2 John 1:6

καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ�. And the love is this: the love which I mean consists in this (see on 1 John 1:5). In 2 John 1:5 obedience prompts love; here love prompts obedience. This is no vicious logical circle, but a healthy moral connexion, as is stated above on 2 John 1:4. Love divorced from duty will run riot, and duty divorced from love will starve. See on 1 John 5:3. The Apostle has no sympathy with a religion of pious emotions: there must be a persevering walk according to God’s commands. In writing to a woman it might be all the more necessary to insist on the fact that love is not a mere matter of feeling.

αὕτη ἡ ἐντολή ἐστιν. As before, The commandment is this, i.e. consists in this. We had a similar transition from plural to singular, ‘commandments’ to ‘commandment’ in 1 John 3:22-23. For αὔτη … ἵνα see 1 John 5:3.

In these verses (5, 6) S. John seems to be referring to the First Epistle, which she would know.

καθὼς ἠκούσατε. As R.V., even as ye heard, referring to the time when they were first instructed in Christian Ethics. See on καθὼς ἐντ. ἐλάβομεν in 2 John 1:4. R.V. is also more accurate in placing ‘that’ after, instead of before, ‘even as ye heard’. But A.V. is not wrong, for ‘even as ye heard’ belongs to the apodosis, not to the protasis: still, this is interpretation rather than translation.

ἐν αὐτῇ. In brotherly love; not, in the commandment, as the Vulgate implies. S. John speaks of walking in (ἐν) truth, in light, in darkness; but of walking according to (κατά) the commandments. S. Paul speaks both of walking in love (Ephesians 5:2) and according to love (Romans 14:15). Neither speaks of walking in commandments: and in Luke 1:6 a different verb is used. Moreover the context here is in favour of ἐν αὐτῇ meaning in love.