1 John 2:13-14

2:13 I am writing to you, fathers, that ¹  you have known him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, that ²  you have conquered the evil one. ³  2:14 I have written to you, children, that ⁴  you have known the Father. ⁵  I have written to you, fathers, that ⁶  you have known him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, that ⁷  you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.

1 John 3:12

3:12 not like Cain ⁸  who was of the evil one and brutally ⁹  murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, but his brother’s were righteous.

¹ tn See the note on “that” in v. 12.

² tn See the note on “that” in v. 12.

³ sn The phrase the evil one is used in John 17:15 as a reference to Satan. Satan is also the referent here and in the four other occurrences in 1 John (2:14; 3:12; 5:18, 19).

⁴ tn See the note on “that” in v. 12.

⁵ sn The versification of vv. 13 and 14 (so also NAB, NRSV, NLT) follows that of the NA²⁷ and UBS⁴ editions of the Greek text. Some English translations, however, break the verses between the sentence addressed to children and the sentence addressed to fathers (KJV, NKJV, NASB, NIV). The same material has been translated in each case; the only difference is the versification of that material.

⁶ tn See the note on “that” in v. 12.

⁷ tn See the note on “that” in v. 12.

⁸ sn Since the author states that Cain…was of the evil one (ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ, ek tou ponhrou), in the immediate context this imagery serves as an illustration of 3:8a: The person who practices sin is of the devil (ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου, ek tou diabolou). This is similar to John 8:44, where Jesus told his opponents “you people are from your father the devil…[who] was a murderer from the beginning.” In both Jewish and early Christian writings Cain is a model for those who deliberately disbelieve; Testament of Benjamin 7:5 looks forward to the punishment of those who “are like Cain in the envy and hatred of brothers.” It is not difficult to see why the author of 1 John used Cain here as a model for the opponents in light of their failure to “love the brothers” (see 1 John 3:17).

⁹ tn For the Greek verb σφάζω (sfazw) L&N 20.72 states, “to slaughter, either animals or persons; in contexts referring to persons, the implication is of violence and mercilessness – ‘to slaughter, to kill.’” As a reflection of this nuance, the translation “brutally murdered” has been used.