1 John 2:13

The different ages here are to be understood in spiritual terms; they refer to our maturity in faith. First you must become a child and be weaned off evil. It is in this state that you must put off the weight of your old sins. …

I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. He calls fathers not by age, but by greater wisdom and maturity. For venerable old age is not counted by long duration nor by the number of years. Gray hairs, however, …

I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. Youth is a slippery time because of the incentives of the flesh, but fitted for battle due to the vigor of age. Hence, John writes to those youths who have, by the …

I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father. He calls little children those humble in spirit, who, the more they consent to be humbled under the mighty hand of God, the more sublimely know the mysteries of His eternity, just as …

I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. He commends this and repeats it: Remember that you are fathers. If you forget Him who is from the beginning, you lose the fatherhood.

Having said that he writes them a new commandment, the apostle also indicates the disposition of those who will receive his epistle; he indicates this by the degrees that occur in bodily growth. For he knew that not all would receive his words with equal …

Children in Christ should know that God is their Father; it is their wisdom. We say, It is a wise child that knows his father. These children cannot but know theirs; they can well be assured by whose power they are regenerated and by whose grace they are adopted.

There is a wicked one that is continually warring against souls, and particularly against the disciples: but those that are well taught in Christ's school can handle their arms and vanquish the evil one; and those that can vanquish him may be called to vanquish the world too, which is so great an instrument for the devil.

The address to spiritual fathers, young men, and little children is first proposed in this verse, wherein he says, I write to you, fathers: I write to you, young men: I write to you, little children: and then enlarged upon; in doing which he says, "I have written to you, fathers," 1 John ii,

I write unto you, fathers,....

There are the adult in Christ Jesus, those that have arrived at the strength of spirit and sound sense and can discern between good and evil. The apostle applies to them upon these accounts:-- (1.) Upon the account of their martial exploits. Dexterous soldiers they are in the camp of Christ: Because you have overcome the wicked one,

The apostle is ready to own the knowledge of old Christians, and to congratulate them thereupon. They know the Lord Christ, particularly him that was from the beginning; as ch. i. As Christ is Alpha and Omega, so he must be the beginning and end of our Christian knowledge.

Those that are of longest standing in Christ's school have need of further advice and instruction; the oldest disciple must go to heaven (the university above) with his book, his Bible, in his hand; fathers must be written to, and preached to; none are too old to learn.

I write unto you, fathers - As there were special reasons for writing to children, so there were also for writing to those who were more mature in life. The class here addressed would embrace all those who were in advance of the νεανίσκοί neaniskoi, or young men, and would properly include those who were at the head of families. Because ye have known him that is from the beginning - That is, the Lord Jesus Christ. Notes, 1Jn 1:

OBSERVE the difference in the two verses—John first says, "I write," and then, "I have written." When in two former discourses I preached upon the beloved Apostle's address to the young men and the children, [Sermon #1711—A Sermon to the Lord's Little Childrei and Sermon #1715—A Description of Young Men in Christ] I gave you as full an interpretation of this difference as I could command—and I need not, now, repeat it. Certain additional thoughts occur to me, which I will give you, that the matter may be still clearer.

WHEN I preached a short time ago upon John's message to the "little children," [Sermon #1711—A Sermon to the Lord's Little Children] I explained why it was that he first said, "I write," and then, "I have written." He is writing—his whole heart is in it and he cannot help saying that he is earnestly writing to those whom he loves so well. But he has scarcely penned the line before he feels that he must alter that present tense and set it in the past, under the form of, "I have written."

