(6) They are not to pay back evil with evil or cursing with cursing. The whole verse is very similar to the recorded sayings of Jesus in Matthew 5.43, 44 (compare Luke 6.27, 28) and to some of Paul’s statements in his letters (compare Rom 12.17; 1 Thes 5.15; 1 Cor 4.12); this has led many scholars to conclude that here we are dealing with traditional teaching material used in the early church, and Peter uses it here because it is very appropriate for his readers.
Pay back means doing something to someone as a result of what he has done; here it includes the idea of revenge or retaliation, which Christians are admonished not to do. Cursing with cursing harks back to 2.23. The word for cursing is used only three times in the whole New Testament (here and in 1 Tim 5.14), and generally means “abuse” (New English Bible; compare Barclay “injury”), but specifically refers to abusive language, hence “insult” (New American Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Jerusalem Bible, Phillips “angry word”). The source of this insulting language may be either believers themselves (compare Jerusalem Bible “angry word with another one”), or more probably non-believers (compare 2.12).
The reciprocal relationship expressed in Do not pay back evil with evil or cursing with cursing may require considerable restructuring and expansion, for example, “When people do evil to you, you must not do evil to them, or when they curse you, you must not curse them.” The temporal relationship expressed by “when” may also be rendered as conditional in some languages, for example, “If people do evil to you, you should not do evil to them, or if people curse you, you should not curse them.” The same relationships may be expressed by “do not retaliate against people who do evil by doing evil to them, and do not retaliate against those who curse you by cursing them.”
“To do evil to” may be expressed in some languages as “to harm” or “to cause to suffer.” “To curse” is sometimes literally “to call upon the Devil to harm.” Cursing in this sense involves the invoking of certain supernatural powers to cause harm and suffering to another individual.
Instead of paying evil with evil and cursing with cursing, they are to pay back with a blessing (literally “bless”). The opposites of doing evil and of cursing may be meant here, which are doing good (compare Phillips “pay back with good”) and speaking well of those who curse. It is possible, however, that what is meant here is God’s blessing, in which case the Christians are being exhorted to intercede for those who persecute them, and to ask God’s blessings upon them (compare Barclay “You must ask God to bless people who treat you badly”). This last sense would be parallel to the recorded teachings of Jesus in Matthew 5.38-48, especially verse 44 “Love your enemies, and pray for those who mistreat you.”
In order to make clear the meaning of instead, it may be necessary to say “rather than do that, you must do as follows” or “you must not do that; you should do…”
Pay back with a blessing may be rendered as “when people harm you or curse you, you should in turn ask God to bless them” or “… ask God to be good to them.”
Because a blessing is what God promised to give you when he called you is literally “into this you were called in order that you may inherit a blessing.” If “into this” refers back to their blessing others (compare 2.21), then the sense will be “God called you in order for you to bestow a blessing upon others. If you do this, God will also give you a blessing.” If, however, “into this” is interpreted as referring forward, the sense would be “For God called you to receive a blessing from him.” In other words, they are to bless others because God himself has blessed them, and many translations favor this (for example, Barclay “It is to act like that that you were called and that is the way in which you will receive for yourselves the blessing God has promised you”; Jerusalem Bible “That is what you are called to do so that you inherit a blessing yourself”). Both are possible, although the following quotation from Psalm 34 seems to suggest that here the former alternative is intended, and many translations favor it. For “inherit,” see verse 7 (“heir”).
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The First Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .