2-john 1:5
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
And now I beseech you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
American King James Version (AKJV)
And now I beseech you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
American Standard Version (ASV)
And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote to thee a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
And now, my sister, I make a request to you, not sending you a new law, but the law which we had from the first, that we have love for one another.
Webster's Revision
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.
World English Bible
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.
English Revised Version (ERV)
And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote to thee a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
Definitions for 2-john 1:5
Clarke's 2-john 1:5 Bible Commentary
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.
Barnes's 2-john 1:5 Bible Commentary
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.
Wesley's 2-john 1:5 Bible Commentary
1:5 That which we had from the beginning - Of our Lord's ministry. Indeed it was, in some sense, from the beginning of the world. That we may love one another - More abundantly.