Sermon Tone Analysis

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/12 //I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.

13 //I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.

I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.

I write to you, children, because you know the Father.

14 //I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

15 //Do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 //For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.

17 //And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever./

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John has been fighting against false assurances of salvation since 1 John 2:3, noting that the way we find assurance is through obedience to God’s commandments, specifically his commandment of love.

There are plenty within the church who simply do not have the right to be assured of their salvation.

But in this passage, John pauses to reassure genuine Christians of their right standing with God (vv.

12-14).

He takes the time to do this because they will need this confidence in order to be victorious in their battle against sin, which he reminds them of in the second half of our passage (vv.

15-17).

That’s how vv.

12-14 relate to vv. 15-17.

Our ability to stand against the tempting desires of the world will come through our vibrant relationship with God.

Assurance promotes perseverance.

Let’s take these two halves of our passage in order.

First, the realities for true believers.

Second, the expectations for true believers.

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THE REALITIES FOR TRUE BELIEVERS

Clearly there is a break in thought after verse 11.

Notice how most English translations indent the next three verses, suggesting some sort of poetic rhythm.

The content of verses 12-14 is quite different from what we just read, though the concepts of forgiveness of sin and knowing the Father found in these verses do fit with what we have already read in this letter.

Several questions are raised when we read these verses.

!! Children, Fathers, and Young Men

Perhaps the most pressing question we need to ask of these verses is this: who is John referring to when he says he is writing to children, fathers, and young men?

The most popular way to understand these three groups is to take them as representative of different stages of spiritual maturity.

Children would be those who are new in the faith.

Fathers would be those who are quite mature in the faith.

Young men would be those who are somewhere in between.

But it is also possible that John is using these terms literally to refer to those who are at different stages of their earthly life.

Within the church there are three generations of Christians: children, adults, and senior adults; and John wants each of them to know the reality of what has happened to them as a follower of Jesus.

But I think we miss out on the full impact of what John has to say if we try to decide between these two options.

After all, what John has to say for each of these groups is true for all of them.

It’s not just the “fathers” who “know him who is from the beginning;” John has said in 1 John 2:3-4 that this “knowledge of God” is the privilege of all true believers.

So I don’t think we should try to figure out to which category we belong.

I would say that John is using these categories of children, fathers, and young men to indicate particular qualities that are most visible during the different stages of life which nevertheless are realities for all true believers.[1]

!!! Children

So when John says “I am writing to you, little children,” (v.

12) he is not writing only to those who are new to the faith or to those who are literally children.

He has already used this same word (and will use it five more times later) to refer to all of his readers (2:1, 28; 3:7, 18; 4:4; 5:21).

When John refers to his audience as “children” he is using the word as a term of endearment as an apostle writing to his spiritual children.

This is true as well in verse 13.

It is a different word for “children” there than here, but even that word is used elsewhere (2:18; 3:7) as a term of endearment for the entire audience.

Here in verse 12 John wants the “little children” to know that their “sins are forgive for his name’s sake.”

In verse 13 he reminds the “children” that they have come to “know the Father.”

These things express some of “the earliest conscious experiences of newborn Christians.”[2]

But again, I think John wanted to remind all of his readers of these experiences.

In 1 John 1:9 we learned that God stands ready to forgive our sins when we confess them.

In 1 John 2:1 we learned that when we do sin we have a helper who secures our pardon by supplying for us the righteousness that we have failed to achieve.

And here we are reminded of our total dependence on Jesus as our helper to secure our forgiveness.

Our sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.

In other words, the basis or cause for our forgiveness is not ultimately or even primarily our confession but rather the provision of Jesus on our behalf.

Our sins are forgiven because of him.

!!! Fathers

The word “fathers” suggests a group of older Christians.

It is used as a title of respect for an older generation in Acts 7:2 and Acts 22:1.

Again it is true of all Christians that they have come to know God, but John seems to be suggesting that our knowledge of God grows deeper the longer we live in relationship with him.

In fact, John describes God here as “him who is from the beginning.”

Because he explicitly refers to God the Father at the end of verse 13, it may be that this description is meant to refer to God the Son.

In any case the description emphasizes the eternality of God.

The “fathers” have come to know “the immutable, eternal God who does not change with advancing years, but who is for ever the same.

Time hurries on, but in all generations they find a refuge in him who from everlasting to everlasting is God.

They are already consciously living in eternity.”[3]

There is much to look forward to as we grow old in our faith.

The gray head and the failing health of the physical body cannot eliminate the joy of many years spent in relationship with the eternal one.

This will be the joy of eternity: the deepening of our knowledge of an infinite God.

For the Christian, growing old is something to look forward to!

!!! Young Men

The word here translated “young men” typically means a man under the age of forty years.

The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates identified manhood as between the ages of 28-48.

These are the “prime years” of physical health and strength.

So we are not surprised to hear John say that he wrote to the young men because of their strength (v.

14).

And it was their strength that enabled them to “overcome the evil one.”

The “evil one” is clearly a reference to Satan.

But “overcoming” Satan probably refers to overcoming the main weapon of the evil one, namely, death.

Mankind, lies subject to death unless it listens to the life-giving word of Jesus; if it listens, then it passes immediately from death to life (John 5:24) because Jesus has conquered death for those who are his.[4]

So the positive things John has to say to the young men are, once again, not due to their own abilities or achievements.

Yes, they are strong.

Yes, they have overcome the evil one.

But both of these are true because—and only because—“the word of God abides” in them.

It is because of this reality that John will later say (1 John 5:18) that the evil one now can no longer touch the believer.

The victory has been won through faith in what Jesus has done on our behalf.

John reiterates this truth in 1 John 5:4: “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.

And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our  faith.”

Through faith we become participants in the life of Jesus and have overcome the power of sin and death.

Galatians 1:4 tells us plainly that Christ “gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age.”

Because Jesus has overcome the world (John 16:33), so have we who belong to him by faith.

!! The Power of Reality

Why did John take the time at this point in his letter to tell us about these Christian realities?

I think the answer is that he believes these realities make it possible for us to fulfill the command in verse 15.

Notice how at the end of verse 13 and in verse 14 he basically repeats what he just said in verse 12 and the first part of verse 13.

Why does he do this?

Because he believes the reality of who we are in Christ makes it possible for us to fulfill the expectations for all true believers.[5]

In other words, he wrote the first set of realities to assure genuine believers of their right standing with God.

Then he repeats the realities, not for emphasis, but because we need these realities to persevere in our faith.

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THE EXPECTATION FOR TRUE BELIEVERS: DO NOT LOVE THE WORLD

It is because of these realities that John gives the command in verse 15.