And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
Ver. 5. Not as though I wrote a new commandment] A new commandment our Saviour calleth it, John 13:34. Quia exuto veteri induit nos novum hominem, as Austin gives the reason; because the old man being put off, it puts on us the new man. Or, as others, because when the scribes and Pharisees by false glosses and corrupt interpretations had put it out of date, Christ restored it by a true interpretation,Matthew 5:43,45, &c., and revived and illustrated it by his own practice and example, as Paul also observeth, Ephesians 5:2; Philippians 1:9 .
That we love, &c.] God lays no other commands upon us than what we may perform by love, that lighteneth and sweeteneth all. His subjects and soldiers are all volunteers,Psalms 110:3 .