¹³I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning . . .

We might naturally address the stages of Christian life and progress chronologically, but the apostle John moves from spiritual children to spiritual fathers, and will treat the “young men” after. The goal of the spiritual life, at least in the perspective of this letter, is the knowledge of God—and that is essential to being a spiritual father.

The teaching of Jesus laced John’s thinking at every level. John recorded for us in his gospel account one of the most intimate moments in Jesus’ life on earth, His prayer to His Father in the upper room. As we listen in (at God’s invitation and with His full permission, I might add), we see His perspective on the goal of saving us and giving us eternal life. His prayer reveals the things that occupied Jesus’ mind and heart, the things He talked to His Father about before He went to the cross for our sins:

“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3)

John focuses on this when he writes now to the “fathers.” In contrast to spiritually new believers, the term “fathers” refers to those mature in faith, who have it all together, so to speak. The analogy of physical children and adulthood is clear. The former is a time of training and growth, the latter a time of maturity, of adulthood. The ultimate goal Jesus talked about was to know God.

On the surface, all believers know about God in varying degrees. Even unbelievers know about God. But here we are speaking of knowing God intimately, like two friends who know each other’s thinking, or as husband and wife know each other in various and profoundly intimate ways. Others may know my wife, but I know her: what she is like, her tendencies, her desires, and often her thinking. So, even more than knowing that we are forgiven (which is a self-benefit, as great as that is), the goal of our salvation and the aspiration of spiritual maturity is to know God more deeply. This is what we mean when we speak of having a personal relationship with God.

“Fathers,” then, are those who have grown in spiritual maturity, who identify with John’s description of having known God from the beginning. Theirs is not a legalistic religion of superficial adherence but a genuine and mature intimacy with God. They came to know God through Christ (John 1:18) and have continued to grow in their relationship with Him. They have grown faithfully and unceasingly through all the stages of the Christian life.

PRAYER: Lord, I humbly desire to continue growing in my intimate relationship with You.