Do Not Repay Evil for Evil
8 Finally, all of you be like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tenderhearted, courteous, 9 not rendering evil for evil or insult for insult; but instead blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For, “He who would love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. 11 Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears open to their prayer; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
The refusal to retaliate is not presented as restraint but as the thing the readers were called to do, and a psalm is quoted to say that the outcome is not their business.
Verse 8 gathers five qualities and every one is directed at other believers — unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, tenderness, humility. The letter keeps returning to the internal life of the group whenever external pressure is the subject, on the assumption that a besieged congregation fails from inside first 1 Peter 2:1.
Verse 9 is the turn. Not repaying evil for evil or insult for insult, but blessing instead. The alternative offered is not neutrality; it is the opposite action. And the reason given is arresting: to this you were called. Non-retaliation is not damage control while waiting for better conditions. It is the assignment.
The purpose clause runs both ways at once — called to this so that you may inherit a blessing. What is given out and what is received are the same word.
Verses 10 to 12 then quote a psalm at length Psalms 34:12–16, and the quotation is chosen for its subject: the tongue. Keep it from evil, turn from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it. The same psalm supplied the tasting image earlier 1 Peter 2:3.
Its last line is why it is here. The Lord's eyes are on the righteous and his face against evildoers — the judgment the readers are told not to carry out is not being canceled, only relocated.
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