1 Peter 2:4-12 - A Living Stone, A Chosen People
4 You should come to Him, who is a living stone, rejected by people, but chosen as precious in God's sight. 5 And you yourselves are also like living stones, being constructed into a spiritual house. For you are like holy priests who offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it says in the Scripture [Isa. 28:16], "Look, I am placing a stone in [the city of] Zion [i.e., Jerusalem]. It is a specially selected, very valuable cornerstone. And the person who trusts in the Him [i.e., the One represented by this stone] will never have to suffer shame [i.e., because of unforgiven sin being brought up against him]."
7 To those of you who believe in Him then, this "Stone" is [very] precious. But to those who do not believe [Psa. 118:22 says], "The stone which those in charge of the building project have rejected has been made the principal stone for aligning the whole structure."
8 [And it also says, Isa. 8:14, that He would be], "A stone that people would stumble over and a rock over which they would trip and fall." The way they stumble is by disobeying the Gospel message. They were destined [though not forced] to do this.
9 But you people are especially chosen [by God]; you are a royal body of priests; you are a nation especially set apart for God's use; you are a people who belong exclusively to God, that you may express the virtues of the One who called you out of darkness [i.e., of sin and error], and into His marvelous light [i.e., righteousness and truth]. 10 At one time you [Gentiles] were not a [chosen] people, but now you are God's [special] people. Once you had not received [His] mercy, but now you have received it.
11 My dearly loved ones, I urge you, as a people who are foreigners and strangers [in this world], do not give in to sinful desires, which wage war against the soul. 12 You should live such good lives before [unconverted] Gentiles, so that even though they accuse you of being evildoers, by seeing your good deeds, they will [be led to] honor God [for you] on the day He visits us again [i.e., to bring judgment].