This imagery of stones and rocks obviously had special appeal for Peter, and he works these three references together with the skill of a craftsman building a dry-stone wall (1 Peter 2.4-8). It is clear to him that all three stones are pictures of Jesus, “the living stone, rejected by men but specially chosen and precious to God” – and precious, too, to “you who believe”. But then comes the contrast so strongly stated in Isaiah: “but for unbelievers, ‘the stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner, a stone to stumble on (‘proskomma’) and a rock (‘petra’ !) to trip them up (‘skandalon’)”. Paul (Romans 9.33) is more like a builder who chops two bricks in half and then cements two different halves together. He conflates the two verses of Isaiah thus: “Behold, I am laying in Sion / a stone to stumble on and a rock to trip them up; / and he who puts his faith in it will not be put to shame” - he does not use the double negative of the LXX. To both apostles it must have seemed puzzling that so many Jews remained implacably opposed to the idea that Jesus was their long-awaited Messiah. For these Jews, and for many today, their religion was a security-blanket and identity-badge, giving them a reassuring sense of privilege and piety, rather than a personal relationship with the living God. These scriptures provided Peter and Paul, if not with an answer to this puzzle, at least with the reassurance that it had been prophesied long before.
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
SKANDALON 4 (c): OT prophecies quoted by Peter and Paul
This imagery of stones and rocks obviously had special appeal for Peter, and he works these three references together with the skill of a craftsman building a dry-stone wall (1 Peter 2.4-8). It is clear to him that all three stones are pictures of Jesus, “the living stone, rejected by men but specially chosen and precious to God” – and precious, too, to “you who believe”. But then comes the contrast so strongly stated in Isaiah: “but for unbelievers, ‘the stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner, a stone to stumble on (‘proskomma’) and a rock (‘petra’ !) to trip them up (‘skandalon’)”. Paul (Romans 9.33) is more like a builder who chops two bricks in half and then cements two different halves together. He conflates the two verses of Isaiah thus: “Behold, I am laying in Sion / a stone to stumble on and a rock to trip them up; / and he who puts his faith in it will not be put to shame” - he does not use the double negative of the LXX. To both apostles it must have seemed puzzling that so many Jews remained implacably opposed to the idea that Jesus was their long-awaited Messiah. For these Jews, and for many today, their religion was a security-blanket and identity-badge, giving them a reassuring sense of privilege and piety, rather than a personal relationship with the living God. These scriptures provided Peter and Paul, if not with an answer to this puzzle, at least with the reassurance that it had been prophesied long before.
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