2 John 1:5

5 Now, dear friends, I am requesting that we love each other. It's not as though I'm writing a new command to you, but it's one we have had from the beginning.

2 John 1:5 Meaning and Commentary

2 John 1:5

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 (See Gill on 1 John 2:7) and (See Gill on 1 John 2:8).

2 John 1:5 In-Context

3 Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, will be ours who live in truth and love.

4 I was overjoyed to find some of your children living in the truth, just as we had been commanded by the Father.

5 Now, dear friends, I am requesting that we love each other. It's not as though I'm writing a new command to you, but it's one we have had from the beginning.

6 This is love: that we live according to his commands. This is the command that you heard from the beginning: live in love.

7 Many deceivers have gone into the world who do not confess that Jesus Christ came as a human being. This kind of person is the deceiver and the antichrist.