Peter’s readers were “born again” (1 Peter 1:3). Yet a person “born again” is not perfected and so Peter had to instruct his “born again” readers to “put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander” (1 Peter 2:1). It is very possible, then, that a fellow child of God fails to embrace the unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, tender-heartedness, and humility listed in 1 Peter 1:8, and thereby do “evil” to a brother. Yet the line of thought in the present section of Peter’s letter focuses on how to live in a world of Gentiles. In fact, Gentiles may “speak against you as evildoers” (1 Peter 2:12), something the Christian experiences as “evil.” And speaking against you as evildoers can easily grow into something more physical (1 Peter 2:18–25). Without excluding evil done by a fellow Christian, Peter’s focus here is surely on evil done by Gentiles.
9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.