Being Children

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

BEING CHILDREN

 1 John 2:12-14

12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. 13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father. 14 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

NIV

It does seem strange that John uses this format in his letter. He says that he writes to the children, the fathers, and the young men twice instead of telling each two things at the same time. This format John uses is referred to as tautology and is used to make the point stronger. What is not sure and has our scholars at odds is the meaning of children, young men, and fathers. Some would suggest this refers to the physical age of the people he is writing to, while others would suggest he is speaking about their spiritual age. We cannot be sure which the right concept to follow is, but what we do notice is what he says to each. To the children, he tells them their sins have been forgiven on account of his name, who John must mean the name of Jesus and that because they have known the Father. To the young men he tells them the reason he writes to them is that they have overcome the evil one, and that they are strong and the word of God lives in them and that they have overcome the evil one. To the fathers, he says the same thing twice which is they have known him from the beginning. Is this the whole church in general? That is the church is comprised of people who are at different places in their walk with the Lord. This is just difficult to understand the exact implication of what John is saying to the church. Why would he write to little children? Would not the truth of God as he explains it be way beyond their age level of comprehension? This has to be to the church which is comprised of people at different levels of their spiritual journey. The first thing a new believer, a dear child would be concerned about would be knowing their sins were forgiven and understanding Jesus is the Son of the God, the Father. There comprehension of all the truth of God, the nuisances of the Word of God have not been known to them yet. They are still simply reveling in the fact they have been freed from the penalty of sin. The burden of death has been lifted from their shoulders. That is enough to go on at first. There is a time coming when they will begin to learn more about Jesus, about life as a believer, and all the schemes of the devil they must take their stand against. What these dear children have, is the joy of the Lord, the feeling of relief, and a spring in their spiritual step. Perhaps the young men and the fathers need a little more of what the dear children have. Have we lost the spring in our spiritual step? Have we become entrenched in our ways, and settled for more of a hum-drum walk? Maybe we need to look at what is said to the young men and fathers before we decide completely. But for now, it might be good to consider if we have lost a bit of that excitement about salvation, that spring in our step, that enthusiasm about having our sins forgiven and having been given eternal life. Maybe we need to say, yippee, hallelujah, praise God, and jump for joy!