I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name sake.
I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one.
I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father.
I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning.
I have written to you young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.
(1 John 2:12-14)

What is your level of maturity in Christ? Regardless, the word of Christ has a message for you.

John is very unusual in the way he addresses his audience. He begins and draws toward a close his letter by telling them why he has written (1:3-4; 5:13). Seven times he affectionately addresses his readers as "little children" (2:1,18,28; 3:7,18; 4:4; 5:21). This is an aged apostle feeding the lambs (cf. John 21:15), even as the Chief Shepherd had fed him so many year before (John 13:33). But now, in the midst of he first major section of the epistle, the writer pauses to assure his readers that, whatever their level of maturity, the message is for them.

His address is in two sections of three addresses each. The first set of three addresses is present tense, the second is past perfect. (The second address to "little children" [verse 13] is rendered "have written" in the New American Standard Bible, making the two sets of addresses equal.) In the present tese he speaks from his own viewpoint as he is writing. The past present tense expresses the time they receie the letter, wondering what the message from the apostles has for them.

Though John uses the phrase "little children" several times to denote all his readers, here the context demands he breaks them down into categories of spiritual maturity.

In each address he assures them that, as Christians, they really possess the blessings the false teachers erroneously claimed to have.

"Little children," those who are young in the faith, are still very aware of their past sins. The beloved apostle assures them their sins are forgiven. The gnostics falsely denied the reality of sin (1:8) and that they had sinned (1:10). By confessing their sins Christians are forgiven of them (1:9). This is the only proper way for Christias to deal with the problem of sin.

"The glory of young men is their strength,
And the splendor of old men is their gray head" (Proverbs 20:29)

The gray hair of the aged is the symbol of wisdom gained by experience. We look to "fathers," those of ripe maturity in Christ, for wise counsel, and John assures them they "have known Him who is from the beginning," i.e. Christ Jesus (1:1-3; John 1:1-2,14). The false teachers denied His true deity or real humanity (1 John 2:22-23; 4:2-3), but mature Christians are unswayed by such human philosophy and believed both (1 John 4:15).

"Young men," those who have grown to maturity in Christ but have yet to acquire the full wisdom of deep experience, "have overcome the wicked one," for, indeed, "the glory of young men is their strength." The "wicked one" is Satan, the archenemy of God and man (cf. 5:18-19; John 17:15; Ephesians 6:11-16). Christ overcame Satan by His siless life as a man, His death on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead (Matthew 4:1-11; 12:28-29; Luke 10:18; John 14:30; 16:11; Ephesias 4:8-10). The false teachers who denied the full humanity of Jesus denied the basis of our victory over Satan; His death, burial and resurrection.

In the second round of addresses the apostle varies the reasons for writing and the order of those addressed. He has written to the little children because they "have known the Father." Isaiah prophesied that, under the rule of "the Rod from the stem of Jesse," "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea." (Isaiah 11:1,9). Jeremiah prophesied a new covenant under which "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them" (Jeremiah 31:31,34). That covenant has come through Christ (Hebrews 8:6-13). Under the Mosaic covenant, Jewish children were born into covenant relationship with God (cf. Exodus 12:24) and afterward had to be taught to know God (Deuteronomy 6:6-7). Under the covenant which came through Jesus Christ, one must first learn to know God by being taught before he can eve come to Christ (John 6:44-45). Even the "little children" know the Father.

The reason for having addressed the fathers is not varied the second time.

However, John expands his reason for having written the "young men". They have overcome the evil one because they are strong, and they are strong because "the word of God abides in" them. We are soldiers of Christ locked in spiritual combat with eternal consequences (2 Timothy 2:3; Ephesians 6:12-13). As Christ overcame Satan's temptations by appealing to the word of God (Matthew 4:4,7,10), His word is the sword of our weaponry, our only offensive weapon (Ephesias 6:14-17). The saints overcome Satan "by the blood of the Lamb and by the word" and by the fact they do "not love their lives to the death" (Revelation 12:11).

Regardless of our level of spiritual maturity, John, the aged, inspired apostle of Christ has a message of encouragement for each of us.