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2 John 1 · a question people ask

"not as though I wrote to you a new commandment" (1:5). Which commandment?

In the text

1:5 goes on, "but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another." And 1:6 says, "This is love, that we should walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, even as you heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it." These notes don't explain it further than the verses' own words, and they set no other verse beside it.

The verses

“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. This is love, that we should walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, even as you heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.”
2 John 1:5-6 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 2 John 1

2 John 1: Walking in truth

In 2 John, will be with us stands in two verses side by side: "it will be with us forever" (1:2), and "Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us" (1:3). And the Greek word behind paper in "with paper and ink" (1:12) stands nowhere else in the New Testament.

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Last reviewed October 12, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions