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VRSZ
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Translation
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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
Theophylact of Ohrid
Since this epistle is catholic, written generally to all, to both Jews and Gentiles, then with respect to the Jews it can be said that the apostle writes to them a commandment about love that is not new, but ancient. For on the tablets of Moses it was also written: "love," after God, also "your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. 19:18). But how, someone will say, does the apostle write to the Gentiles about an ancient commandment, when nothing of the sort is found anywhere among them? …
Oecumenius
"Brothers, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning." Since this letter was general and directed commonly to all, both Jews and Greeks: to the Jews indeed he directs his speech when he says, "I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old one," speaking of love. For it is written in the tablets of Moses: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Lev. …
Clement of Alexandria
"I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment, which ye had from the beginning,"-through the Law, that is, and the prophets; where it is said, God is one. Accordingly, also, he infers, "For the old commandment is the word which ye have heard."
Western Saints
Augustine of Hippo
"Dearly beloved, I write unto you no new commandment, but the old commandment which ye had from the beginning." What commandment calls he "old"? "Which ye had," saith he, "from the beginning. Old" then, in this regard, that ye have already heard it: otherwise he will contradict the Lord, where He saith, "A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another." But why an "old" commandment? Not as pertaining to the old man. But why? "Which ye had from the beginning. …
Bede
Dearest, I am not writing a new commandment to you, etc. The same love is also an old commandment, for it has been recommended from the beginning, and it is a new commandment because, with the darkness cast out, it infuses the desire for new light. Hence it is rightly added:
Translation