<p>2:8- see on 1 Pet. 5:2.</p><p><i>A stone of stumbling and a rock of offence- </i>Looking back, it must have been shameful for Peter to recollect how he had sought to dissuade the Lord from going up to Jerusalem to die there for the world&rsquo;s redemption. At that time the Lord had called him a rock, upon whose declaration of faith he would build his church, and then soon afterwards a stumbling-stone, an offence. Peter combines these two descriptions in styling the Lord &ldquo;the head(stone) of the corner (upon which the ecclesia would be built), and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence&rdquo; (1 Pet. 2:7,8). There is undoubted allusion to the very titles which the Lord had given Peter. And yet here Peter applies them both to the Lord Jesus, even the &ldquo;rock of offence&rdquo;. His point perhaps was to show that he saw Christ as manifest in him, and he being &ldquo;in Christ&rdquo;, <i>even in his weakness</i>. Nothing could separate Peter from the love of Christ; and therefore he merges the titles of Christ with those of himself, even when they describe his weakness. This was the unity that was possible between a man and his Lord, and Peter holds it up in inspiration to his readers. &nbsp;</p><p><i>For being disobedient, they stumble at the word- </i>But the Lord Jesus is the rock or stone over which they stumble. So &quot;the word&quot; refers to Him, in that attitudes to His word are attitudes to Him. He is the word, made flesh. We cannot claim to love Him if we disregard His word. The &quot;disobedient&quot; here refer to the Jews who did not accept Jesus as the Christ; for the Greek really means to disbelieve. So when Peter later uses the same word in warning his readership about those who are disobedient to the Gospel, or husbands who do not initially obey the word, he has specifically in view Jews who do not believe in Jesus as Christ (3:1; 4:17).</p><p><i>To which they also were appointed- </i>This does not just say that the wicked are disobedient; they are <i>appointed</i> to this. God therefore had a hand in their disobedience- through confirming them in their conscious rejection of Him. On the other hand, &quot;Whom (God) did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son&quot; (Rom. 8:29). The predestination was not just to know the Gospel, but to be righteous- to be able to conform our characters to the perfect example of Jesus. Thus &quot;I have chosen you... to bring forth fruit&quot; (Jn. 15:16), i.e. spiritual attributes.</p>