I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.
because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake: "Are forgiven" is apheontai, meaning "to send from one’s self, to send away, to bid go away or depart" (Wuest, I John 122). The word is in the perfect tense, pointing to past action with existing results. He says in effect, "You have been, and stand now, forgiven of all past sins." God sent their sins away, never to return. Why? "For his name’s sake." They stand forgiven on the basis of the name of Christ, their Advocate. The name of Christ stands for everything He is. Through Him we come to God (John 14:6). His name is the basis of man’s salvation. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). These newly born Christians have the assurance that they stand upon a plane of justification before God with all their sins forgiven.