2 John 1:5 (ASV)

Passage

And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote to thee a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.

Nearby Context

2 John 1:3 Grace, mercy, peace shall be with us, from God the Father, and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

2 John 1:4 I rejoice greatly that I have found [certain] of thy children walking in truth, even as we received commandment from the Father.

2 John 1:5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote to thee a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.

2 John 1:6 And this is love, that we should walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, even as ye heard from the beginning, that ye should walk in it.

2 John 1:7 For many deceivers are gone forth into the world, [even] they that confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "beseech", "thee", "lady", "though", "wrote", "commandment", and "beginning". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "beseech" and "thee", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "I rejoice greatly that I have found..." into verse 6's "And this is love that we should...", so "beseech" and "thee" belong inside that flow. In 2 John context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "beseech" and "thee" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.