2 John 1:5 (WEB)

Passage

Now I beg you, dear lady, not as though I wrote to you a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.

Nearby Context

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

2 John 1:4 I rejoice greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, even as we have been commanded by the Father.

2 John 1:5 Now I beg you, dear lady, not as though I wrote to you a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.

2 John 1:6 This is love, that we should walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, even as you heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.

2 John 1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who don’t confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the Antichrist.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "dear", "lady", "though", "wrote", "commandment", "beginning", "love", and "another". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "dear" and "lady", 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 "This is love that we should walk...", so "dear" and "lady" 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 "dear" and "lady" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.