What does 1 Peter 2:8 mean, "whereunto also they were appointed"?

Whosoever Will, The Decree That Isn't Written Down: The verb behind “were appointed” is an aorist passive of tithemi. No agent is named. The relative that governs “whereunto” is neuter. It cannot refer back to “the word” or “the stone”. The appointment in the grammar is to the stumbling. “being disobedient” is a present participle describing their state. It is the same disobedience already named in verse 7. Peter does not write: God appointed these men to unbelief, and then damned them for the unbelief He appointed. He writes that the disobedient stumble at the word, and that they were appointed to that stumbling. Set the control beside it. “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” There the construction names God. There the object is salvation. Peter can name God as the one who appoints when the object is mercy. In 1 Peter 2:8 he uses an agentless passive for the appointment of the disobedient to stumbling. The asymmetry is in the text. The imported reading supplies the missing agent and then supplies unbelief as the decreed object. The verse supplies neither. Scripture, King James Version: 1 Peter 2:8, "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."; 1 Thessalonians 5:9, "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,".

Verified. Every scripture quotation on this page has been checked word-for-word against the King James text. Last reviewed 2026-10-18.