1 John 2:14Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The Apostle above adapted these very names taken from age to moral teaching. Now he repeats them from affection, without interrupting his instruction. Then he again repeats the same thing in another order, applying his teaching word to the measure of spiritual age. Since I know, he says, that you will receive my epistle to you according to the diversity of your ages, I too must measure my teaching by the disposition of your age. With some of you I must converse as with children who have known the Father, that is, God. With others I must speak as with fathers, who have a knowledge greater than children. They have known not only that He is Father, but also that He is from eternity and ineffable, for He was from the beginning. Such need a more perfect teaching about God. With others I must speak as with young men, strong and capable of struggle and contests. By giving them the glory of victory, he shows that they too need words that are bold and martial.

By age here, I think, he means age according to the inner man. For the evangelist was not writing to children. Therefore the youths are those who have attained spiritual courage, the elders those who have acquired discernment, and the infants those who have only just believed in Christ.

I write to you, fathers. He insists on this and repeats: because you have known Him Who is from the beginning. Remember that you are fathers. If you forget Him Who is from the beginning, you have lost your fatherhood. I write to you, young men. Think again and again that you are young men. Fight, so that you may overcome. Overcome, so that you may receive the crown. Be humble, so that you may not fall in battle. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. All this, brothers, that we have known Him Who is from the beginning, that we are strong, and that we have known the Father, all this is said as if in praise of knowledge. Yet is it not also in praise of love?

Strong young men are those who despise pleasures.

Remember that you are fathers. If you forget Him Who is from the beginning, you will lose your fatherhood. Do not forget either that you are young. Fight until victory, until the victor's crown. Be humble, so that you do not fall on the field of battle.

Saint John speaks as though saying this: Remember, fathers, what has been written to you, that you have known Christ, the Savior of men, the eternal God. Remember, young men, what has been written to you, that you are strong, and the word of God abides in you. That is, the divine teaching received with faith acts in you, and you have overcome obstacles and conquered the enemy of salvation. Remember this, so that you may continue the struggle unshaken and fulfill what I will now write to you. This is what I write to you: do not love the world, nor the things in the world, and so forth. In addressing fathers and young men, the Apostle does not speak to children. Perhaps this is because they, as children, must remain under the nearest guidance of their elders.

From these words of John we are undoubtedly convinced that the members of the one Church are divided according to ages. The first age, children, possesses only this: that sins are forgiven it, certainly in the Mystery of Baptism. Yet it does not possess knowledge of the Unoriginate or triumph over the snares of the devil, which it has not yet experienced. The second age, young men, as the age of strength, has as its special mark that it overcomes the evil one, who acts through the passions of youth. Finally, the third age, fathers, is distinguished by a special knowledge of divine subjects. In general, wisdom and knowledge most properly belong to advanced and much-experienced age.

I have written to you, fathers, young men, and so forth. The Apostle is not speaking of the Gospel, nor of some other book in which he wrote this, but of what he himself has just written in the preceding lines. For the strengthening of his speech, the Apostle gives it this turn: I write to you, children, fathers, young men, youths. Remember, or remember well, what I have just written to you fathers and to you young men. This is especially important for all. Therefore place deeply in your soul what I now write and have written to you. Remember, fathers, that you have known the Unoriginate. Remember, young men, that you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Strong, and so forth. Here the young men are already, as it were, compared with men.

Children and fathers, young men and youths, all possess the perfections corresponding to them. "I write to you" refers to what follows in verses 15-17, namely, that one must not love the world or the things in the world. For this purpose special motives are presented to each age, adapted precisely to that age. "I write to you, children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake" (1 Jn 2:12). This means the same as: for the sake of the person of Jesus Christ, for the sake of His dignity and merits as Deliverer and Redeemer. Thus the Apostle sets forth the childlike purity and innocence received by children in baptism, which washes them from ancestral sin. Or, if the newly baptized are adults, it washes them even from voluntary sins.

Having set forth teaching common to all, the Apostle now turns to Christians of different ages of life and of spiritual understanding. He indicates the special gifts of the Lord and the powers proper to each age, and marks out for all diverse paths toward further perfection. Concerning children, that is, the newly converted, he says that their sins have been forgiven. They certainly had faith when turning to Christ. Therefore they must next strive toward the knowledge proper to youths, that is, to those who have clearer and firmer concepts of the objects of faith. To young men he ascribes strength in the struggle against the snares of the spirit of malice. Only to men, or fathers, who have already reached the greatest firmness of strength, does he assign the fullness and depth of all knowledge possible for Christians (cf. Eph 4:13-14).

In addressing Christians with the exhortation not to love the world, the Apostle distinguishes them according to their spiritual and moral age. In this he adapts himself to the natural, bodily ages of human life: childhood, youth, young manhood, and mature manhood. In each age the Apostle indicates motives for remaining in communion with God, walking in the light, and not yielding to the temptations of the world. For children, who have only just begun the Christian life after baptism, the motive is the forgiveness of their sins in the Mystery of Baptism for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ. For youths, it is the knowledge of God the Father. They have already acquired this, though not yet in fullness, as they grow in the moral Christian life.