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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - 1 John 2:7 - 2:7
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Beloved (agapētoi). First instance of this favourite form of address in these Epistles (1Jo 3:2, 1Jo 3:21; 1Jo 4:1, 1Jo 4:7; 3Jo 1:1, 3Jo 1:2, 3Jo 1:5, 3Jo 1:11).
No new commandment (ouk entolēn kainēn). Not novel or new in kind (kainēn as distinct from neos, new in time, for which distinction see Luk 5:33-38).
But an old commandment (all' entolēn palaian). Ancient as opposed both to kainos and neos. The Mosaic law taught love for one’s neighbours and Christ taught love even of enemies.
Which ye had (hēn eichete). Imperfect active, reaching back to the beginning of their Christian lives (ap' archēs). They had heard it expressly from Jesus (Joh 13:34), who, however, calls it “a new commandment.”