Читать книгу 1, 2 Peter and Jude Through the Centuries - Rebecca Skaggs - Страница 50

This is the third and final metaphor of this section: even as they personally long for spiritual milk, growth is not individual; rather Peter describes it in terms of community – their transformation “entails incorporation into a new community” (Green, 2007: 61; see also Feldmeier, 2005: 87–88). They will become “living stones” making up a “spiritual house” with access to God himself by means of “spiritual offerings.” This spiritual house is held together by Jesus, the prophesied “chosen and precious cornerstone,” who will also become the “stumbling stone” to those who reject him. The section concludes with the promise that they are now a “chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God for the purpose of praising him” (vv.9–10). Whereas they were heretofore strangers and aliens from God, they are now chosen and belong to God, and are incorporated into his community.