1 John 2:13

fathers The older men among his readers: comp. Judges 17:10; Judges 18:19; 2Ki 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. S. Augustine thinks that allthe readers are included throughout. Christians from one point of view are children, from another young men, and from another old men. This is possible, but it ignores the order in which the three groups are ranged. Comp. Titus 2:1-8, where S. Paul in like manner gives directions as to the exhortations suitable for Christians of different ages.

ye have known Rather, ye know: -ye have come to know and therefore know", as in 1 John 2:3. The word expresses the result of progressive experience, and is therefore very suitable to the knowledge possessed by the old.

Him which is from the beginning Christ, not the Father, as is plain from the opening words of the Epistle. Moreover, S. John never speaks of the First Person of the Godhead under any designation but -God" or -the Father". By the knowledge which these older Christians had come to possess of Christ is certainly not meant having seen Him in the flesh. Very few of S. John's readers could have done that; and if they had, S. John would not have attached any moral or spiritual value to the fact. Besides which to express this we should expect -ye have seen Jesus Christ", rather than -ye have come to know Him that was from the beginning".

young men The younger among his readers, men in the prime of life.

ye have overcome Comp. John 16:33. Throughout both Gospel and Epistle 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. We have perfects in each case (-have been forgiven", -have come to know", -have overcome"), expressing, as so frequently in S. John, the abiding result of past action. He bases his appeals to the young on the victory which their strength has gained, just as he bases his appeals to the old on the knowledge which their experience has gained.

the wicked one It is important to have a uniform rendering for the word here used (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 onehere 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 2:18; 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.

I write unto you, little children The true reading, as determined by both internal and external evidence, certainly gives I have written or I wrote. The second triplet begins here, -little ones" (παιδία, which occurs as a form of address nowhere else in N. T. except 1 John 2:18 and John 21:5), meaning, as before, allhis readers.

ye have known the Father Or, 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 peacethrough the remission of sins: here he attributes to them the possession of spiritual truththrough knowledge of the Father.