I have written to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God remains in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
As noted before, a popular interpretation of 1 John that many commentators have advocated is that John wrote this epistle to enable his readers to determine whether they were true believers. The questions John raised throughout the epistle, they say, were "tests of [the presence of spiritual] life." [Note: See, for example, Raymond Brown, The Epistles of John; John Calvin, The First Epistle of John; D. Edmond Hiebert, The Non-Pauline Epistles and Revelation; idem, "An Expositional Study of 1 John," Bibliotheca Sacra (April 1988-July 1990); Law; John F. MacArthur Jr., The Gospel according to Jesus; Marshall; Stott; Westcott; Dodd; Boice; Bruce; Barker; and Wiersbe.] However in the verses just considered (1 John 2:12-14) John did not say he was writing to test his readers’ salvation. He said he was writing to them because they were genuine believers. John challenged his readers with tests of fellowship rather than with tests of regeneration.