Once again, the writer of this epistle turned to the whole believing community for his second triplet: little children, fathers, and young men (1John 2:13b-14).[1] However, the Greek word he used here is different from the one he used in 1John 2:12. There he used teknion (G5040), but here he used paidion (G3813). This has led at least some Biblical critics to presume immature Christians is meant when paidion was used in this epistle. What should we make of this?
I don’t believe there is any significant difference in John’s use of the two different Greek words for those he calls little children. The Lord used both words to address his disciples. As I claimed in my previous study, Jesus used teknion (G5040) for “little children” at John 13:33 and paidion (G3813) for “little children” at John 21:5. So, just as Jesus used both words to address largely the same group of people, so does John (teknion in 1John 2:1, 12, 28 and paidion in 1John 2:13, 18). Moreover, just as John divided the little children into older folks (the fathers) and the younger folks (the young men) in 1John 2:13, so he does in verse-14 as well.
In 1John 2:12 John told the little children (i.e. the whole group) they were forgiven for their sins. That is, they were forgiven for what they had been presently doing in rejecting Christ to embrace antichrist (1John 2:18), which was done due to persecution and the persuasive doctrine of the false teachers. Nevertheless, John had written his Gospel narrative for them, because they had “known the Father” (1John 2:13), but they couldn’t have any knowledge of the Father without believing Jesus was the Christ (John 1:18; 5:37; 6:46; cp. Matthew 11:27). So, rejecting Christ on their part was very contradictory to how they had been living up to this point.
What also seems significant about the second triplet, however, is that John points out that he had already written to the recipients of this epistle. This has caused some confusion among Biblical scholars, some contending that the repetitive triplet should be dropped entirely, while others claim all it means is John is pointing to what he wrote in the first chapter of the epistle. Neither argument, however, seems persuasive in my opinion. So, to what is John referring when he pointed out that he had already written to them? Another explanation from the Biblical scholars, the one I embrace, is that John was referring to his Gospel. This seems to fit best, because his epistle can be understood much better, if one refers to his Gospel narrative. In fact, each serves as a form of enlightenment for the other. So, John seems to be saying he was writing this epistle to these believers in order to provide a defense against the doctrine of the false teachers, referring also to his Gospel narrative, which was written to them in an effort to strengthen them in the knowledge of the one they embraced as their Savior and Lord. So, both this epistle and John’s Gospel narrative would have been invaluable for the purpose of combating the then present false doctrine spreading through the believing community.
John continues in verse-14, saying he had written (his Gospel) to the fathers because they “had known what was from the Beginning.” As I explained in my previous study, most translations use the personal pronoun “him” (meaning Christ) in 1John 1:14, but John uses the definite article (the) which is also frequently translated into “what, which, whatsoever, this etc. What John seems to be saying to the older men of the group is that they believed what they had been told Jesus said. In other words, John had written his Gospel narrative to them, because they had believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Likewise, John had written to the young men, because the word of God (i.e. the same Gospel the older men believed and embraced) richly dwelt in them, and they were strong and proved their strength by gaining victory over the wicked one, namely, the one Paul personified as Ishmael / Hagar (Galatians 4:21-31).
In my opinion, the Jewish threat to the Gospel has been greatly misunderstood by modern believers. First of all, we need to keep in mind that the Apostles didn’t leave the Jewish community to become a separate Christian community apart from the Jewish faith, as is seen and recognized to be the case today. It was illegal, according to Roman law, to begin a new religion in the first century AD. As far as Rome was concerned the disciples of Jesus represented a sect of the ancient Jewish religion (Acts 18:15; 23:29; 25:19), so in the beginning of the Christian faith, Jesus’ disciples worshiped under the Jewish umbrella, as it were. It wasn’t until around the turn of the century that believers had to figure out ways to meet together for worship without breaking the law of the state. In this context, then, Jewish teachers had to be allowed in the believing community, and in such a case they brought their false doctrines with them. Once the believing community understood the difference between the Law and Christ (which was why Galatians was written) many things operated without much of a problem. Nevertheless, once persecution became prevalent and the new doctrine of the antichrist was taught and spread, many believers became both intimidated and confused, often taking the convenient way out of the problem, and this is what the writer of this epistle meant to address, hoping to stem the tide, if possible.
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[1] See my previous study: John’s First Address Against Error.
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