Brothers, I write no 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.
which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning: "The beginning" speaks of the beginning of their Christian experience. The commandment to love was nothing new to them because they had known it since they had first obeyed the gospel. Notice that John equates this commandment with the word they had heard. Nothing has changed, John says. The teaching he provides here is in accordance with the original doctrine that was preached when they first came to know the Lord.