Albert Barnes Commentary 1 John 2:7

"Beloved, no new commandment write I unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning: the old commandment is the word which ye heard." — 1 John 2:7 (ASV)

Brethren, I write no new commandment to you. That is, what I am now instructing is not new. It is the same doctrine which you have always heard.

There has been much difference of opinion as to what is referred to by the word commandment: whether it is the instruction in the previous verse to live as Christ lived, or whether it is what he refers to in the following verses, the duty of brotherly love.

Perhaps neither of these is exactly the apostle's idea, but he may mean in this verse to offer a general disclaimer against the charge that what he instructed was new.

In respect to all that he taught—the views of truth he held, the duties he instructed, the course of life he would prescribe as proper for a Christian to live—he meant to say that it was not at all new. It was nothing he had originated himself, but was, in fact, the same system of doctrines they had always received since they became Christians.

He might have been led to say this because he suspected that some of those he had in mind, and whose doctrines he meant to oppose, might claim that this was all new. They might argue that it was not the nature of religion as it had been commonly understood and as it was taught by the Savior.

In a somewhat different sense, indeed, he admits (1 John 2:8) that there was a "new" commandment which it was proper to instruct. For he did not forget that the Savior Himself called that "new." Although that commandment had also been always taught under the gospel, there was still a sense in which it was proper to call it new, because it had been so called by the Savior.

But concerning all the doctrines he maintained, and all the duties he instructed, he said that they were not new in the sense that he had originated them, or that they had not been instructed from the beginning.

Perhaps, also, the apostle here may allude to false teachers who were, in fact, scattering new doctrines among the people—things previously unheard of and attractive because of their novelty. He may mean to say that he made no claims to any such novelty, but was content to repeat the old and familiar truths they had always received.

Thus, if he was charged with introducing new opinions, he denies it fully. If they were advancing new opinions and were even taking advantage of them, he says that he attempted no such thing, but was content with the old and established opinions they had always received.

But an old commandment. This is old in the sense that it has always been taught; that religion has always required it.

Which you had from the beginning. This refers to what you have always received ever since you first heard anything about the gospel. It was preached when the gospel was first preached; it has always been proclaimed when the gospel has been proclaimed. It is what you first heard when you were made acquainted with the gospel. Compare to the notes on 1 John 1:1.

The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning. This is the doctrine, or what was instructed. John often presents a truth in a new form or aspect to make it emphatic and to prevent any possibility of misunderstanding. . The meaning here is: "All that I am saying to you is, in fact, an old commandment, or one which you have always had. There is nothing new in what I am instructing you."