the Rock at Meribah (Ex. 17:2-7) could have facilitated the passage of thought from "spiritual milk" to "Living Stone."
The Living Stone. The theme of "the living stone" applied to Christ may have come from Jesus himself. Psalm 118:22 is probably a wisdom saying about the irony of divine election: he who was rejected by men becomes honored by God. It was used in Psalm 118 to highligh how Israel though small among the nations is precious to God and honored. This special relationship between God and His people is the basis for the interventions He makes for the benefit of His people. Psalm 118:22 is quoted by Jesus in the Parable of the Tenants of the Vineyard (Mark 12:10-11; Matthew 21:42; Luke 20:17). The only son of the owner of the vineyard is murdered by tenants who refuse to surrender the fruits of the land they tend. The allussion to Jesus' death is completed by another allussion to his vindication when he asks the question "What will the owner of the vineyard do to them?" (Luke 20:15; Matthew 21:40; Mk. 12:9). Whatever the differences may be among the Synoptic gospels in handing on this parable of Jesus, the quotation from Psalm 118:22 is common to all and is used in a similar way2. In Luke this is followed by a saying about the stone on which people will fall (v. 18), an allussion to the stone of stumbling in Isaiah 8:14, 28:16
If it is correct to say that Psalm 118:22 was originally applied by Christ to himself, it would not be difficult to understand how New Testament writers began to associate other passages to it because of the stone motiff. Isaiah 28:16 combined with Isaiah 8:14 originally referred to Yahweh who causes stumbling to those in Jerusalem who , swayed by an ideology -- perhaps one that is based on the promises to David -- that abets and even justifies what to the prophet looks like infidelity to Yahweh's covenant. St. Paul uses this same motif to explain how the Israelites fell from their status as God's people and their place taken by the Gentiles (Rom. 9:32-33). The author of 1 Peter, quoting from memory, interprets the passages by explaining who are those who fall and those who stand.
People of God. In verse 9, the attributes employed in 1 Peter to illustrate the Christian community derives from Exodus 19:6 and Isaiah 43. Isaiah 19:6 is from the covenant preparations at the foot of Sinai. In using the text, the author of 1 Peter is describing his community as the covenanted people. He had alluded to this in the 1:1 where he mentions "the sprinkling of the blood of Christ". He makes it more explicit here combining it with Isaiah 43, the magnificent text about Israel's ransoming and protestation of Yahweh's election of His people. Below is an illustration of how these two texts are combined in 1 Peter 2:9
It is obvious from the above that the author was combining texts from memory. "Chosen race" and "purchased people that you may declare the virtues" are from Isaiah 43:20-21. It is noteworthy to mention that the context of these attributes is the "new thing" that God intends to perform (Is. 43:19), of creating a river in the wilderness, providing water for the people He will lead through the desert. Within the context of 1 Peter, this remembered passage about water and God's chosen people is evoked by the baptism through which the Christian community has been regenerated.
1 Peter 2:10 is a free citation of Hosea 2:23 which is an oracle about the reconciliation of Yahweh and Israel. The passage may have been a part of those texts the early Christians used to reflect on the status of Gentile converts for it is also used by Paul in Romans 9:25-26. The text Hosea (LXX) appears thus
a) And I shall have mercy upon Not-Pitied
b) and I shall say to Not-My-People "my people"
c) and he shall say to me "you are the Lord My God"
Note that the author of 1 Peter, quoting from memory, reverses the order of the lines.
(Ye) who in time past were no people,
but now are God’s people,
(Ye) who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy
This was not due to a mistake; it was his intention to recall 1,3 ".. according to His mercy He has given us new birth in Christ". With this inclusion, the author puts the new dignity Christians have acquired through baptism within the context of that act by which the Israel of old was constituted God's covenanted people. The attributes of God's people in the Old Testament is now transferred to the Church the new Temple built on Christ, the "Living Stone"
1 The pattern "proclamation of the word" followed by "breaking of the bread" is known from Luke 24's narrative about the journey to Emmaus and from the Manna Discourse in John 6 where a wisdom-concept of "manna" (proclamation of the word) is followed by a eucharistic idea ("manna" to be eaten.)
2 It can be objected that the inclusion of "the Lord has made it and it is wonderful to our eyes" in Mark (followed by Matthew) may be polemical in intent and therefore the whole quotation is of Christian origin. The same, however, can be admitted without attributing the whole parable and the quotation of Psalm 118:22 to Christians. The parable and quotation may have been from Christ but remodelled by polemicists by the simple inclusion of "the Lord has made it and it is wonderful in our eyes". It is possible that the self-identification of Jesus with the "stone rejected by the builders", is an ipsissima verba Iesu.
