1 John 2:7

Contextual Overview

⁷Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard.⁷ Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. ⁷ Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard.⁷Cowboys, this directive I am writing to you is not a new one. It's the old one you've heard from the beginning of your ride—love each other and have each other's backs. You already know it. ⁷ My loved ones, I do not give you a new law, but an old law which you had from the first; this old law is the word which came to your ears. ⁷ Beloved, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which ye have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye heard. ⁷ Brothers, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. ⁷ Beloved, I write not a new commandment to you, but the old commandment, which ye have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. ⁷ My dearly-loved friends, it is no new command that I am now giving you, but an old command which you have had from the very beginning. By the old command I mean the teaching which you have already received. ⁷ Brethren, I write no new commandement vnto you, but an olde commandement which ye had from the beginning: the old commandement is the word which ye haue heard from the beginning.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I write: 1 John 3:11, Acts 17:19, 2 John 1:5

but: Leviticus 19:18, Leviticus 19:34, Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 5:43, Matthew 22:37-40, Mark 12:29-34, Romans 13:8-10, Galatians 5:13, Galatians 5:14, James 2:8-12

Reciprocal: Matthew 13:52 - things John 15:12 - General 1 John 2:12 - write 1 John 2:24 - which

Cross-References

Genesis 2:14
The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

Genesis 2:14
The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

Genesis 2:14
And the name of the third river is Tigris; it is the one that went east of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

Genesis 2:14
The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

Genesis 2:14
The name of ye thirde ryuer is Hidekel, & it goeth toward the east side of Assiria: & the fourth ryuer is Euphrates.

Genesis 2:14
The name of the third river was Tigris. This river flowed east of Assyria. The fourth river was the Euphrates.

Genesis 2:14
And the name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

Genesis 2:14
forsothe the name of the thridde ryuer is Tigris, thilke goith ayens Assiriens; sotheli the fourthe ryuer is thilke Eufrates.

Genesis 2:14
And the name of the third riuer is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the East of Assyria: and the fourth riuer is Euphrates.

Genesis 2:14
And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you,.... Some understand this of faith, which this apostle calls a commandment, 1 John 3:23; but it rather intends the commandment of love, especially to the brethren, of which the apostle says the same things as here in his second epistle, 1 John 2:5; and this sense agrees both with what goes before and follows after, and is a considerable branch of the commandments of Christ to be kept, and of walking as he walked; and the word "brethren", prefixed to this account, may direct to, and strengthen this sense, though the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions read, "beloved"; and so the Alexandrian copy, and others: and this commandment is said to be not a new one,

but an old commandment, which ye had from the beginning; it being in its original a part of the eternal law of truth, founded upon the unalterable nature and eternal will of God, who is love itself, and requires it in all his creatures; being what was written on Adam's heart in a state of innocence, and a branch of the divine image stamped upon him; and is what was delivered in the law of Moses, for love to God and men is the sum and substance of that; and was taught by Christ and his apostles from the beginning of the Gospel dispensation; and was what these saints had been acquainted with, and influentially instructed in from their first conversion, being taught of God in regeneration to love one another; so that this was no novel doctrine, no upstart notion, no new law, but of the greatest and most venerable antiquity, and therefore to be regarded in the most respectful manner.

The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning; or this ancient law of love is contained in, and enforced by that word or doctrine which was delivered from the beginning of time; and which these saints had heard of, concerning the seed of the woman's bruising the serpent's head, which includes the work of redemption and salvation by Christ, atonement by his sacrifice, forgiveness of sin through his blood, and justification by his righteousness, than which nothing can more powerfully engage to love God, and Christ, and one another; and which is also strongly encouraged by the word of God and Gospel of Christ, which they had heard, and had a spiritual and saving knowledge of, from the time they were effectually called by the grace of God: the phrase, "from the beginning", is left out in the Alexandrian copy, and others, and in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions; it is omitted in both clauses of the text in the latter.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you - That is, what I am now enjoining is not new. It is the same doctrine which you have always heard. There has been much difference of opinion as to what is referred to by the word “commandment,” whether it is the injunction in the previous verse to live as Christ lived, or whether it is what he refers to in the following verses, the duty of brotherly love. Perhaps neither of these is exactly the idea of the apostle, but he may mean in this verse to put in a general disclaimer against the charge that what he enjoined was new. In respect to all that he taught, the views of truth which he held the duties which he enjoined, the course of life which he would prescribe as proper for a Christian to live, he meant to say that it was not at all new; it was nothing which he had originated himself, but it was in fact the same system of doctrines which they had always received since they became Christians. He might have been induced to say this because he apprehended that some of those whom he had in his eye, and whose doctrines he meant to oppose, might say that this was all new; that it was not the nature of religion as it had been commonly understood, and as it was laid down by the Saviour. In a somewhat different sense, indeed, he admits 1 John 2:8 that there was a “new” commandment which it was proper to enjoin - for he did not forget that the Saviour himself called that “new;” and though that commandment had also been all along inculcated under the gospel, yet there was a sense in which it was proper to call that new, for it had been so called by the Saviour. But in respect to all the doctrines which he maintained, and in respect to all the duties which he enjoined, he said that they were not new in the sense that he had originated them, or that they had not been enjoined from the beginning.

Perhaps, also, the apostle here may have some allusion to false teachers who were in fact scattering new doctrines among the people, things before unheard of, and attractive by their novelty; and he may mean to say that he made no pretensions to any such novelty, but was content to repeat the old and familiar truths which they had always received. Thus, if he was charged with breaching new opinions, he denies it fully; if they were advancing new opinions, and were even “making capital” out of them, he says that he attempted no such thing, but was content with the old and established opinions which they had always received.

But an old commandment - Old, in the sense that it has always been inculcated; that religion has always enjoined it.

Which ye had from the beginning - Which you have always received ever since you heard anything about the gospel. It was preached, when the gospel was first preached; it has always been promulgated when that has been promulgated; it is what you first heard when you were made acquainted with the gospel. Compare the notes at 1 John 1:1.

The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning - Is the “doctrine;” or is what was enjoined. John is often in the habit of putting a truth in a new form or aspect in order to make it emphatic, and to prevent the possibility of misapprehension. See John 1:1-2. The sense here is: “All that I am saying to yea is in fact an old commandment, or one which you have always had. There is nothing new in what I am enjoining on you.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 7. Brethren, I write no new commandment — There seems a contradiction between this and the next verse. But the apostle appears to speak, not so much of any difference in the essence of the precept itself, as in reference to the degrees of light and grace belonging to the Mosaic and Christian dispensations. It was ever the command of God that men should receive his light, walk by that light, and love him and one another. But this commandment was renewed by Christ with much latitude and spirituality of meaning; and also with much additional light to see its extent, and grace to observe it. It may therefore be called the OLD commandment, which was from the beginning; and also a NEW commandment revealed afresh and illustrated by Christ, with the important addition to the meaning of Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye shall love the brethren so as to lay down your lives for each other. John 13:34; John 13:34.

Instead of αδελφοι, brethren, ABC, thirteen others, with both the Syriac, Erpen's Arabic, Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, Slavonic, and Vulgate, with several of the fathers, have αγαπητοι, beloved. This is without doubt the true reading.