Please read the passage before reading the commentary.
To whom did the author, whom we call John, address this letter? We know it was to his community. In today’s passage, he mentions children, fathers, and young men. In the last appearance of Jesus after his resurrection in John’s gospel (21:5) Jesus addresses his disciples as “children”, not because of their age but because of their being disciples. Is that true here as well?
If you have had your sins forgiven and if you know the Father, then you are children. If you know the One who is from the beginning, then you are fathers. If you are strong and the word of God remains in you, then you are young. The father, the child and the strong adolescent all belong to the same family or community. The difference in ages or status is immaterial. Keeping this community intact is the task of the whole community of the family.
Our task is to love the community, not to love the world. The world here does not mean the place where we live, but the standards of those who are enticed by the passing nature of the things that we can see. Just as in our families, we are drawn to be at home with each other member, so in our Chirstian family we are at home with those who recognize the same Father, the same Son and the same Spirit.
As the head of a family struggles to keep the family together, so John was struggling to keep his Christian family together. Just as we are not free to choose the bloodlines of our families, so the Christian is not free to choose another Father or another Word. Whoever does the will of God remains forever. Whoever does not will miss out on being forever.
You children, you fathers, you youth, remain in the will of God and stay in the family of God. This so even if the term children refers to one class of believer or stands for all believers.