2 John 1:5

But now ¹  I ask you, lady (not as if I were ²  writing a new commandment ³  to you, but the one ⁴  we have had from the beginning), ⁵  that ⁶  we love one another.

Joh 13:34,35; Joh 15:12; Ga 5:22; Eph 5:2; 1Th 4:9; Heb 13:1; 1Pe 1:22,23; 1Pe 4:8; 2Pe 1:7; 1Jo 2:7,8; 1Jo 3:11; 1Jo 3:14-18,23; 1Jo 4:7-12,20

¹ tn The introductory καὶ νῦν (kai nun) has some adversative (contrastive) force: The addressees are already “living according to the truth” (v. 4) but in the face of the threat posed by the opponents, the author has to stress obedience all the more.

² tn The words “if I were” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied for clarity in English.

³ sn An allusion to John 13:34-35, 1 John 2:7-8.

⁴ tn “The one” is not in the Greek text. It is supplied for clarity in English.

⁵ sn See 1 John 2:7.

⁶ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause indicates content.