We will find out the reason why John is writing this letter soon but here he is listing those he is writing to. Firstly the children which were the believers who knew forgiveness of Jesus and who knew God. Now it is fathers. But this not gender rather it is those who are the mature believers in the church, so female also.
“I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.” (1 John 2 v 13-14)
Remember the opening? “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.” (1 John 1 v 1) Remember the gospel? “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1 v 1)
The mature of the church are those who have a genuine experience of Jesus and from the beginning. Their experience is rooted in the things of the past. This in itself is a vital message for the church today!
Out with the old and in with the new does not involve people.
If the church truly moves into a new season or a new day they will do so with the mature who have been anchored to the experience of Jesus since the beginning. The world doesn’t need a rootless church.
Missions Paul 