Bible Strands

2 John 1:5

And now I urge you, dear lady—not as a new commandment to you, but one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The author addresses a "dear lady" immediately after noting her children walk in truth, urging her to practice love. The words — The Greek verb ἐρωτῶ (erōtō) literally means "I implore," while the phrase οὐχ ὡς (ouch hōs) translates to "not as." The thread — The command to love one another appears in John 13:34 and John 15:12, while 1 John 3:11 explicitly anchors this instruction to what was heard "from the beginning." Why it lands — The text requires readers to practice mutual love as a long-standing obligation rather than a novel requirement, defining that love strictly as walking in obedience to divine commandments.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

καὶkaiAndνῦνnunnowἐρωτῶerōtōI imploreσε,seyou,κυρία,kurialady,οὐχouchnotὡςhōsasἐντολὴνentolēna commandmentκαινὴνkainēnnewγράφωνgraphōnI am writingσοι,soito youἀλλ᾽all᾽butἣνhēnthat whichεἴχομενeichomenwe have hadἀπ᾽ap᾽fromἀρχῆς,archēs[the] beginning,ἵναinathatἀγαπῶμενagapōmenwe may loveἀλλήλους.allēlousone another.

King James Version

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.

Cross-references