The Pulpit Commentary — 1 John — Section 61

unto you, little children, because your sins are foro-iven you," etc. Our text teaches: 1. 7'1,at the revel,a,tions of ndemptive truth are ad"apted to every season qf human life. St. John writes to little children, to young men, and to fathers. To each of theso clnsses the Bible has much to say, and much that is appropriate to each class, The Bible is the book for the little child, for the venerable sage, and for all the inter- medi~te seasons of life. 2. That thei·e should be an app1'oprfote ,·elation between the physwal seasons and the spiritual experiences of human life. Some of these seasons and ex:periences are mentioned in our text; nod to these we now turn our attention. I. AN EXPERIENCE COMMON TO ALL CHRISTIANS. "I write unto you, little children because your sins are forgfren you for his Name's sake." In this place we regRrd th~ "little c~ildren" as addressed to all the apostle's readers, irrespective of age. The word which he uses (.-• .,via:) is employed seven times in this Epistle, and always as comprehending the whole of his readers. 1. The great blessing enfoyed, "Your sins are forgiven you." This forgiveness is an accomplished fact, and is realized by the Christian ns a present blessing. And how great a blessing it is I Ho who receives it is set free from the guilt of his sins, delivered from their condemnation, exempted from their punishment; aud there is imparted to him a blessed consciousness of the favour of God-" the love of God is shed abro:id in his heart by the Holy Ghost." Dr. Maclaren has well said," Not putting up the rod, but taking your child to your heart, is your forgiveness. . . . And pardon is the open heart of God, full of love, unaverted by any conseq nences of my sin, unclosed by any of my departures from him." 2, The medium through which the blessing is obtained. "For his Name's sake." The Name is that of Jesus Christ, the Saviour and the Anointed of God. 'rhe Nnme is suggestive of all his work for us and for our salvation-his perfect redemptive work, with which the Father was well pleased. We have forgiveness and "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." II. AN EXPERIENCE APPROPRIATE TO ClIILDHOOD, "I hnve written unto you, little children, because ye know the Father." The word used for" children" (,ra:,6ia:) hero is not the same as that in the preceding verse; aud we think, with Ebrard, that the apostle does not now address all his readers, but those only who were children in age. One of the first indications of the intelligence of a child is its recognition of its father, Very early in life the heart of the child knows its father. Not as the result of teaching or reasoning, but in the natural unfolding of its powers it makes the recognition. And those who are children in the Christian life know God as their Father, not by evidences or arguments, but by the trust and love of their heart, which have been awakened through Jesus Christ. They 1.-now him as their Father, not only because they are his creatures, but by the gracious, loving, tender relations which be sustains to them, and by the existence and exercise of the filial spirit in themselves. They have "received the Spirit of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father." It seems to us that "little children" in many cases apprehend and realize the Divine Fatherhood more clearly and fully than Christians of mature age; and that they do so because their faith in him is simpler and stronger. IIL AN EXPERIENCE .APPROPRIATE TO YOUNG MANHOOD, "I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the Word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the evil one." 1. The possession of spiritual strength. "Ye are strong." Strength should characterize young manhood. Strength of body is a good thing; strength of mind is better; strength of soul is best. Spiritual strength is the ~trength of confidence in God., of love to God and to man, of worthy purposes, of righteous principles, and of vital accord with truth. And t~is strength finds express_ion in patient endurance, and earnest labour, and resolute resistance to wrong and battlmg for the riaht. The last aspect of this strength is probably prominent in the clause under .eunsid~ration. The voung men were strong in moral conflict. The interpretation is confirmed by the use· of the same word in Luke xi. 21," When the strong man armed," etc.; and in Heb. xi. 34, "Waxed valiant in fight," or, as in the Revised Version, "mighty in war." And this strength is derived through Jesus Christ, Apart from him we can do nothing. We can do all things in him that strengtheneth us, "'l'~e~e- fore be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus," 2. '.['he possession ?f Dwi"!" troth. "The Word of God abideth in you." The Word of Goct is the revelation of his mind and will which he had made to man, with perhaps special reference to the gospeL OH, n. 1-29.J THE FillST EPISTLE GENERAL OF JOHN. 57