Isaiah 28:16
Isaiah 28:1616So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.
Understood as a prophecy of Jesus as the foundation stone of Jehovah's arrangement — the Messiah on whom the congregation is built. The Watchtower has no difficulty with the messianic application; the difficulty is with what the New Testament writers do when they quote it, since they treat trusting the stone as the thing that saves.
Notice who lays the stone and who is trusted. Jehovah says: here I am laying a foundation in Zion, and the one who exercises faith in it will not panic. The stone is the object of the faith. Paul quotes this verse twice, at and , and both times the stone is Jesus. Peter quotes it at and does the same. So the promise that trusting this stone keeps you from shame becomes, in apostolic hands, the promise that trusting Jesus does. What makes it useful is the company Paul keeps it in. Three verses after quoting this in , he quotes Joel — "everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved" — and applies it to Jesus. The Old Testament promise attaches to Jehovah; Paul attaches it to Christ without any sense that he has changed the subject. Compare , .