I found of thy children] This shows that the lady must have had at least three children. Some have seen in it a sad, gentle hint that there were others of her children who did not walk in the truth.
5-8. Note the distinctively Johannine characteristics here: (1) He is giving his hearers a new commandment: cp. John 13:34; John 15:12. (2) The commandment is to love one another: cp. John 13:35; 1 John 3:23. (3) Love means walking according to the commandments of God: cp. John 14:15; John 14:21; 1 John 2:5; 1 John 5:3. (4) The central fact of Christianity is the recognition of Jesus as the Christ: cp. 1 John 2:22; 1 John 4:2; 1 John 4:3. Note also a peculiarity of the Johannine (a) thought and (b) style: (a) the habit—logical, un-Hebraic—of giving definitions, e.g. 'love,' 'the commandment,' 'antichrist'; (b) the use of a demonstrative pronoun or adverb pointing forward to the definition coming in the next clause; e.g. This is love, that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the begining, ye should walk in love. Cp. John 15:8; John 17:3; 1 John 2:3; 1 John 3:16.