Have known (éyv@xarte). Rev., correctly, ye know. Knowl- edge is the characteristic of fathers ; knowledge as the fruit of experience. Ye have perceived, therefore ye know.
Have overcome (vevixjxare). Compare John xvi. 33. The image is characteristic of the Apocalypse and First Epistle. SeotApoe: liv, 11) 17262 cusiieexxid, led obnedi.ii4ssiv. 4; v. 4, 5.
The evil one (rov srovnpdv). See on wickedness, Mark vii. 22; evils, Luke iii. 19; evtd spirits, Luke vii. 21. The prince of darkness is styled by John 6 d:dBoros the false accuser (John viii. 44; xiii. 2; 1 John iii. 8,10. See on Matt. iv. 1): 6 ¥a- tavas Satan, the adversary (John xiii. 27; compare 6 xatiywp the accuser, properly, in court, Apoc. xii. 10): 0 movnpds the evel one (John xvii. 15; 1 John ii. 13, 14; iii. 12; v. 18, 19): 6 &pxwv Tod Kdopou TovTOV the ruler of this world (John xii. 31; xiv. 80; xvi. 11). Note the abrupt introduction of the word here, as indicating something familiar.
I have written (¢ypaya). Or, strictly, Z wrote. Compare J write (vv. 12, 13), and note the change of tense. The past tense, / wrote, does not refer to some previous writing, as the Gospel, but, like the present, to this Epistle. The present, 7 write, refers to the immediate act of writing: the aorist is the epistolary aorist, by which the writer places himself at the read- er’s stand-point, regarding the writing as past. See on 1 Pet. v.12. J wrdte, therefore, refers to the Apostle’s immediate act of writing ; [ have written, or I wrote, to the reader’s act of reading the completed writing.
Little children (aavé/a). Compare rexvia little children (ver. 1), which emphasizes the idea of kinship, while this word emphasizes the idea of swhordination and consequent discipline. Hence it is the more appropriate word when spoken from the stand-point of authority rather than of affection.
Ye have known (éyvaxare). Rev., correctly, ye know.