I Write Unto You; I Have Written Unto You

That graphic is from 1 John 5:13. In that last chapter, as he’s closing, he explains why he wrote. But it’s the earlier chapters that caught my attention this morning as I thumbed through my notes on sermons and lessons.  I noted the following verses from our August 4th Sunday School class where John mentions who he is writing to, and had written to – three different groups: children, fathers, young men:

I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.
I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning.
I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one.
I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning.
I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
(1 John 2:12-14 KJV)

There are a variety of applications. This could be applied specific as stated; it could be applied to stages of Christianity; it could be applied as stages of learning. All would be good lessons.

One thing it brings to my mind is: the first set is about Jesus, the Christ, our savior and the second set is about God, our father. All are stages of our growth in understanding and faith.

We are children as we accept God’s salvation through Jesus Christ. As fathers, we’ve come to understand John 1:1-3. As young men we have  battled our temptation by the wicked one through God’s word which introduced us to Christ. It’s a theme that John carried through his gospel and his three letters to churches. He included a specific reference that includes the graphic above:

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:13 KJV)

How difficult it must be for someone not to know God’s salvation. John isn’t the only one who wrote of it – there is confirmation of this thread throughout the Bible. This is why I encourage Bible reading – the men who wrote down what God inspired them to say did so across centuries, not a study group.

One writer is known to have been a serious scholar:

I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. (Acts 22:3 KJV)

In Galatians 2, Paul explains how, fourteen years after his conversion, he met with the leaders of Christianity and it was confirmed that he was teaching to gentiles what they were taking to the Jews. The same good news to all who would listen and read:

And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. (Galatians 2:9 KJV)

Because of reading the Bible, I can know that what I believe it was God has shared with mankind through the ages. That was was given foreshadowed what was to come. The same message was taught by those who walked personally with Jesus, and those who accept Him as savior a year later or thousands of years later. The methodology remains the same, and I can know that I have eternal life. Anyone can.

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. (Hebrews 13:8 KJV)