^1:5But now¹² I ask you, lady (not as if I were¹³ writing a new commandment¹⁴ to you, but the one¹⁵ we have had from the beginning),¹⁶ that¹⁷ we love one another.

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Footnotes

12 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.
13 The words “if I were” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied for clarity in English.
14 An allusion to John 13:34–35, 1 John 2:7–8.
15 “The one” is not in the Greek text. It is supplied for clarity in English.
17 The ἵνα (hina) clause indicates content.

Cross references

16 See 1 John 2:7.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

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

NIVNew International Version (2011)

And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

So now I ask you, dear lady—not as if I were writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.

NLTNew Living Translation

I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And now I ask you, lady (not as if I were writing a new commandment to you, but one that we have had from the beginning), that we should love one another.

KJV 1900King 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.

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