1 Peter 2:7-8

1 Peter 2:7-8

[7] therefore  which  believe  he is precious:  but  the stone  which  the builders  disallowed,  the same  is made  the head  of the corner,  [8] And  a stone  of stumbling,  and  a rock  of offence,  even to them which  stumble  at the word,  being disobedient:  whereunto  also  they were appointed. 

What does 1 Peter 2:7-8 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

In contrast to believers, those who reject Jesus Christ as the foundation find Him to be a stone over which they trip and fall. He becomes the instrument of their destruction. The "builders" were Israel"s religious leaders (cf. Psalm 118:22). When they disobeyed Old Testament commands to accept their Messiah, they stumbled spiritually and would suffer destruction ( Isaiah 8:14). This was true of Israel corporately, and it is true of every unbeliever individually.
Jesus Christ was the stone that would have completed Israel had Israel"s leaders accepted Him as their Messiah, Israel"s keystone. Instead, the Israelites cast the stone aside by rejecting their Messiah. God then proceeded to make this stone the foundation of a new edifice that He would build, namely, the church. Israel"s rejected keystone has become the church"s foundation stone.
Election results in the salvation of some ( 1 Peter 1:2), but it also means destruction for others ( 1 Peter 2:8).
"In the immediate context it is not so much a question of how Christian believers perceive Christ as of how God (in contrast to "people generally") perceives him, and of how God consequently vindicates both Christ and his followers." [1]
To what does God appoint those who stumbled, unbelief or the stumbling that results from unbelief? In the Greek text the antecedent of "to this" (eis ho) is the main verb "stumble" (proskoptousi), as it is in the English text. "Are disobedient" (apeithountes) is a participle that is subordinate to the main verb. Therefore we would expect "to this" to refer to the main verb "stumble" rather than to the subordinate participle "are disobedient." God appoints those who stumble to stumble because they do not believe. Their disobedience is not what God has ordained, but the penalty of their disobedience is (cf. Acts 2:23; Romans 11:8; Romans 11:11; Romans 11:30-32). [2]
The doctrine of "double predestination" is that God foreordains some people to damnation just as He foreordains some to salvation. This has seemed to some Bible students to be the logical conclusion we should draw because of what Scripture says about the election of believers (e.g, Romans 9; Ephesians 1). However this is not a scriptural revelation. The Bible always places the responsibility for the destiny of the lost on them for not believing rather than on God for foreordaining (e.g, John 1:12; John 3:36; John 5:24; John 6:47; Romans 1-3).
". . . the point of 1 Peter 2:6-8 is to demonstrate the honored status believers have because of their relationship with Christ." [3]