1 John 2:12-17

VS. 12-14…

12 I am writing to you, little children,

because your sins are forgiven on account of his name.

13 I am writing to you, fathers,

because you know him who is from the beginning.

I am writing to you, young people,

because you have conquered the evil one.

14 I write to you, children,

because you know the Father.

I write to you, fathers,

because you know him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young people,

because you are strong

and the word of God abides in you,

and you have overcome the evil one.

Couple things to consider.

When he addresses Fathers, young men, and Children is he talking about their Christian Maturity or their physical age?

1. Some say he is addressing physical age not spiritual maturity.

he calls all of them children earlier in the letter

Father is used 419 times - 268 times to refer to father in heaven, 150 times to earthly father or father figure. Not once is it used to describe spiritual maturity

young men is used 8 times in the synoptic gospels and acts to refer to men of lesser physical years.

2. Some say he is addressing spiritual maturity

a.

the first time he addresses these three groups he says, “I am writing” and the second times he addresses them he uses the phrase, “I have written”

Did he write a previous letter?

Is he referring the the Gospel?

Is he referring to earlier in this letter?

This section could be considered a (parentheses) section

It seems out of the flow of the letter.

Maybe he was writing, was pulled away from writing and is now back to writing again.

The author is affirming who they are in Christ

VS. 15-1715 Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; 16 for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever.

“Do not love the world” - in the Greek is a continuous action. could be said like this, “Never love the world or the things of the world.”

If you do love the world, you do not have love for the father in you.

What does he mean by “world?”

Didn’t John also write in John 3:16 that “For God so loved the world?”

What are we to do?

The Greek word for world is ‘Kosmos’ and means all created things, the universe itself.

But John also uses it in other manners as well

The world as under Satan’s influence - evil in the world

The world as loved by God - while God does not love the evil in the world he does love those people created in his image who live in the world

The world and the Christian - we are to love those in the world while hating the evil that resides with those subject to Satan’s influence

So the question remains, how do we know we do not love the world or the things in the world?

We need to ask ourselves where we spend our time, thoughts, and resources?

In vs 16 he tells us why what he says in vs 15 is true, it doesn’t come from the father.

Desires of our flesh - time

Desires of our eyes - thoughts

Pride of riches - resources

In vs 17 he tells the the importance of not loving the world - it is temporary.