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Scripture Reading: 1 John 2:1-2
In this message we shall continue to consider 2:1-2.
In verse 1 John says, “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.” We have seen that here John tells his little children, all the recipients of this Epistle, that his intention in writing was that they would not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an Advocate, a helper or counsel, with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.
In verse 2 John goes on to say that Christ is “a propitiation concerning our sins, and not concerning ours only, but also concerning the whole world.” As we have pointed out, the Lord Jesus Christ has offered Himself to God as a sacrifice for our sins, not only for our redemption but also for God’s satisfaction. His vicarious death satisfied God and appeased Him. Hence, He is the propitiation between God and us. As the propitiation concerning man’s sins, the Lord Jesus is for the sins of the whole world. However, this propitiation is conditional upon our receiving it by believing in the Lord.
John’s writing in this Epistle is tender and delicate. When I first read chapter one years ago, I was very happy. However, I did not understand why John added 2:1-2. It seemed to me that the problem of sin had been fully solved in chapter one, and I thought that these verses in chapter two were not necessary. Later I came to appreciate the importance of these verses.
According to chapter one of this Epistle, we have received the divine life, and we are enjoying it in the fellowship of life. In this fellowship we receive the divine light, and in this light we practice the truth. But we still need the warning concerning the sin that dwells in our flesh. We need to be careful and on the alert regarding indwelling sin.
Whenever we sin, we need to confess our sin to God. If we confess our sins, God is faithful in His word to forgive us our sins, and He is righteous in His redemption to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is wonderful. Nevertheless, as 2:1-2 indicates, we still need a Person, an Advocate with the Father, to take care of our case. Because we are not capable of handling the case ourselves, we need a heavenly attorney.
In chapter one John speaks of the blood of Jesus, and in chapter two, of our Advocate. Not only has God provided the blood of Jesus Christ, which was shed for us so that we may be forgiven and cleansed; God has also prepared Christ as our Advocate. First, the Lord Jesus shed His blood as the price of our redemption. Then after shedding His blood, He becomes our Advocate, our heavenly attorney, taking care of our case. How marvelous that our Advocate pays our debt and takes care of our case!
The fact that Christ is our Advocate with the Father, and not simply with God, indicates that our case which the Lord undertakes for us is a family affair, a case between us as the Father’s children and the Father. Actually, our Advocate is our elder Brother, the Son of the Father.
The divine family is full of love, but it is also full of righteousness. Hence, there are regulations and also the Father’s discipline. We should never think that in the Father’s house we can be unruly. Our Father is orderly, and His house should be much more orderly than a human court of law. However, as children in the Father’s house, we are often naughty. We make mistakes, break the family regulations, and offend the Father. For this reason, we need the Lord, our elder Brother, to be our Advocate with the Father.
As the One who shed His blood for us, the Lord Jesus is the righteous One. He is right not only with the Father, but also right with us. The Lord is our Paraclete (the anglicized form of parakletos, the Greek word rendered Advocate). He comes alongside to help us, He serves us, He takes care of us, and He provides whatever we need. We were in need of the cleansing blood; therefore, He provided us with His own blood for redemption and cleansing. We also need someone to take care of our case. Therefore, He is now our Advocate, our parakletos.
We who believe in Christ have been born of God and have become God’s children. God is now our Father, and we are His children. Because we have been born of God, we have His life. God’s life is divine, eternal, and indestructible. This life is the basic factor of the spiritual inheritance we have in God’s salvation.
We may use our human life as an illustration. As human beings, through birth we have our natural life, our human life, as our basic inheritance. Any particular thing we inherit depends on our human life. When a person dies and thereby loses his human life, that is the termination of everything. He no longer has an inheritance. In the same principle, the divine life we have received through regeneration is our basic inheritance in God’s salvation. Life, therefore, is crucial. The basic element of our spiritual inheritance is the divine life.
We thank the Lord that we have the divine life and that this life moves, works, and acts in us. The moving of the divine life within us issues in fellowship. Hence, fellowship is the issue of the marvelous divine life we have received. In this fellowship we enjoy God, we enjoy the apostles, we enjoy the believers, and we enjoy the church and even the churches. All this enjoyment depends on the fellowship of the divine life, and this fellowship issues out of the divine life itself.
Although we have received the divine life and enjoy God, the apostles, the believers, and the church life in the fellowship of the divine life, we still need to be watchful concerning sin. Sin is not merely something on the surface that can be washed away. On the contrary, sin dwells in our flesh. According to Paul’s word in the book of Romans, sin may deceive us, conquer us, and kill us. In particular, indwelling sin damages our fellowship.
