彼前二4~5　你们来到祂这为人所弃绝，却为神所拣选所宝贵的活石跟前，也就像活石，被建造成为属灵的殿，成为圣别的祭司体系，借着耶稣基督献上神所悦纳的属灵祭物。

　　由于传统的影响，有些人说我们不该使用新辞发表基督的所是。……我们不该信靠传统神学，因为那限制我们，甚至误导我们。我们需要看见圣经中基督的所有方面，特别要看见，我们的基督有一方面是为着神建造的石头。为着这建造的石头，阿利路亚！

　　基督不仅是为着神建造的石头，也是绊脚的石头和砸人的石头。论到祂自己是绊脚的石头和砸人的石头，主耶稣说，“那跌在这石头上的，必要跌碎；这石头掉在谁身上，就要把谁砸得粉碎，簸散如糠秕。”（太二一44）对于信徒，基督是我们所信靠的基石（赛二八16）。但对于不信的犹太人，祂是绊脚的石头（八14~15，罗九32~33）；对于列国，祂将是砸人的石头。按照但以理二章三十四至三十五节，基督这石头在祂回来时要砸碎列国（使徒行传生命读经，一四七至一四八页）。

　　1 Pet. 2:4-5 Coming to Him, a living stone, rejected by men but with God chosen and precious, you yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

　　Due to the influence of tradition, some say that we should not use new terms to express what Christ is....We should not trust in traditional theology, for it restricts us and even misleads us. We need to see in the Word all the aspects of Christ. In particular, our Christ has the aspect of being a stone for God's building.

　　Christ is not only the stone for God's building; He is also the stumbling stone and the smiting stone. Concerning Himself as the stumbling stone and smiting stone, the Lord Jesus said, "He who falls on this stone shall be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it shall crush him to powder and scatter him like chaff" (Matt. 21:44). To the believers, Christ is the foundation stone in whom we trust (Isa. 28:16). But to the unbelieving Jews, He is the stumbling stone (Isa. 8:14-15; Rom. 9:32-33), and to the nations He will be the smiting stone. According to Daniel 2:34 and 35, Christ as the stone will smite the nations at His coming back. (Life-study of Acts, pp. 130-131)

　　对我们信徒而言，基督不是绊脚的石头，也不是砸人的石头—祂乃是建造的石头，甚至是繁殖的石头。对于我们，祂已经成为建造的石头。首先，我们成为祂的繁殖，现今祂正将我们建造在一起，成为神的居所。祂是为着神建造的建造者和材料。祂是石头救主。在神的经纶里，祂正建造祂永远的居所。祂对犹太人和列国，分别是绊脚的石头和砸人的石头；但对我们，祂是繁殖的石头和建造的石头。

　　石头在圣经中是主要的项目。……头一个人是泥土人〔参创二7〕。然后神亲自来作人，这人是石头人。在圣经末了，启示录这卷书中，有一座石头城，一座用石头建造的城。所以，圣经开始于泥土人，继之以石头人，完成于石头城。这是神的经纶。……在圣经里，从创世记二章到启示录二十二章，有一条关于石头的线。创世记二章有玛瑙石，这是开始；然后在启示录二十一至二十二章有碧玉城，这是完成。这城的外观、墙和第一根基，都是碧玉。所以，彼得说到基督是匠人所轻弃的石头，神却在复活里使祂成为房角石！（使徒行传生命读经，一四八、一五一至一五二页）。

　　活石不仅有生命，也能在生命里长大。这活石就是为着神的建造的基督。这里彼得将他的隐喻，由植物生命的种子（彼前一23~24）转换为矿物的石头。种子是为着生命的栽种；石头是为着建造（二5）。彼得的思想已经从生命的栽种往前到了神的建造。为着作我们的生命，基督是种子；为着神的建造，祂是石头。我们接受祂作生命的种子后，就需要长大，好经历祂作活在我们里面的石头。这样，祂也要把我们作成因祂石头性情而变化的活石，在祂这根基和房角石（赛二八16）上，与别人同被建造，成为属灵的殿（圣经恢复本，彼前二4注2）。

　　我们这些在基督里的信徒，借着重生和变化，成了活石，像基督一样。我们原是用泥土造的（罗九21），但在重生时，得着了神圣生命的种子，这种子在我们里面长大，就把我们变化为活石。彼得在悔改信主时，主给他取了一个新名，就是彼得—石头（约一42）；当他得着关于基督的启示之后，主进一步启示祂也是磐石—石头（太十六16~18）。这两件事给彼得深刻的印象，就是基督和祂的信徒都是为着神的建造的石头（彼前二5注1）。

　　参读：彼得前书生命读经，第十六至十七篇。

　　For us as believers, Christ is neither the stumbling stone nor the smiting stone—He is the building stone, even the propagating stone. For us, He has become the building stone. First, we became His propagation, and now He is building us up together into God's dwelling place. He is both the Builder and the material for God's building. He is the Stone-Savior. In God's economy He is building His eternal habitation. For the Jews and the nations respectively, He is the stumbling stone and the smiting stone. But to us He is the propagating stone and the building stone.

　　In the Bible stone is a major item....The first man was a clay-man [cf. Gen. 2:7]. Then God Himself came to be a man, and this man was a stone-man. At the end of the Bible, in the book of Revelation, we have a stone-city, a city built of stone. Therefore, the Bible begins with a clay-man, continues with a stone-man, and consummates in a stone-city. This is God's economy.

　　In the Bible there is a line concerning stone from Genesis 2 through Revelation 22. In Genesis 2 we have the onyx stone at the beginning, and then in Revelation 21 and 22 we have the jasper city as the consummation. The appearance, the wall, and the first foundation of this city are all of jasper. How much truth, therefore, is indicated and implied by Peter's referring to Christ as the stone rejected by the builders but made by God the cornerstone in resurrection! (Life-study of Acts, pp. 131, 133-134)

　　A living stone is one that not only possesses life but also grows in life. This is Christ for God's building. Here Peter changed his metaphor from a seed, which is of the vegetable life (1 Pet. 1:23-24), to a stone, which is of the minerals. The seed is for life-planting; the stone is for building (2:5). Peter's thought went on from life-planting to God's building. As life to us, Christ is the seed; for God's building, He is the stone. After receiving Him as the seed of life, we need to grow that we may experience Him as the stone living in us. Thus He will make us also living stones, transformed with His stone nature, that we may be built together with others as a spiritual house upon Him as both the foundation and the cornerstone (Isa. 28:16). (1 Pet. 2:4, footnote 1)

　　We, the believers in Christ, are living stones, like Christ, through regeneration and transformation. We were created of clay (Rom. 9:21). But at regeneration we received the seed of the divine life, which by its growing in us transforms us into living stones. At Peter's conversion the Lord gave him a new name, Peter—a stone (John 1:42); and when Peter received the revelation concerning Christ, the Lord revealed further that He was the rock—a stone (Matt. 16:16-18). By these two incidents Peter received the impression that both Christ and His believers are stones for God's building. (1 Pet. 2:5, footnote 1)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 1 Peter, msgs. 16-17