I write to you (1John 2:12-14) 281007
These three verses in this letter of Apostle John is actually some form of poem or lyrics. The structure of this portion of the letter is very interesting. Allow me to break it up and let us see the structure for ourselves and see if there is anything we can learn from it.
I write to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
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 evil one.
I write to you, dear children,
because you have known the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
John used "I write to you" six times here, but in Greek, the first three one should be better translated as "I am writing to you" and the last three "I have written to you". There were three groups of people John was writing to: children, fathers, and young men. And they are in parallel order. This is what we call parallelism.
In other words, ‘your sins have been forgiven on account of His name (v12)’ is the same as ‘you have known the Father (v13)’. This was written for the children. Though we are not sure if these children here are symbolically representing young christian or literally children, the thrust is that John wanted his readers to realize that their sins were forgiven because they knew the love of Father and grace of the Son, Jesus. And to us, modern day readers, it means our sins are forgiven because of both grace and love of God.
The words for the fathers were repeated: ‘you have known him who is from the beginning (v13, 14)’. Likewise, here John was emphasizing the deity of Jesus, who exists from the beginning. And for the young men, there were some more words added to them beside they ‘have overcome the evil one (v13, 14)’, they were also strong, and the word of God lives in them (v14).
The message is clear: we have to be strong, by having the word of God living in us. Then we can overcome the evil one. Sometime we have doubts about our life, why do we feel so defeated? Here is the solution: let the word of God lives in us. How to let the word of God lives in us? I was reminded of a helpful handle to do so, let me share it here.
Hear the word (Mark 4:23. Rom 10:17)
Examine the word (Rev 1:3)
Analyze the word (Acts 17:11, 2Tim 2:15)
Remember the word (Ps 119:9,11, Deut 6:6)
Think about the word (Ps 1:2-3, Josh 1:8)
It is a HEART! And last but not least: Apply the word into our lives (Luke 6:46-49, Jas 1:22).
Hope that this can help you to allow the word of God to live in your heart and overcome the evil one. This is what I write to you.
HHS…
Abel..
