The Fellowship of God 2: Walk In Love
Part 2 The Family Of God’s Love – 1 John 2:12-14

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. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

The Faithful Family

John writes to the family of God and calls them by group, the little children, the fathers and the young men and then repeats that some way of addressing them. Some have said that this was based on their ages and that is possible, but to John they were all little children and he uses that term more later in the epistle. It could be that John is addressing all of them with all of these terms as a way of reminding them who they all were as the family of God and the experience that he attributes to them fits the label at different times in their growing Christian life.

They had all experienced the forgiveness of sin as become as “little children” As “fathers,” or parents they had known the One that is from the beginning. And as “young men,” they had experienced spiritual warfare and by faith had overcome the wicked one. John repeats and adds to these groups and experiences and in this we see that this is a form of poetry or prose based on the Jewish form of poetry that repeats a thought or an idea, adding to it to give it emphasis.  It would be written like this:

John's Hymn To the Family of God

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.
I have written unto you, fathers,because ye have known him that is from the beginning.
I have written unto you, young men,because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
Understood in this way, the sequence and repetition of “children,” “fathers,” and “young men” has greater meaning. They knew their sins were forgiven, they knew they walked and had fellowship with the Eternal One, and now like strong, young warriors who had overcome Satan’s attacks they were ready for the next fight.