The apostle John has been showing in this epistle the contrast between those who live in sin, and those who are righteous. He has been showing a contrast between those who walk in the light, and those who walk in darkness. He has been showing a contrast between those who keep the commandments, and those who do not keep the commandments. And the basic difference between these two types of people is that one is saved, and the other is unsaved. Those that are unsaved may claim they are saved, they may claim that they know God, but they show by their deeds that they do not. But in contrast, those that are truly saved show by their walk, by their life, that they are saved, that they do have fellowship with God.
Now last week I spent a lot of time going back to the prophecies of the Old Testament, particularly in Ezekiel and Jeremiah, which prophesied that in the new covenant, God would do a new thing, which is He would forgive their sins, give them a new spirit, and also give them the Holy Spirit. That transaction speaks of being born again, to be born spiritually. And only when a person is born again will they have the power to keep God’s commandments. That’s what the Old Testament prophecies of Ezekiel and Jeremiah tell us will happen when a person is born again. Let me just read one of those passages, for the sake of those who may not have been here last week when we talked about this.
Ezekiel 36:25 says, "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” That’s talking about being born again spiritually, and then in the power of the Spirit having the strength to keep the ordinances of God. That’s the only way we can keep the ordinances of God. We cannot do it in the natural man, but only as we are reborn spiritually.
Now in the passage we are looking at today, John speaks directly to those who have been born again, to those who are saved. And he divides those who have been born again, or who have been saved, into three categories. He says I write to you little children, I write to you fathers, and I write to you young men. These are three categories that John divides all Christians into.
So the question then is what do these three terms mean? And the answer would seem to be that John is speaking of levels of maturity. It is a common teaching in the New Testament that there are levels of spiritual maturity in our Christian life, and we are encouraged and expected to grow into maturity. Being born again is the beginning of our spiritual life, but we are not expected to stay infants, but to grow into the full stature of Christ.
For instance, Paul says in Ephesians Eph. 4:12-13 that the pastor/teachers in the church are given for “the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
So spiritual growth is the evidence of spiritual life. God, who gave us spiritual life in Christ, intends for that life to grow, intends for that life to grow into maturity. And maturity is evidenced in that we look more and more like Christ, we act like Christ, we are conformed to the image of Christ in our life. Romans 8:29 tells us, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.”
Now that’s what John told us a few verses back in 1 John 2:6, “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” So the goal of our salvation, the goal of being born again, is to live like Christ, to become like Christ. And that process of becoming like Christ is what it means to come to spiritual maturity.
And the means of that spiritual growth is the Scripture. First Peter 2:2 says, “Desire the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow by it.” Just as a baby needs milk in order to grow, you desire the milk of the Word which is your food so that you also can grow. Spiritual growth is another way to describe what we call sanctification.
So sanctification is the process of becoming like Christ. It’s the second stage of our salvation. The first stage of our salvation is justification, when we are justified, our sins forgiven and we are given the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Justification is immediate, we are born again as children of God. The second stage of our salvation is sanctification, where we become conformed to the image of Christ. Sanctification is progressive. It’s the process of growth, of maturity. And then the final stage of our salvation is glorification, when Christ returns and there is no more sin, no more Satan, and the flesh and the earth are remade in sinless perfection. But we that are saved are living in the middle stage, the process of sanctification, becoming conformed to Jesus Christ.
And it is to this middle stage, that John is writing to in this passage. He addresses three stages of maturity, or three stages of sanctification. Spiritual growth is facilitated much the same way that you grow physically. It is affected by what you eat, by exercise and by learning. And as Christians we spiritually are fed by the Word of God. We exercise by doing the will of God. And we learn by practicing the truth. And in this way we grow, we mature.
So John addresses first of all what he calls little children. The word that he uses includes infants up to young children. It’s a term of endearment, but it’s also a term that indicates spiritual immaturity. Now that is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s normal in new birth for a child to remain an infant for a time, and then a toddler and so on. And as Christians, there was a time when we were all infants spiritually speaking. We were new born. And there are characteristics of that stage that are appropriate to a new born child of God.
So he starts with a general statement in verse 12. “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.” This term includes all those who have come to new birth through faith in Jesus Christ. Your sins are forgiven. That’s the major distinction that we all share at the early stage of our development. So when he says “little children” in verse 12, he’s talking about all believers - he uses the word teknia. Now, that word simply means “born ones.” Those that have been born again. They may not have gotten much beyond that stage, but they are forgiven. They have been made children of God. They have new life in Christ.
John spoke of that in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” That’s the beginning of our new life. Forgiven of the penalty of sin. Christ paid our penalty through His death on the cross so that we are forgiven. And being forgiven, through faith in what He has done for us, we are given a new heart, a new spirit, and the Holy Spirit to dwell in us.
