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1Jn 2:12. Ἔγραψα ὑμῖν, τεκνία, I have written to you, my sons) John, throughout the whole of the Epistle, and in this chapter, calls all to whom he writes, τεκνία, sons; but in 1Jn 2:13-27, he particularly divides them into fathers, young men, and παιδία, or children. Wherefore τεκνία and παιδία are not synonymous. Writing to τεκνία, his sons, ch. 1Jn 2:1, he says, at the beginning of the paragraph, I write, 1Jn 2:1 (comp. 1Jn 2:7-8); and here, at the conclusion, he sub joins, I have written; not changing the things already mentioned, but confirming them again and again: 1Jn 2:12. Comp. 1Pe 5:12, I have written. Thence he suitably addresses three degrees of age, which are according to nature, but variously imbued with grace: and he addresses as fathers, those who had witnessed the time of Jesus Christ engaged on earth: as young men, those who, having overcome the wicked one, ought also boldly to have subdued the world lying in the wicked one, and the lust of the world: as παιδία, little children, those whom, after the departure of the fathers and the young men, the last hour was unexpectedly[1] coming upon, and in it Antichrist. This address has a proposition or statement, and a discussion of the subject. In the statement he says: I write to you, fathers: I write to you, young men: I write to you, παιδία, little children: 1Jn 2:13; but in the discussion of the subject, he says, I have written to you, fathers, 1Jn 2:14 : I have written to you, young men, 1Jn 2:14-17 : I have written to you, παιδία, little children, 1Jn 2:18-27; the word, I have written, being itself twice inserted at 1Jn 2:21; 1Jn 2:26. The method of these passages very closely resembles that of the beginning and conclusion of the Epistle: for ch. 1Jn 1:4, he uses the verb, of writing, in the present tense; but in ch. 1Jn 5:13 he says, I have written. Having ended the threefold address, he returns to them collectively, again addressing them as τεκνία, beloved sons, 1Jn 2:28. From this division the various readings in 12th[2] and following verses, noticed in the Apparatus, are more easily refuted.-ὑμῖν, to you) The doctrine of the remission of sins belongs to the fathers also, respecting whom we have just spoken.-ἀφέωνται, are remitted) The apostle puts this summing up of the things which he has hitherto treated of, proceeding to other things which are built upon the remission of sins as a foundation.-διὰ) on account of.-αὐτοῦ, of Himself) Jesus Christ.
[1] Occupo, like φθάνω, used in the sense of taking by surprise. He warns them that the last time, in which Antichrist should appear, was about to come. The last time was in a certain sense already come, but its decided development was to be after the death of the fathers and young men.-T.
[2] Inferior authorities read παιδία for τεκνία in 1Jn 2:13.-E.