2 John 1:5

For γράφω read γράφων ([874][875][876][877][878]), and with [879][880], Vulgate, and Memphitic place καινήν before γράφων σοι: but the other order ([881], Thebaic) is very possibly correct. In the case of γράφω, as in many others, “Erasmus (1516) led the common editions wrong, where the Complutensian (1514) is correct” (Scrivener, p. 76).

[874] 4th century. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the monastery of S. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and now at Petersburg. All three Epistles.
[875] 5th century. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. All three Epistles.
[876] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.
[877] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[878] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[879] 4th century. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the monastery of S. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and now at Petersburg. All three Epistles.
[880] 5th century. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. All three Epistles.
[881] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.

5. καὶ νῦν. As in 1 John 2:28 (see note there), this introduces a practical exhortation depending on what precedes. ‘It is my joy at the Christian life of some of thy children, and my anxiety about the others, that move me to exhort thee’.

ἐρωτῶ σε. S. John uses the same verb as that used of making request about ‘sin unto death’ (1 John 5:16). It perhaps indicates that he begs as an equal or superior rather than as an inferior. In both passages the Vulgate rightly has rogo not peto. In classical Greek ἐρωτῶ = interrogo, ‘I ask a question’, a meaning which it frequently has in N.T. S. Paul uses it very seldom, and always in the sense of ‘I request’: his usual word is παρακαλῶ, which S. John never employs. Only at the opening and close does the Apostle use the strictly personal σε (1 John 5:16): in 2 John 1:6; 2 John 1:8; 2 John 1:10; 2 John 1:12 he uses the second person plural. What meaning has this change, if the letter is addressed to a Church? It is natural, if it is addressed to a lady and her family. For ἐντολὴν καινήν see on 1 John 2:7.

εἴχαμεν. Comp. ἐξῆλθαν in 2 John 1:7; 1 John 2:19 (see note); 3 John 1:7. For ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς see on 1 John 2:7.

ἵνα�. It is doubtful whether this depends upon ἐρωτῶ or ἐντολήν: in either case ἵνα introduces the purport of the request or command, with perhaps a lingering notion of the purpose of it (see on 1 John 1:8 and comp. 1 John 3:23).