"I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.

"I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning.

"I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one.

"I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father." (John 2. 12-14).

This is the commencement of the second part of John's letter. It really ought to have been the beginning of chapter two. At this point John passes from the realm of warning to that of exhortation, and although he will still have a great deal to say about the snares that beset the Christian's path, he will infuse into his words much that is pure encouragement and stimulation of hope. Even though Antichrist shall come and seduce any who are unstable, there is an anointing which remains upon those who are Christ's indeed. This is an anointing that guarantees the operation of saving power during this dark time of earth's history and imparts a confidence that will not desert those who look for their Lord's appearing. So he writes, addressing all who are of the Divine family, mature elders and babes in Christ alike, knowing that all have come under the same spirit of anointing and will one day be presented before the presence of the Father's glory with exceeding joy.

These three verses, twelve to fourteen, have caused the commentators some concern because of the evident repetition of thought. John says, first, that he writes to the little children, the fathers, the young men, and then again to the little children. Immediately thereafter he declares that he has written to the fathers and the young men. A possible explanation is that the apparent repetition was never intended by the beloved Apostle himself. It might well be that verse fourteen represents a slightly variant rendering, in some ancient manuscripts of John's epistle, to that which appears in other manuscripts as verses 12-13, and that at some time prior to the compilation of the version upon which our New Testament is based, both renderings were incorporated, the one after the other, by a copyist who was unable to decide which was the more correct, and so included both. It does seem that verse 14 adds nothing to what has already been said in verses 12-13, and it is certainly true that the exhortation of verse 15 "Love not the world" follows quite naturally after 13.

We must go back to the Greek if we are going to appreciate the full meaning of John's appeal. The "little children" of verse 12 does not mean the same as the "little children" of verse 13. In the first case the word is one that is very often used to describe disciples or pupils of a teacher, beloved followers of a master. In the second case it is a word that does only indicate a young child. We have, therefore, John writing first to his beloved pupils, the brethren in general, next to the fathers in the faith, the mature believers who were the strength and stay of the churches. After that to the young men, the stalwart and active workers who prosecuted the missionary work of the community with unflagging zeal, and finally the "babes in Christ" who as yet were only just taking first steps in the way. John well knew that every member of the body, whether possessing abundant comeliness or not so abundant comeliness, whether eye, ear, or hand, whether in the "milk" or "strong meat" stage (Heb. 5. 13-14) was equally the subject of God's loving care, and stood in need of his own devoted ministry. Therefore his writing was addressed to all of them and he called each class, as it were, by name.

The mission of 'the writer' occupies a very honoured place in the Word of God. John is by no means the first whose service in this direction has been blessed of God. Not so many years before, Luke the Evangelist, writing to his friend Theophilus, left a priceless legacy to all future generations in the two books accredited to him, the Gospel according to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. In Old Testament days the saintly Daniel was one who wrote down the visions he had seen and the revelation he had heard at the lips of angels, a wonderful guide to the onward progress of God's purpose through the ages. Habakkuk, whose tongue and hand alike were touched with fire, hasted to write down the vision and make it plain upon tablets that he might run who reads. John himself, an exile in the penal colony of the Isle of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, committed to parchment the vivid sights that passed before his eyes, and set the seal upon God's revelation of the ultimate triumph of all His faithful servants. It must have been with a sovereign sense of the vast potentiality for good contained in the closely written scroll that lay outspread before him that John penned those simple yet tremendously significant words "I write unto you".

There is an appealing fitness in the several commendations which John addresses to each of these classes of brethren in the church. It is almost as if he is showing them how deeply and intimately he knows their hearts and their characteristics and their position in the race for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. His first word goes right to the basis of all that we enjoy and possess in the family of God. "I write unto you, beloved pupils" ‑ for that is what this first "little children" means ‑ "because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake". Forgiveness of sin consequent upon repentance and faith in Christ is the foundation of our whole standing before God. Without that we cannot even enter the Narrow Way, cannot even make a start on the road that leads to the presence of God and the Kingdom. This is one standing that all the Lord's people, young and old, mature and babes, must possess in common and retain to life's end. It is this knowledge, that our sins are forgiven for His Name's sake, that gives us fresh confidence after every stumbling and every giving way to some weakness of the flesh. That forgiveness stands, all the while that we are truly repentant, and in the power of that forgiveness we grow stronger after every fall, even though we may offend "seventy times seven".

