1 John 2:7
“Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →John reminds them that the command to love is not new but the one they have held from the beginning.
What Does 1 John 2:7 Mean?
John clarifies that he is giving no novelty. The commandment is old, one they had from the beginning, the word they heard when they first believed. He is recalling them to what they already know.
The call to love is as old as the gospel itself. John is not inventing new demands but reawakening a familiar truth. There is comfort here: the way forward is not some hidden teaching but the plain word of love they received at the start. Faithfulness often means returning to first things, holding fast to what we heard from the beginning.
In the Original Language
entole (ἐντολή), 'commandment' -- an authoritative charge, here the old command to love one another.