1 John 2:8 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Again,— Or, on the other hand. The apostle, as it were, checks himself for what he had said 1 John 2:7. See the like use of the word παλιν, Matthew 4:7. The same commandment may, upon different accounts or in different respects, be called both old and new. For instance, the commandment that Christians should love one another as Christ had loved them, might, when St. John wrote this epistle, be called an old commandment, as having now been inculcated for a long time, or from the beginning; and yet it was, nevertheless, Christ's new commandment, first proposed and enjoined by him in its present form, and made the badge of distinction between his disciples and the rest of the world: he laid down his life for his disciples; and this is his new commandment, that we should love one another even as he has loved us; that is, be ready, when proper occasions call for it, to lay down our lives for the Christian brethren, See ch. 1 John 3:16 and John 15:12; John 15:27. Dr. Heylin observes, that the commandment here spoken of is that of charity, which indeed is old, and of eternal obligation; but as it had been almost effaced by the malice of mankind, it was renewed, improved, and perfected by Jesus Christ. The thing enjoined in this new commandment of Christ's, hadbeen verified in Christ himself. He had most intensely loved his disciples, and had even laid downhis life for them. It had been also verified, at least in part, in the practice of the Christians to whom St. John wrote; and the Jews and the Heathens used afterwards to observe of the primitive Christians, "Behold how these Christians love one another!" St. John commends the Christians for their love to each other, in order to encourage them to persevere and abound therein more and more.