From that general exhortation John turns to the fathers, the mature brothers and sisters of long service for the Lord, men and women with whom he had borne the heat and burden of many a strenuous day. With some of these whom he addresses as 'fathers' he could probably claim twenty, thirty, perhaps even forty years of service. Although we do not know just when John first took up his ministry at Ephesus, it might have very reasonably been after the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 when the armies of Titus captured the city. But others of the Jerusalem Christians may have come into Asia with him ‑ most of them were scattered abroad after that great disaster to their native land. Some of these 'fathers' may have known the early days immediately after Pentecost, and be able to look back upon fifty or more years in the way of the Lord. Whatever the truth about this, John writes to them, saying "I write unto you, fathers, because you have known him from the beginning". (The words "that is" have been supplied by the translators and are better omitted.) Of all the brethren gathered together in fellowship, one would have thought these mature and experienced old stalwarts to be least in need of such exhortation from the Apostle. But the very thing that did distinguish them from the others, the fact that they had known Christ "from the beginning" is the very reason John has for writing to them. The purpose of his writing is in verse 15 "love not the world", and this exhortation and warning is the same for all three classes of believers. Although these 'fathers in the faith' had known the Truth so long a time and were evidently so well advanced in the Christian way, there was still need to warn them "love not the world".

How true to-day! Those whose love waxes cold are not drawn solely from the immature, who have been but a short time in the way. It is not unheard-of to find one who has passed a long and busy life in the service of the Lord, to leave it all quite late in life. Such have given every evidence of sincere and whole-hearted consecration, go back to what Paul called the "beggarly elements" of this world. Increasing material prosperity, perhaps, or the opportunity of greater leisure after the close of working life, give opportunity for the indulging in material interests that would have been quickly rejected before. John knew how subtle are the snares of the Evil One and even although these 'fathers' had known their Lord from the beginning, John had the same word for them that he had for the newer and younger believers. "I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one." In what is perhaps the alternative version of this message, John says "because you are strong, and the word of God remains in you, and you have overcome the wicked one". It is impossible not to notice how John stresses the very qualities in which the disciples might well take pride as being those by which they might easily fall. These young men were the zealous and active workers, missionaries of the community. Upon these the bulk of the labours of the Church had been borne and they were strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. That very strength could become a source of spiritual pride! In their strength they came in contact with the world, in their preaching and their evangelising, in the care of the poor, in the many ways by which a vigorous and active Christian community does come in contact with the world, even whilst remaining not "of the world". In that intimacy of contact the injunction "love not the world" was very necessary. The garment must be kept unspotted. Christ has no concord with Belial. Their very consciousness that in the power of Christ they had overcome the wicked one could tend to make them less vigilant and less watchful, and they could be overtaken unawares by that same wicked one from whose power they had formerly escaped. We do well to remember that it is more often in our fancied strong points that the Adversary takes us than in our weak points. We usually watch our weak points closely; the strong ones may easily be ignored.

Finally John comes to those for whom he must have had a very special affection, the "babes in Christ", the newly converted and young in years, just setting out on the journey that is to lead them to the promised land. "I write to you, little children, because ye have known the Father." That is all he can say to them at this early stage. That is all to which they have attained as yet, to "know the Father". With the knowledge of that wonder still fresh in their minds they are being encouraged to follow out the implications of their knowledge without faltering. To know the Father is a progressive thing; we pass on from stage to stage of knowledge, entering into a deeper and even deeper intimacy with Him as the years follow one another. But only if we "love not the world"! This knowledge of the Father can come to us only in consequence of our consecration to Him that is ever fresh and living, ever zealous and sincere. That counts all things well lost if only Christ be won and life lived in Him. The warning "love not the world" was necessary to the old and the young, the fathers and the children, in John's day; it is no less necessary to us in ours.

