Allah tells us that the pious scholars among the People of the Book believe in the Qur'an, as He says:

{Those to whom We gave the Book recite it as it should be recited, they are the ones who believe therein} (2:121).

{And there are, certainly, among the People of the Scripture, those who believe in Allah and in that which has been revealed to you, and in that which has been revealed to them, humbling themselves before Allah} (3:199).

{Verily, those who were given knowledge before it, when it is recited to them, fall down on their faces in humble prostration. And they say: "Glory be to our Lord! Truly, the promise of our Lord must be fulfilled."} (17:107-108)

{And you will find the nearest in love to the believers those who say: "We are Christians."} until:

{so write us down among the witnesses} (5:82-83).

Sa'id bin Jubayr said, “This was revealed concerning seventy priests who were sent by An-Najashi (ruler of Ethiopia). When they came to the Prophet he recited to them:

{Ya Sin. By the Qur'an, full of wisdom.} (36:1-2)

until he completed the Surah. They began to weep, and they embraced Islam. These other Ayat were revealed concerning them:”

See volume one, the Tafsir of Surat Al-Baqarah (2:121) for comments on this Ayah.

meaning, 'even before the Qur'an came we were Muslims, i.e., we believed in One God and were sincerely responding to Allah's commands.'

means, those who have this characteristic - that they believed in the first Book and then in the second. Allah says:

{because they are patient,} meaning, in their adherence to the truth, for taking such thing upon oneself is not easy for people. It was reported in the Sahih from the Hadith of 'Amir Ash-Sha'bi from Abu Burdah that Abu Musa Al-Ash'ari, may Allah be pleased with him, said that the Messenger of Allah said:

«There are three who will be given their reward twice: a man among the People of the Book who believed in his Prophet then believed in me; a slave who fulfills his duty towards Allah and towards his master; and a man who has a slave woman and educates her and teaches her good manners, then he frees her and marries her.»

Imam Ahmad recorded that Abu Umamah said: “On the day of the Conquest [of Makkah] I was walking alongside the Messenger of Allah as he was riding, and he said some very beautiful words, including the following:

«Whoever among the people of the two Books becomes Muslim, he will have his reward twice, and he has the same rights and duties as we do. Whoever among the idolators becomes Muslim will have one reward, and he has the same rights and duties as we do.»”

Allah's saying:

{and repel evil with good,} means, they do not respond to evil in kind, rather they forgive and overlook.

meaning, 'from the lawful provision that We have given them, they spend on their families and relatives as they are required to do, and they pay Zakah and give voluntary charity.'

meaning, they do not mix with the people who indulge in such talk, rather they do as Allah says:

{and if they pass by some evil vain talk, they pass by it with dignity} (25:72).

means, if some foolish person speaks to them in a foolish manner and says something to which it does not befit them to respond, they turn away from him and do not respond in kind with ugly speech. They never say anything but good words. Allah says of them that they say:

meaning, “we do not seek the way of the ignorant and we do not like it.'”