Relationship Of Christians with One Another
Excerpt
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” (NEB; compare Brc “injury”), but specifically refers to abusive language, hence “insult” (NAB, GECL, JB, Phps “angry word”). The source of this insulting language may be either believers themselves (compare JB “angry word with another one”), or more probably non-believers…
Arichea, Daniel C., and Eugene Albert Nida. A Handbook on the First Letter from Peter. New York: United Bible Societies, 1980. Print. UBS Handbook Series.
Comments