I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, little children, because you know the Father.
"Few errors of contemporary exposition are more blatant than this one. Not only does John not say that he is writing to ’test’ whether his readers are saved or not, he says the reverse [in 1 John 1:3-4]!" [Note: Zane C. Hodges, The Gospel Under Siege, pp. 47-48. Other commentators who hold that 1 John offers tests of fellowship rather than tests of life are J. Dwight Pentecost, The Joy of Fellowship; Mitchell, Fellowship; idem, An Everlasting Love; Joseph C. Dillow, The Reign of the Servant Kings, pp. 156-75; Guy H. King, The Fellowship; Charles C. Ryrie, Biblical Theology of the New Testament; idem, "The First . . .," p. 1466; J. W. Roberts, The Letters of John; and Karl Braune, The Epistles General of John, in Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, 12:15.] 