The term Peter uses means literally to talk someone down and so amounts to exalting oneself at the expense of another (see further Numbers 12:8; Psalm 101:5; Mark 9:39; Acts 19:9). If God through his imperishable seed would exalt the undeserving to be heirs of a heavenly inheritance (1 Peter 1:4), there remains no place for talking another down. The talking down can happen in conversations with another person (“Did you hear what So-and-So did?!”); it can also happen in the quiet of one’s own heart as you speak evil to yourself about another. Clearly, speaking evil of another (to a third party or to oneself) perpetuates “malice” and so hinders “love.”