in the light (continual status) and in him is no stumbling block (another continual status). The stumbling block is that which can trip him or her from living in fellowship with God and with others.108 John’s words here are like calling to mind the verse “love covers a multitude of sins” (Prov 10:12; 1 Pet 4:8). When we love someone, we shall not do him or her harm of any kind. Love serves as a catalyst to keep us in the light, which is God’s sphere of existence.
While in 2:7–11 John tells his readers what he is writing to them, in 2:12–14 he tells them why he is writing (see discussion of this below). In summary, they have the qualification needed so as to be able to absorb what he is saying into their character. This is an important point because a repetition of the love commandment to a people who do not have that potential amounts to wasting of time. It is only the believer who can exercise the kind of love John is talking about here. It is a love that does not categorize people into classes for purpose of excluding some from love, not even into “enemies” and “friends” categories (Matt 5:43–48) and it is a love that permeates every aspect of one’s life.
John now addresses his readers using three classifications: little children (teknia, 2:12a), fathers (pateres, 2:13a), and young men (neaniskoi, 2:13b), which he repeats in 2:14 using the same classification except he now uses paidia and not teknia for children. These three verses (2:12–14) raise some interesting exegetical questions, including:
1. Are the classifications of children (teknia, paidia), fathers (pateres), and young men (neaniskoi) pointing to their level in physical age or in spiritual maturity, if either of the two?
2. Is there a difference between the two Greek words John uses for children here? That is, are teknia and paidia synonymous or does each have its own focus?
3. Why does John repeat the content of 2:12–13 in 2:14, with some of what he says to the group being exactly the same in both cases?
4. Why does he use the present tense, graphō, in the first set (2:12–13) and aorist tense, egrapsa, in the second set in 2:14?
Concerning the classification into children, fathers, and young men, the majority of scholars view these to be classification on their stage in Christian experience.109 The “children” represents those who have been born into the Christian faith recently (probably both teknia and paidia being used for this group) or have not moved far in their spiritual growth even if they have had many years of belonging to the family of God. The young men represent those believers whose lives show clear evidence of victory in facing temptations and trials, while the fathers represent those who have many years of experience walking in the path of wisdom and fear of God.110 They have come to know and teach that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 1:7) and can counsel others about the same on basis of their experience.111
Another approach, still under the spiritual experience classification, is to view the use of “children” (both teknia and paidia) as standing for all believers and the “young men” and “fathers” representing two levels in spiritual growth.112 Brown,113 who supports this position, sees the beauty of it as that once the entire community has been addressed as children (in both sets) the order of “fathers” and “young men” follows naturally (as opposed to the order: “children,” “fathers,” and “young men” if one took it to be three groups). To this can also be added the observation that John uses both teknia and paidia in contexts in which it is the whole community in view (2:1, 18, 28; 3:7, 18; 4:4; 5:21).114 However, the use of a word in different senses within the same document is not an impossibility. For example, John can use teknia as all inclusive in some passages (see above) while in a different context use it as distinct from other groups. Here, he uses it alongside neaniskoi (young men) and pateres (fathers) and this could be an indicator of a different usage from places where it includes all believers.
As for the use of the two Greek words for children, teknia and paidia, it seems like John is using them interchangeably to refer to all his readers. He uses teknia in 2:1, 28; 3:7, 18; 4:4; and 5:21 in a manner that parallels his use of paidia in 2:18. If this be the case, and it is reasonable that it is, we can also say that it is the same group of people he has in mind when he uses the two words in this passage (2:12 and 2:14) though now using it specifically for those who have come to faith recently so that he can draw attention also to those who have been growing spiritually for sometime, that is the neanisikoi and the pateres. John is probably using the two (teknia and paidia) for purpose of minimizing monotony, just as he may be doing in changing the tense from present to aorist (see discussion below). The dictionary115 meaning for the two words are “little child” for paidion (being diminutive of, and related to pais which covers ages of 7–14 years) and “little child” for teknion (being a diminitive of and related to teknon, which sees it from the standpoint of origin or birth). The contextual meaning seems to support this interchangeability in meaning. If there is any slight difference to be drawn between the two, it may simply be that teknion does not only communicate the “littleness” but also denotes affection. Moulton and Milligan note that teknon, of which teknion is a diminutive, may also be used “as a form of kindly address, even in the case of grown-up persons.”116 Jesus used teknia for his disciples in John 13:33 and it is the same word (tekna) that is used when reference is made to believers as belonging to the family of God (5:2).
The repetition of the thoughts here in two pairs of three is striking. For the “fathers,” for example, he repeats in 2:14 exactly what he said to them in 2:13: “you have known the one from (the) beginning” (egnōkate ton ap’ archēs) and for the young men he says exactly the same thing in 2:13 and 2:14: “you have overcome the evil one” (nenikēkate ton ponēron). It is not strange for John, as a Jew, to be repeating these thoughts for the purpose of emphasis. This was a feature of a Jewish style of communication of matters that need to be stressed. Describing this passage as the “most rhetorically structured” Jobes sees the passage as patterned after Hebrew parallelism.117 Lieu also sees the purpose of the variation as “to drive the point home.”118
It would be unnecessary to argue that John sees the spiritual experience of each group as exclusively theirs. However, we do see some progression here, especially if we take the three categories of “children,” “young men,” and “fathers” as implying different stages in spiritual growth. For the children (teknia/paidia) there are both the experiences of forgiveness of sin (“your sins have been forgiven on account of his name,” apheōntai humin hai hamartiai dia to onoma autou, 2:12b) and knowledge of the Father (“you have known the Father,” egnōkate ton patera, 2:14a). The spiritual journey of the believer starts with forgiveness of sin. John had told his readers in 1:8 that a denial of having sin is a deception of self. A believer is one who has come to that point where he or she has said, “I am a sinner” and in faith “confessed sin” (1:9) and then received the blessings of Jesus being his or her hilasmos (propitiation, 2:2) or the means by which God now turns his face toward him or her as a Father. It brings a new experience of not just knowing that God exists out there somewhere but a relationship John describes as “knowledge of.” It is deeper than knowledge about. It includes a personal experience of how this person is like.119 This knowledge comes on account of Jesus’ name. It is when we go before God and use the name of Jesus as the basis for God’s acceptance of us that we get to know God in this way. This is because by ourselves alone we cannot stand before God who is light (1:5), but on account of Jesus who is righteous (2:1) we can begin this experiential knowledge with God. By implication, taking the meaning of hoti in these three verses as causal120 (the reason why he writes), those he refers to as children are standing on a first step from which they can move on into the depths of the things he is writing. Their status121 is one of a “forgiven people” and “living in experience with God as Father.”
The second level is that of the young men (neaniskoi) though John mentions them last in both listings. Three things are said about them. They are overcomers (“you have overcome the evil one,” nenikēkate ton ponēron, 2:13, 14), they are strong (“you are strong,” ischuroi este, 2:14) and they are obedient (“the word of God remains in you,” ho
