2 John 1:5

5 And so I ask you, dear Lady: let us all love one another. This is no new command I am writing you; it is the command which we have had from the beginning. ¹

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 May God the Father and Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, give us grace, mercy, and peace; may they be ours in truth and love.

4 How happy I was to find that some of your children live in the truth, just as the Father commanded us.

5 And so I ask you, dear Lady: let us all love one another. This is no new command I am writing you; it is the command which we have had from the beginning.

6 This love I speak of means that we must live in obedience to God's commands. The command, as you have all heard from the beginning, is that you must all live in love.

7 Many deceivers have gone out over the world, people who do not acknowledge that Jesus Christ came as a human being. Such a person is a deceiver and the Enemy of Christ.

Cross References

• 1. 5John 13.34; 15.12, 17.