1 John 2:12

I write unto you, little children,.... By whom the apostle means in common all the saints he writes to, whom he afterwards distributes into fathers, young men, and little children; for the same word

I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.

He here uses an appellation before applied to all in common, being put alone; but being now set in contradistinction to others, must be understood to intend a distinct rank of Christians, viz. those more newly entered into the Christian state; and to them he suggests the free remission of their sins for his name’ s sake, i.e. for his own sake, as the reason why they should, out of ingenuity, and a new, recent sense of God’ s mercy towards them, comply with his holy pleasure in the following precept. The remission of their sins being a first and most early privilege with them, that commenced from the beginning of their sincere Christianity, and which was sealed to them in their late baptism, it is the more fitly mentioned to this first rank of Christians.

12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’ s sake. Ver. 12. I write unto you, little children] A Christian hath his degrees of growth; childhood, 1 Corinthians 3:1-2; youth or well grown age, when he is past the spoon, as here; old age, Acts 21:16. Because your sins are forgiven you] Though perhaps you as yet know it not, through weakness of faith and strength of corruption.

(7) THE THINGS THEY MUST NOT LOVE IF THEY WALKED IN THE LIGHT (1 John 2:12-17).—The solemnity of the thoughts of 1 John 2:9; 1 John 2:11 is too much for the warm heart of the Apostle. He cannot bear even to seem to suggest that his “dear little children” are shrouded in the gloomy horrors of moral darkness, haunted by the faithful memories of their sins, and enticed hither and thither by the malevolent spirits of evil. He will warn them with the most tender and pitiful affection against the wicked one, the world, the flesh, the follies and vanities of the human heart; but first he will show them frankly what he thinks of them, what he hopes of them, the trust he places in them, the grounds which he takes for granted in writing to them. (12) I write unto you, little children.—The arrangement of these triplets should be prefaced by saying that the last “I write,” in 1 John 2:13, is, according to the best reading, “I wrote,” or “I have written;” and that the “little children” of 1 John 2:12 is the same word as that which he used in 1 John 2:1 for the whole class of his readers, and is therefore quite general, but that the “little children” of 1 John 2:13 is a different, word, meaning children in age. So we get:— I write.I wrote.. All readers.1. Children in age. [Suggested, according to the perfect simplicity of St. John’s style, by the term used in the first set for his readers generally.]. Fathers.2. Fathers.. Youths.3. Youths.Reasons.. Forgiveness.1. Knowledge of the Father.. Knowledge of Christ. 2. Knowledge of Christ.. Victory.3. Strength, perseverance, victory.Some have thought the second triplet an explanatory note that has crept into the text; others that “I write refers to what he is doing at the moment, “I wrote” the view they would take when they read what he had written. It seems better, however, if we allow the Gospel to have been written first, to refer “I am writing” to the Epistle; “I did write” to the Gospel. Because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.—Rather, have been forgiven. When Christ expired on the cross, the sins of all were forgiven who should in after-time believe and carry on their repentance towards perfection. The process is realised in the soul when it wakes up to a sense of love of the Saviour through faith. (13) Fathers.—The heads of families. Him that is from the beginning.—There can be little doubt that this means the same Person as the subject of “His name’s sake.” (Comp. John 1:1; John 8:58; John 17:5; Knowledge of Christ is assigned in both cases as the reason for addressing the elder members of his audience, because fully to understand the work, the doctrine, the example of Christ, is a work fitted for mature thought. (Comp.

Verse 12. I write unto you, little children] τεκνια. Beloved children, (1 John 2:1) those who were probably the apostle's own converts, and members of the Church over which he presided. But it may be applied to young converts in general; those who can call God Abba, Father, by the Holy Spirit: therefore he says of them, that their sins were forgiven them for his name's sake: i.e. on account of Jesus, the Saviour, who had died for them, and was now their Mediator at the right hand of God.

12–28. The Things and Persons to be AvoidedThese are summed up under two heads: i. The World and the Things in the World (15–17); ii. Antichrists (18–26). The section begins with a threefold statement of the happy experiences which those addressed have had in the Gospel, and gives these as a reason for their being addressed (12–14), and ends with an exhortation to abide in Christ as the best safeguard from the dangers against which the Apostle has been warning them (27, 28).

I write unto you, little children - There has been much difference of opinion among commentators in regard to this verse and the three following verses, on account of their apparent tautology.

12. I write—I am writing. While I write, my mind surveys your different ages of natural and Christian life blended in one. Sins are forgiven—The entire Church is addressed on the common basis of being justified Christians, 13.