2 John 1:5

Contextual Overview

⁵ And now, dear lady, I tell you: We should all love each other. This is not a new command. It is the same command we had from the beginning. ⁵ And now I beg you, lady, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. ⁵ And nowe beseche I the lady not as though I wrote a newe commaundement vnto the but that same which we had fro the begynninge that we shuld love one another. ⁵ Now I beg you, dear lady, not as though I wrote to you a new mitzvah, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. ⁵ Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another.⁵ And now, dear lady, this is not a new command but is the same command we have had from the beginning. I ask you that we all love each other. ⁵ And now I urge you, lady, not as though I wrote to you a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. ⁵ And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. ⁵ Now I beg you, dear lady, not as though I wrote to you a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. ⁵ And now I beseech thee, Kuria, (not as writing a new commandment to thee, but that which we had from the beginning ) that we may love one another.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

not: 1 John 2:7, 1 John 2:8, 1 John 3:11

that we: John 13:34, John 13:35, John 15:12, Galatians 5:22, Ephesians 5:2, 1 Thessalonians 4:9, Hebrews 13:1, 1 Peter 1:22, 1 Peter 1:23, 1 Peter 4:8, 2 Peter 1:7, 1 John 3:14-18, 1 John 3:23, 1 John 4:7-12, 1 John 4:20

Reciprocal: Ephesians 4:1 - beseech 1 John 2:24 - which 2 John 1:1 - the elect lady 2 John 1:6 - This is the

Cross-References

Genesis 1:8
And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

Genesis 1:8
And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

Genesis 1:8
God named the air "sky." Evening passed, and morning came. This was the second day.

Genesis 1:8
God called the expanse "sky." There was evening, and there was morning, a second day.

Genesis 1:8
And God called the firmament Heaven: and the evening and the morning were the second day.

Genesis 1:8
God called the expanse sky. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.

Genesis 1:8
God called the expanse [of sky] heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

Genesis 1:8
And God clepide the firmament, heuene. And the euentid and morwetid was maad, the secounde dai.

Genesis 1:8
And God calleth to the expanse `Heavens;' and there is an evening, and there is a morning -- day second.

Genesis 1:8
God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning-the second day.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And now I beseech thee, lady,.... Or "Kyria", which word the Syriac and Arabic versions retain, as if it was a proper name: the apostle having finished the inscription, salutation, and congratulation in the preceding verses, passes to an exhortation and entreaty to observe the commandment of love to one another, which is not a new commandment, but what was from the beginning:

not as though I wrote a new commandment, &c. :- and :-.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And now I beseech thee, lady - Dr, “And now I entreat thee, Kyria,” (κυρία kuria.) See the introduction, Section 2. If this was her proper name, there is no impropriety in supposing that he would address her in this familiar style. John was probably then a very old man; the female to whom the Epistle was addressed was doubtless much younger.

Not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee - John presumed that the command to love one another was understood as far as the gospel was known; and he might well presume it, for true Christianity never prevails anywhere without prompting to the observance of this law. See the notes at 1 Thessalonians 4:9.

But that which we had from the beginning - From the time when the gospel was first made known to us. See the notes at 1 John 2:7; 1 John 3:11.

That we love one another - That is, that there be among the disciples of Christ mutual love; or that in all circumstances and relations they should love one another, John 15:12, John 15:17. This general command, addressed to all the disciples of the Saviour, John doubtless means to say was as applicable to him and to the pious female to whom he wrote as to any others, and ought to be exercised by them toward all true Christians; and he exhorts her, as he did all Christians, to exercise it. It was a command upon which, in his old age, he loved to dwell; and he had little more to say to her than this, to exhort her to obey this injunction of the Saviour.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 John 1:5. That which we had from the beginning — The commandment to love one another was what they had heard from the first publication of Christianity, and what he wishes this excellent woman to inculcate on all those under her care. The mode of address here shows that it was a person, not a Church, to which the apostle wrote.