"We Have an Advocate"!
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:1, 2, ESV.
We have an advocate." Here we find the same idea that we did in yesterday's passage when it said that Jesus "always lives to make intercession" for those who come to Him (Heb. 7:25, RSV). The two verses are really speaking to the same point--that our intercessor is our advocate.
But in 1 John we find an extension and filling out of the meaning of the intercessor of Hebrews 7:25. The context of 1 John 2:1, with it's statement of Jesus being our advocate, is the problem of sin. The same verse tells us that it is God's will that we don't sin.
That is good and well. But John, like the rest of the Bible writers, knows that all people do commit acts of sin, in spite of their good intentions and God's ideal. That is why a few verses earlier he wrote that "if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). We find that same forthrightness in verse 10, in which the apostle declares that "if we say that we have not sinned, we make [God] a liar, and his word is not in us." Those two verses enclose verse 9, which plainly states that "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
John is a realist. He doesn't beat around the bush regarding human sinfulness. Confession of the truth of our sins is the way to go rather than denial.
It is in that context that we find John's words about sinners having an advocate with the Father. That context also helps us understand the meaning of Jesus' advocacy or intercession. When under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit sinners come boldly before the throne of God in prayers of confession and repentance, Jesus the risen conqueror notes to God that they have accepted Him by faith. At that point both He and the more than willing Father forgive the repentant sinner on the basis of Christ's atoning sacrifice (or propitiation) made on the cross (1 John 2:2).
"We have an advocate"! "He is able"! We can come "boldly" before the throne. And we leave God's presence both forgiven and cleansed. Amen!
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:1, 2, ESV.
We have an advocate." Here we find the same idea that we did in yesterday's passage when it said that Jesus "always lives to make intercession" for those who come to Him (Heb. 7:25, RSV). The two verses are really speaking to the same point--that our intercessor is our advocate.
But in 1 John we find an extension and filling out of the meaning of the intercessor of Hebrews 7:25. The context of 1 John 2:1, with it's statement of Jesus being our advocate, is the problem of sin. The same verse tells us that it is God's will that we don't sin.
That is good and well. But John, like the rest of the Bible writers, knows that all people do commit acts of sin, in spite of their good intentions and God's ideal. That is why a few verses earlier he wrote that "if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). We find that same forthrightness in verse 10, in which the apostle declares that "if we say that we have not sinned, we make [God] a liar, and his word is not in us." Those two verses enclose verse 9, which plainly states that "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
John is a realist. He doesn't beat around the bush regarding human sinfulness. Confession of the truth of our sins is the way to go rather than denial.
It is in that context that we find John's words about sinners having an advocate with the Father. That context also helps us understand the meaning of Jesus' advocacy or intercession. When under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit sinners come boldly before the throne of God in prayers of confession and repentance, Jesus the risen conqueror notes to God that they have accepted Him by faith. At that point both He and the more than willing Father forgive the repentant sinner on the basis of Christ's atoning sacrifice (or propitiation) made on the cross (1 John 2:2).
"We have an advocate"! "He is able"! We can come "boldly" before the throne. And we leave God's presence both forgiven and cleansed. Amen!
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