The Greek noun gonia means a corner, angle, or extremity. It appears in the New Testament in two important contexts: the 'corners of the streets' where hypocrites pray to be seen (Matthew 6:5), and the 'cornerstone' metaphor for Christ (Acts 4:11; Ephesians 2:20; 1 Peter 2:7), drawing on Psalm 118:22.
The cornerstone (lithos tes gonias) metaphor is among the most significant in New Testament Christology. The 'stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone' (Psalm 118:22, quoted in Matthew 21:42; Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:7). A cornerstone is the first stone set in a building's foundation, determining the alignment of every subsequent stone. Christ as the gonia-stone means that all of God's redemptive structure is aligned by Him — apostles, prophets, and believers are all built upon and oriented by the chief cornerstone. To reject the cornerstone is to have no building; to build on Him is to have an unshakeable foundation.