John says we are forgiven not because of what we have done, but for His name’s sake. That means we are forgiven on the basis of what Christ did for us. Not by our works of righteousness, but for His name’s sake. God looked at what Jesus did for us as our substitute, and forgave us our sins, and gave us Christ’s righteousness. And in that transaction, we are born again. That forgiveness and imputed righteousness is the first stage of our maturity, the first stage of new life, the first stage of sanctification, of becoming like Christ.
The second category of our spiritual growth that John writes about is that of fathers. It’s odd that he goes from babies to fathers, and then comes back to young men. But nevertheless, we will follow his pattern. I suppose that John skips from babies to fathers because fathers is the goal of our maturity. You know, there is an obsession in our culture with being young, or trying to stay young. Just the other morning I was thinking about someone I knew in the 70’s when I was growing up, and I tried to imagine what they must be like now that they are old, like me. I still remember them as they looked then. And I felt a sadness for the passing of youth. The years fly by. But we try so hard to hold onto our youth. And as a society we seem to idolize youth. But youth is transitory. The Bible doesn’t idolize youth. It encourages growing up. The goal is maturity.
So John says in vs 13, “I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning.” Fathers is the most mature level of our sanctification here on earth. What John is saying is that these Christians have come to know Christ in a very intimate way. Not just knowing Christ in a superficial way, or even just a theological way. But in a way that is only gained by living and following someone daily, day after day, year after year. Having close communion and intimacy with Christ on a personal level.
You know the Bible speaks of the church as the bride of Christ. The person that knows me better than anyone in the world is my wife. She has spent over 30 years with me now. She has walked with me through almost every type of storm and trial, as well as we have experienced many periods of happiness and joy. She knows me better than my children or my parents, because she has been with me for so many years now.
That’s the relationship that John speaks to here in this word to fathers, that they know Him. In the original Greek it’s ginosko, which means of course to know, to understand, but can also speak of the intimacy between a husband and wife. I think the title of father is also significant. Notice he doesn’t address just old men, but fathers. The only way to be a father is to have a child. So I think there is included in this maturity of fathers a necessity to reproduce spiritual life. To bring others to the Lord is a mark of maturity.
Back in vs 3, John said this about knowing Christ; “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” That reveals that to know God means that we keep His commandments. That is a higher degree of maturity, that you have learned to keep His commandments. We get the change of heart at new birth which means that we have a desire to keep His commandments, but actually coming to a point where we do so, is a means of practice, of discipline, and of love. Jesus said if you love Me, you will keep My commandments. Keeping the commandments is a mark of maturity that comes as a result of a life devoted to Him, to following Him, walking with Him.
The third category of maturity that John addresses is young men. Vs13, “I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.” Young men speaks of the middle stage of our sanctification. You are no longer a child, yet you have not reached the level of maturity of the fathers. But there is a progressive maturity that is indicative of these young men.
And I believe that that maturity is defined at this stage by overcoming temptation. When we are born again, we are given a new spirit. But the flesh is still there, and it’s the same old body, still prone to the same lusts of the flesh. The devil is called in scripture the tempter. Temptation is particularly the bane of the young Christian in whom is a battle between the flesh and the spirit. But the Bible says in 1Cor. 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”
How do young Christians overcome temptation? Through the power of the Spirit. Through walking close to the Lord. Through reading His word. Through prayer. The point is that there are given to us the means by which to overcome temptation. And one major means is by recognizing that the devil is the deceiver, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him. And so what he is tempting you with is a lie. The forbidden fruit will not make you smarter, it will not make you happier, it will in fact destroy you. Recognizing the devil is a liar and recognizing the lie in temptation is the key to overcoming the evil one.
Now at the end of vs 13, we see John start to repeat himself. As I get older, I’ve been accused by my family of repeating myself. I guess I don’t always remember having told a certain story. But sometimes, I don’t care if I have told it before, I think it bears repeating. Well, John is about 90 years old by this point. But I think he deliberately repeats himself. He repeats these three statements, but with a different emphasis. And I think he does it deliberately, strategically, not only for emphasis, but as an aid to learning. We learn by repetition, don’t we? We memorize by repetition. We learn to play an instrument by repetition. Repetition is the key to learning, and learning is one of the means of sanctification.
So he speaks again to children at the end of vs 13. “I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.” Notice that in the first address, John uses present tense. And in the second address, he uses past tense. I am writing to you, I have written to you. I’m not sure what that means. It may refer to the earlier writing which John authored which is his gospel of John. But I don’t think we can say conclusively. One commentator suggested that John took a coffee break in his writing and when he came back he now used the past tense. I don’t think that is very likely. My thinking is that the change from present tense to past tense conveys a progression in time, which is consistent with what we know about sanctification, it’s a progression in maturity in your spiritual life that changes with time.
