“My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” I John 2:1-2.

Thus far in his letter John has given us information on holy living, if we heed that information we will not sin. However, if we do sin, we have an Advocate with the Father.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:9.

The word advocate comes from the Greek word parakletos, and refers to a lawyer or one who pleads ones case, an intercessor. In this case it refers to the risen glorified Christ seated at the Father’s right hand interceding on our behalf.

If you aspire to walk in the light, if you want an unbroken fellowship with your Father, it is important to keep short accounts; sin must be confessed as soon as you recognize it.

If you disobey your parents here on earth it is hard to have a clear conscience before them until the matter is resolved and the barrier between you removed.

Yet, if you are a parent you know, or if you came from a loving family, you already realize that the loss of love is not an issue; it is the unresolved wrong that has been done that creates the problem. This is a bit like not talking about the elephant in the living room, awkward and divisive.

John adds that our advocate is “Jesus Christ the righteous”, reminding us of His perfect sacrifice for our sins.

“And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.” Hebrews 10:11-12.

“For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” Hebrews 10:14.

The word sanctified means, set apart, that is the Christian is being set apart to God in their life; this is a continual action all through our lives.

“Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:18-21.

Because of this, we are righteous in Christ.

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” II Corinthians 5:21.

Christ will judge the world in righteousness.

“…because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” Acts 17:31.

Christ Jesus will reign in righteousness.

“But to the Son He says: ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.’” Hebrews 1:8-9.

Christ is not only our righteous Advocate; He is our righteous savior who is the propitiation, the complete satisfaction for our sins. He will, on judgment day, judge in righteousness, and He will reign forever in righteousness.

Christ is also the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, at this time about 7.5 billion souls. So, how come they are not all going to heaven?

The answer works something like this; let us say you are in poverty; a friend comes up to you and says I want to help you, so I deposited one million dollars in your bank account, no strings attached. This is fantastic; you are rich beyond your dreams!

However, if you never write a check against your million dollars, it is worth nothing, you are still in poverty. Salvation is the same way, it is there waiting for you but if you never turn to Christ and collect it, it just sits in the bank and you profit nothing.

Just think, a world filled with misery, poverty, and mired in sin, and they will not have anything to do with Jesus.

“Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” I John 2:3-6.

These next few verses are some of the most difficult to understand that I have seen. The problem revolves around the words commandments and word.

The first rule that should be established is that John is not referring to the Law of Moses, which we often think of as the Ten Commandments, though there is much more to the Mosaic Law than the Ten.

What is particularly confusing is that Jesus outlined His commandments as follows.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35.

“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” John 15:12.

The antiquity of this commandment is shown in the discussion the Lord had with a lawyer concerning the great commandment.

“Jesus said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.’” Matthew 22:37-40.

Considering these things look at another verse in first John.

“And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.” I John 3:23.

This verse dovetails with the above statement to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.

If you love Him, you will heed His commandment to believe on His Son. And to love your neighbor as yourself is the commandment of God the Son.

If you have accepted Christ as your savior, you have shown your love for God; leaving the Christian with one commandment to fulfill, “love one another as I have loved you”, Jesus loved us enough to die for us, so this is not some, “If I feel like it” commandment.

As a result it is impossible to truly love one another as commanded without a sincere love for God, which, in turn, will bring a genuine love for His creatures.

Various commentators have expanded on the words “His commandments”, not changing them but showing how the Christian would live this out.

The passage in 1 John 2:3-6 can be divided into three different thoughts; how we know we are saved, we know we are in Him by the love of God practiced by us, and our abiding in Him. These three coincide closely with the lexicon’s definition below.

According to the lexicon, the word commandment in verses 3-4 refers to the injunctions of faith, love, and obedience given by the Lord and through His disciples.

This being the case these verses could be rendered in the following manner.

“Now by this we know that we are in Christ, as savior, if we keep His commandments by living a life characterized by faith, love, and obedience to Christ. If anyone says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep these commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” 1 John 2:3-4.

Now there are folks who keep these commandments because that is what you are supposed to do to be a Christian, this is just acting and is not real salvation.

Real saving faith is shown by the desire to do these things from the heart, not from the will.

It is true that all of us have weaknesses and fail at keeping the commandments in one way or another, but when we do, we feel genuine sorrow for our lapses. By this godly sorrow we can know in our hearts that we are saved.

“But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.” 1 John 2:5.

“But whoever keeps His word” leads us into the second statement, we can know we are in Him by the love of God practiced by us.

The word commandment has been replaced by the word, word; this is not to keep from being repetitious, it is to introduce an entirely different thought.

The word here is a reference to the word of God, the Bible. God also speaks through His Holy Spirit dwelling in us. Jesus made this clear when He said the following.

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” John 14:26.

This statement was not just for the benefit of His disciples, but for all who would accept Him as their savior.

The word then encompasses both Bible study and the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. The Bible expands our knowledge of the will of God, and gives us important information on successful godly living.

The larger this pool of knowledge through study, the more information the Holy Spirit has to draw upon in helping us live godly lives.

In this manner a person goes from being a babe in Christ to a mature Christian. Whoever then heeds the things learned in Scripture, and follows them and whoever follows the leading of the Holy Spirit, will in practice have the love of God shown through them. “By this we know that we are in Him.”

The third thought from 1 John 2:3-6, abiding in Him, will be examined in the next post, Walk as He Walked.

An Advocate, 1 John 2:1-5 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 11-5-11, updated on 5-12-18

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.