2 John 1:5
And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
John pleads with believers to love one another, urging no new requirement but the command possessed from the beginning. It is old in its unchanging content yet new when Christ renews its lost spirit in the heart and makes it a living experience for the one who accepts Him. This love is not mere feeling but faithful devotion shown by walking in obedience to all of God's commandments, in contrast to the deceivers who had entered the world. It belongs to the enduring law of love to God and neighbor, received through the new birth in which Father and Son come to dwell within.
Commandment and Addressee
The verse exhorts believers to love one another. The love it commands is not a new commandment but one had from the beginning. It is an established and enduring duty rather than a different or newly introduced one, belonging to the letter's emphasis on keeping God's commandments and walking in love.
It is the same commandment John calls both old and new: its content is unchanged, while it becomes new as a lived experience for one who accepts Christ. Christ called it new because he renewed a command whose spirit had been lost from people's hearts, not in the sense of its coming into existence for the first time. The command belongs to the law of love to God and neighbor, with commandment, word, and law naming the same enduring requirement.
The verse is addressed to a Christian lady who is presented as a type of the church. The word lady means the church as a body addressed together with its members, not an individual woman.
Love Shown by Obedience
Loving one another is not a new requirement but the command held from the beginning, belonging to the letter's stress on keeping God's commandments and walking in love. Believers are to walk in it. That love is not mere sentiment but faithful devotion expressed in obedience to God. To love one another is to walk according to God's commandments, with love for God shown by obedience to all His commands.
The love commanded is expressed by walking in God's commandments, which had already been heard and in which believers were to continue, in contrast to the deceivers who had entered the world. This love belongs to the new birth, which brings the indwelling presence of both the Father and the Son.