Again, I write a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you; because the darkness is passing away, and the true light already shines.
"The contrast between the old and new is partly a contrast between the old and new covenants."[22] To love God and one's neighbor summed up all the law and the prophets, according to Jesus himself (Mark 12:29-31); and, of course, our Lord bound upon all people the same basic obligations.  "From the beginning" seems naturally to suggest a more remote past than the beginning of one's Christian life; and it is impossible, always, to tell from the context just how John used this word.  As Orr pointed out, "In a single sentence, John used the word truth in three different senses (2 John 1:1:1,2)."[23] Paul also used the word "Israel" in two different senses in a single sentence  (Romans 11:25,26).  In any case, such a view does no violence to the Scripture.  As Macknight said, "Such a view makes out the least alteration in the sense of the passage."[24]