WHEN I preached a short time ago upon John's message to the "little children," [Sermon #1711—A Sermon to the Lord's Little Children] I explained why it was that he first said, "I write," and then, "I have written." He is writing—his whole heart is in it and he cannot help saying that he is earnestly writing to those whom he loves so well. But he has scarcely penned the line before he feels that he must alter that present tense and set it in the past, under the form of, "I have written." He knows that he must soon be gone from them and be numbered with those who were, but are not, among living men. These words, then, are the language of a father in Israel still among his children; they are also the words of one who has passed from earth and entered into Glory. If what I shall have to say at this time, fairly flowing from the text, shall come to you as Christ's words from His favored disciple, John, you will attach the more importance to it and it will do your hearts the more good. Lifting his head from that dear bosom which gave him unexampled rest, he whispers, "I write unto you young men." Looking down from that favored place which he now occupies so near to the Throne of the Lamb, he looks over the battlements of Heaven upon us and cries, "I have written unto you, young men." In the Christian Church there is an order of Christians who have grown so much that they can no longer be called, "babes in Grace," but yet they are not so far matured that they can exactly be called, "fathers." These, who form the middle class of the spiritual-minded, are styled "young men." Understand that the Apostle is not writing, here, to any according to their bodily age—he is using human age as a metaphor and figure for representing growth in the spiritual life.

OBSERVE the difference in the two verses—John first says, "I write," and then, "I have written." When in two former discourses I preached upon the beloved Apostle's address to the young men and the children, [Sermon #1711—A Sermon to the Lord's Little Childrei and Sermon #1715—A Description of Young Men in Christ] I gave you as full an interpretation of this difference as I could command—and I need not, now, repeat it. Certain additional thoughts occur to me, which I will give you, that the matter may be still clearer. The Apostle John says, "I write," and, by-and-by, "I have written." This shows, I think, the importance of his subject. If he has already written upon it, he must think it to be a very necessary and valuable Truth of God if he writes upon it yet again. A man does not discourse repeatedly upon the same subject if he is a man full of matter, as this Inspired writer was, unless he feels that it is necessary that he returns, again and again, to his subject until he has impressed it upon the minds of his audience. Hence the Apostle is not ashamed to say, in effect—"I write this, though you need not remind me that I have written it before, for I feel it to be wise, so long as I am in this tabernacle, to put you in remembrance of what I have said unto you." Nails which are important to a structure must be driven in with diligence. Foundation stones should be laid with scrupulous care and Truths of God which are fundamental, should be repeated by the teacher till the disciple has learned it beyond all fear of ever forgetting it. This form of speech also reveals the unchanging conviction of the writer, who, having written once, is glad to write the same things again. This shows a mind made up and decided, from which proceeds consistent testimony.

I write unto you, fathers - By fathers it is very likely that the apostle means persons who had embraced Christianity on its first promulgation in Judea and in the Lesser Asia, some of them had probably seen Christ in the flesh; for this appears to be what is meant by, Ye have known him from the beginning. These were the elders and eye witnesses, who were of the longest standing in the Church, and well established in the truths of the Gospel, and in Christian experience. But τον απ’ αρχης, him who is from the beginning, may mean Jesus Christ in the eternity of his nature, see Joh 1:1, Joh 1:2; but the sense is the same. I write unto you, young men - These were confirmed disciples of Christ; persons who were well-grounded in the truth, had been thoroughly exercised in the Christian warfare, were no longer agitated by doubts and fears, but had arrived at the abiding testimony of the Spirit of God in their consciences; hence they are said to have overcome the wicked one, 1Jn 2:14. They were persons in the prime of life, and in the zenith of their faith and love. I write unto you, little children - Παιδια, a very different term from that used in the 12th verse, τεκνια, which means beloved children, as we have already seen. This is another class, and their state is differently described: Ye have known the Father. If the apostle does not use these two words indifferently, four states instead of three, are here described: - 1. Fathers, πατερες· those who had been converted at the very commencement of Christianity, and had seen the eternal Word manifested in the flesh. 2. Young Men, νεανισκοι· youths in the prime of their spiritual life, valiant soldiers, fighting under the banner of Christ, who had confounded Satan in his wiles, and overcome him by the blood of the Lamb. 3. […]