Add parallel Print Page Options

Beloved,
I am not writing a new commandment[a] for you,
but an old commandment
that you have had from the beginning.
The old commandment is the word
that you have heard.
And yet I am writing you a new commandment,
whose truth is in him and in you,
because the darkness is passing away
and the true light is already shining.
Whoever says, “I am in the light,”
yet hates his brother,
is still in the darkness.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 John 2:7 New commandment: see Jn 13:34f. The Biblical commandment to love was old (see Lev 19:18; also Mt 22:39-40). However, its newness is seen in (1) the new illustration of love on the Cross; (2) Christ’s exposition of the Old Testament law (see Mt 5), which appeared to be new to those who heard it; and (3) the everyday experience on the part of believers as they grow in mutual love.