So John comes at last to the exhortation toward which he has been leading all this time. He is so earnest about this, for it is so important a thing. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (v 15). The meaning of these words ought to be very plain to us. They certainly do not imply that we are to turn away from all things material in disgust and disdain, and count the lovely things of this earth as things unclean. The mediaeval church made a sad mistake in that direction and their theologians and priests taught them that all that is fleshly, material, of human nature and of the earth, earthly, is inherently corrupt and evil and that they would do well to dissociate themselves from it. That view is a blasphemy and a libel against God. He made the earth, beautiful and fruitful, capable of giving not only life and sustenance, but also pleasure and happiness, to the people whom He created. When God had finished His work, He looked upon it, and, behold, it was good! We also, as intelligent and loyal disciples of our Master and reverent worshippers of God, ought to take pleasure in this creation that gave God pleasure. We ought to esteem and appreciate all the beautiful things of the earth and all the lovely things of life. Even although some of them we ourselves have given up "for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake" we should not do else than look on them with pleasure, because God made or instituted them. In that sense, we should 'love the world'. But that is not what John meant.

What he did mean? We are not to love the world and the things of the world in the manner that would involve placing them before God and the higher interests of our consecration. We may use the world and its good things but only in such way as to bring glory to our God and in the interests of His purpose. We are at all times to "seek first the Kingdom of God". We may accept and use our material gifts and possessions and joys and opportunities in the outworking of our Christian lives, and give God thanks for them, but we are not to love them in such a way that they take first place and God take second. If we do give way it is evident that our consecration is not sincere and whole-hearted. As John says, the love of the Father is not in us. And to point the danger of such a position he tells us just what is involved in the course of the man who does love the world and the things that are in the world more than he loves the Father and the things that are in the Kingdom of Heaven. He tells us that such become hopelessly entangled in the fate of a world that is passing away. He will eventually find himself bereft of those things in which he trusted and bereft also of the prize of the high calling from which he had allowed himself to be diverted. "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abides for eve (vv16-17).

"The proud glory of life" Moffatt calls it, and it is an expressive phrase that he has chosen. The desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the proud glory of life, these represent the inordinate use of things that are good within themselves but bad when carried to excess, or even to a degree which may be quite all right for men and women who have not given themselves in consecration to God but will assuredly militate against the highest interests of those who have. There are so many things in life, good and right in themselves, that can become subtle snares to the "sanctified in Christ Jesus" purely because those sanctified ones do not impose upon themselves the necessary degree of self-discipline in their handling or use of those things. John does not mean in this verse that because these things are "of the world" they are necessarily bad things. The word "lust" has changed its meaning in the four centuries since the Authorised Version was translated and we do well to substitute the word "desire" which today much more nearly expresses the idea behind the Greek. There are many things that the flesh and the eyes may legitimately desire; and much in life that may give a justifiable ground for proud glory; but the important thing for us to remember is that no matter how good and right these things may be, so far as we are concerned they are of this world and will pass away with this world. Even although the good things and the right things and the beautiful things of this material earth will persist and come forth in renewed and more excellent glory in the next, they still are not for us, for God hath prepared even greater glories for those who in this Age love Him in sincerity and truth. "Eye hath not seen, nor heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him."

Therefore, in the First Resurrection, nothing will remain save the building of one who has done the will of God. In the universal destruction of all the works of man it is he that doeth the will of God who will abide forever. God grant that we all may so take to heart the lesson of this verse that we shall not be attracted for one moment by the glitter and sparkle of the attractions of this world. We must soberly appraise them at their true value, and knowing that they are doomed. We must turn instead with the greater determination to have the will of God done in our mortal bodies that we may be that part of God's workmanship that will stand the fires of proving and so abide for ever.

(to be continued)

AOH