But notice the change in how he addresses the children. In the NASB the word “little” is missing. It’s now just children. John has changed the original Greek word translated as children. In the first address it was teknion, in the second address it is paidion. Teknion is little children, infants, babes in Christ, paidon is a young child that is of teachable age. Teachers were called paidagogos, responsible for the instruction of little ones. And so we see even there indicated the progressive nature of sanctification. They have matured past the infant stage to the toddler stage. That’s significant. We aren’t intended to stay in the infant stage but are to be trained in righteousness, trained by the Spirit of God.
And John says of these children, that they know the Father. Now notice the difference between the father’s knowing Christ, and the children knowing the Father. It’s normal isn’t it, for a young child to know his daddy? To recognize him? It should be normal to see a child’s face light up when daddy comes home and run out the front door to meet him and give him a hug?
I think that’s what John is speaking of here. He is speaking of the love that we develop as new borns, spiritually speaking, for our heavenly Father. It’s natural for a child to have a love for his father, and it should be a natural thing for us in the spiritual realm to have a love for God our Father. And it’s truly a wonderful thing that we can call the Supreme God of the universe, our Father. We can go to Him as we would go to our Father. Yes, we respect Him, we reverence Him, but we know that we are His child, and we have a special relationship with Him, and we love Him. That’s an important stage in our maturity as believers. To love God and know Him as our Father.
John then addresses once again the fathers. The order of his repetition stays the same. And in this category, the address is exactly the same. No change, except from present tense to past tense. Vs 14, “I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning.”
Once again the emphasis is on knowing Christ. And I suppose it is exactly the same because though the knowledge and experience and maturity increases, the process stays the same. It’s still abiding with Christ. It’s still following Christ. To use a common metaphor, it’s like still being married to Christ. What’s the difference between being married to someone for 10 years and being married to someone for 40 years? I would suggest that it gets better and better.
Married life may change as the years go by. But there is nothing better in life than having someone who loves you, is committed to you, that understands you and cares about you. To stay with someone, to persevere with someone through all the difficulties of life, that is love, and that produces a knowledge that is intimate, it produces a maturity that cannot be obtained through any short cut. And perhaps also included in this address is the idea that John spoke of in vs 3, that you know that you know. You have an assurance of your salvation that grows more sure as the years go by. And that’s a comforting thing as you get older, to know that you know you belong to Christ.
The last word that John gives is once again addressed to the young men. “I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.” In the previous address, John simply said you have overcome the evil one. In this address, he tells us how they overcame him.
First he says it’s because you were strong. The Bible is replete with admonitions to be strong. But it’s usually accompanied with the phrase “in the Lord.” “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” Young men are strong physically. There is a natural strength and endurance that young men have that old men definitely no longer have. But I don’t think John is talking about physical strength. I think he’s talking about spiritual strength. And spiritual strength is found in reliance upon the Lord.
In Luke 1:80, speaking of John the Baptist, it says, “And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.” He became strong in spirit. It’s spiritual strength that made John the Baptist great.
And the Bible indicates the same thing about Christ. Luke 2:40 “The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.” I’m sure that doesn’t mean that Jesus became strong like Samson, but rather strong spiritually. And it says of Jesus that His strength was related to increasing in wisdom. That correlates to the next point of how the young men overcame the evil one.
And that is because the word of God abides in you. Knowledge is essential to maturity. They are equipped with spiritual knowledge. Young men, spiritually speaking, are Christians who have acquired knowledge of the truth. They’re well established in the area of doctrine. As they have fed upon the spiritual meat of the word, spiritual strength has resulted.
Jesus when He was tempted in the wilderness, overcame every temptation of the evil one with the word of God. Each time Satan tempted Jesus, He responded with scripture. Satan even tried to tempt Christ by incorporating scripture, but Christ interpreted scripture correctly. You may have heard it said that the best offense is a good defense. Well, our best defense against the temptations of the devil is the word of God, and the best offensive against the devil is the word of God. The Bible says, resist the devil and he will flee from you. How do you resist a liar and a deceiver? With the truth of God’s word.
Psalm 119:11 says, “Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” Even as Christ relied upon the word to defeat the evil one, even more so must we depend upon the word of God for our strength, so that we may overcome the evil one.
Being an overcomer is the key to the process of sanctification. Knowing the word is the means by which we know the Father, and know the Son. Let us be sure to feast daily on the word of God, and then in that strength exercise our faith by walking in the Spirit, so that we may overcome the evil one, and so that we may grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord.
2Peter 3:18 “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him [be] the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
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