Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
I beseech—rather (compare Note, see on I John 5:16), "I request thee," implying some degree of authority.
not . . . new commandment—It was old in that Christians heard it from the first in the Gospel preaching; new, in that the Gospel rested love on the new principle of filial imitation of God who first loved us, and gave Jesus to die for us; and also, in that love is now set forth with greater clearness than in the Old Testament dispensation. Love performs both tables of the law, and is the end of the law and the Gospel alike (compare Notes, see on I John 2:7-8).
that we—implying that he already had love, and urging her to join him in the same Christian grace. This verse seems to me to decide that a Church, not an individual lady, is meant. For a man to urge a woman ("THEE"; not thee and thy children) that he and she should love one another, is hardly like an apostolic precept, however pure may be the love enjoined; but all is clear if "the lady" represent a Church.
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing 2 John 1:5:
Isaiah 35:5-6
2 John 1:3
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