1 John 2:13

13. For γράφω with παιδία ([481]) read ἔγραψα ([482][483][484][485][486]).

[481] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[482] 4th century. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the monastery of S. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and now at Petersburg. All three Epistles.
[483] 5th century. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. All three Epistles.
[484] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.
[485] 5th century. A palimpsest: the original writing has been partially rubbed out and the works of Ephraem the Syrian have been written over it. In the National Library at Paris. Part of the First and Third Epistles; 1 John 1:1 to 1 John 4:2; 3 John 1:3-14. Of the whole N.T. the only Books entirely missing are 2 John and 2 Thessalonians.

[486] 9th century. A palimpsest. All three Epistles excepting 1 John 3:19 to 1 John 5:1. There is a facsimile of a portion in Hammond’s Outlines of Textual Criticism showing the late leaning uncial letters of the 9th century (Acts 4:10-15), with cursives of the 13th (Hebrews 7:17-25) written over them.

13. πατέρες. The older men among his readers: comp. Judges 17:10; Judges 18:19; 2 Kings 2:12; 2 Kings 6:21; 2 Kings 13:14. The address stands alone in N.T. The nearest approaches to it are Ephesians 6:4 and Colossians 3:21, where the actual fathers of children are addressed. Comp. Titus 2:1-8, where S. Paul in like manner gives directions as to the exhortations suitable for Christians of different ages. ἐγνώκατε. Ye know: ‘ye have come to know’ and therefore ‘ye know,’ as in 1 John 2:3. The knowledge possessed by the old is fitly expressed by a word which signifies the result of progressive experience. τὸν� ̓ ἀρχῆς means Christ, not the Father, as is plain from the opening words of the Epistle. By the knowledge of Christ which these older Christians had gradually acquired is certainly not meant the having seen Him in the flesh. Very few, if any, of S. John’s readers could have done that. And if they had, the Apostle would not have attached any moral or spiritual value to the fact (2 Corinthians 5:16-17). Besides which, in order to express this we should require ‘ye have seen Jesus our Lord’ (1 Corinthians 9:1) rather than ‘ye have come to know Him that was from the beginning.’ On ἀπ ̓ ἀρχῆς see on 1 John 1:1.

νεανίσκοι. The younger half of his readers; men in the prime, or not yet in the prime of life: adolescentes, juvenes. For νενικήκατε comp. John 16:33. Throughout both Epistle and Gospel S. John regards eternal life as a prize already won by the believer (John 3:36; John 5:24; John 6:47; John 6:54; John 17:3): the contest is not to gain, but to retain. These three perfects, ἀφέωνται, ἐγνώκατε, νενικήκατε, once more express the abiding result of past action (1 John 1:1-2; 1 John 1:5; 1 John 1:10). He bases his appeals to the young on the victory which their strength has won, just as he bases his appeals to the aged on the knowledge which their experience has gained, and his appeals to all on the forgiveness which they have all received. There is the confidence of victory in all S. John’s writings.

τὸν πονηρόν. It is important to have a uniform rendering for πονηρός, respecting which there has been so much controversy with regard to the last petition in the Lord’s Prayer. The A.V., following earlier Versions, wavers between ‘wicked’ and ‘evil,’ even in the same verse (1 John 3:12). ‘Evil’ is to be preferred throughout. Almost all are agreed that the evil one here means the devil, although the Genevan Version has ‘the evil man,’ as in Matthew 12:35. Wiclif, Tyndale, and Cranmer supply neither ‘man’ nor ‘one,’ but write ‘the wicked’ or ‘that wicked.’ ‘The wicked’ in English would inevitably be understood as plural. For this name for Satan comp. 1 John 5:18; Matthew 13:19 and also 1 John 3:12; 1 John 5:19; John 17:15; Ephesians 6:16. In these last four passages the gender, though probably masculine, may, as in Matthew 6:13, possibly be neuter. S. John elsewhere speaks of the evil one as ὁ διάβολος (1 John 3:8; 1 John 3:10; John 8:44; John 13:2), ὁ Σατανᾶς (John 13:27), ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου (John 12:31; John 16:11), ὁ τοῦ κόσμου ἄρχων (John 14:30), ὁ κατήγωρ τῶν� (Revelation 12:10), ὁ ὄφις ὁ�, ὁ καλούμενος Διάβολος καὶ ὁ Σατανᾶς (Revelation 12:9 : comp. Revelation 20:2), ὁ δράκων (Revelation 12:7-8; Revelation 13:2; Revelation 16:13; Revelation 20:2).

ἔγραψα ὑμῖν, παιδία. All the chief MSS., confirmed by the Versions, give ἔγραψα and not γράφω here. The latter reading probably arose from interpreting παιδία as a subdivision of τεκνία, co-ordinate with πατέρες and νεανίσκοι. Beyond reasonable doubt παιδία is coextensive with τεκνία and includes all his readers. The two words should, however, be distinguished in translation. Keeping ‘little children’ for τεκνία, we may render παιδία little ones. The Vulgate has filioli for τεκνία and here has infantes for παιδία, but inconsistently has filioli in 1 John 2:18. Augustine has pueri for παιδία. Τεκνία implies both juniority and relationship; παιδία implies the former only. Both are terms of affection. Ἐγνώκατε, as in 1 John 2:3; 1 John 2:13, ye know. In 1 John 2:12 the Apostle attributes to them the possession of spiritual peace through the remission of sins: here he attributes to them the possession of spiritual truth through knowledge of the Father. This knowledge they had acquired specially through S. John’s Gospel, in which the Fatherhood of God is a most prominent doctrine. In the fourth Gospel God is called the Father twice as frequently as in all three Synoptics: the numbers are about as follows; S. Matthew 40 times, S. Mark 5, S. Luke 17, S. John 126. While the addresses to his children as a whole and to the younger section of them vary, the two addresses to the fathers are the same, excepting the change of tense. Their spiritual experience is practically complete and cannot be better summed up than by the knowledge of the Incarnate Word. The Vulgate both Old and New omits the second address to the ‘fathers’: but Augustine and Bede have it.