If our fellowship is damaged through sin, we lose the enjoyment of God. We also lose the enjoyment of the apostles, the enjoyment of the believers, and the enjoyment of the church life. In other words, once we lose the fellowship, we lose the enjoyment of our entire spiritual inheritance. As a result, in a practical way we become the same as unbelievers. Unbelievers do not have God, and they have nothing to do with the enjoyment of the apostles, the believers, and the church life.
When we enjoy the fellowship of the divine life, we enjoy God, we enjoy the apostles, we enjoy the believers, and we enjoy the churches. What a wonderful enjoyment this is! But as soon as sin works within us and we commit sin, our fellowship is broken. Whenever our fellowship is broken, we lose the enjoyment of God, the apostles, the believers, and the church life. It is very important that we see this and have a proper realization concerning it.
Even though we have been regenerated and have received the divine life to become children of the Father, we still must admit two things: first, that we still have sin in our flesh; second, that it is always possible for us to commit sin. Whenever we are under the divine light in fellowship and sense that we are wrong in certain matters or with certain persons, we must immediately confess our sins to our righteous Father. Our Father is ready to forgive us. Just as a human father, who has been offended by the behavior of his child, is ready to forgive the repentant child, so our divine Father is ready to forgive us. Once we confess our sins, our Father will be the faithful and righteous God to us. He is waiting to forgive us our sins and to wash away the stains of our offenses.
In 1:7 John says that “the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Here we have the blood as a provision prepared for us. According to the tense of the Greek verb in this verse, the cleansing of the blood is present and continuous. The blood of Jesus the Son of God cleanses us all the time, continuously and constantly. The provision of the blood is ever available, and the cleansing of the blood is continuous. The blood is always ready for us to enjoy its provision.
In 2:1 John says, “My little children, these things I write to you that you may not sin.” This indicates that John’s intention was that the believers would not sin. We also should have this intention. We need to pray, “O Lord, keep me from sinning. Lord, preserve me in Your presence and in Your fellowship. Lord, deliver me continuously from sin.” But no matter how much we may be on the alert concerning sin, it is always possible that we shall sin. Whenever we commit sin, we need to confess our sin to God. The provision of the blood is ready for our cleansing, and the Father is willing to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all the stains of our offenses.
After covering these matters in chapter one, John goes on in chapter two to show us that the divine provision not only includes the blood of Jesus and the faithfulness of God, but also includes the living Person of Christ as our Advocate. As the One who shed His blood for us, this Person is now our heavenly attorney taking care of our case. He is qualified for this because He is the righteous One, the One who is right with the Father.
In 2:2 John says that the One who is our Advocate with the Father is also a propitiation concerning our sins. Whenever God’s children offend the Father, the fellowship between them is broken. Furthermore, there is no peace; instead there is turmoil. Realizing the situation, the children should make confession to the Father, who is ready to forgive them and cleanse them. The cleansing blood has been provided, and the Father Himself is faithful to forgive and righteous to cleanse. But how can the peace between the Father and His children be restored? We may think that as long as there is forgiveness and cleansing, peace will come automatically. However, there is still the need for our Advocate to be our propitiation between the Father and us so that the Father may be appeased and that peace may be restored.
Let us once again use our human family life as an illustration. Often the mother in a family will be the one who appeases the father in behalf of the children. Suppose the children in a particular family offend the father, peace is lost, and now there is turmoil in that family. The children repent and confess their wrongdoings to the father, and he forgives them. However, the situation between the children and the father is still not altogether pleasant. At such a time, a wise mother will speak both to the children and to the father. On the one hand, she may say to the children, “Children, it is all right now. Your father has forgiven you.” On the other hand, she may turn to her husband and say, “Isn’t it wonderful that the children have repented and have confessed to you.” As a result, the peace between the father and the children is restored through the mother’s being the propitiation, the peacemaker.
In chapter one of 1 John we see that we have the blood to wash us and the Father’s faithfulness and righteousness for our forgiveness and cleansing. Although our problem is solved through our confessing, through the cleansing of the blood, and through the Father’s forgiveness and cleansing, we still need Christ as our Advocate with the Father and as our propitiation. He is the One who makes peace, the One who appeases the Father for us. As the appeasing One, He causes everyone involved, the Father and the children, to be happy and peaceful. Immediately, we have the enjoyment of the fellowship. This is the picture portrayed in these verses of John’s first Epistle.
We need to be deeply impressed with all the divine provisions: the cleansing blood, the faithfulness of God, the righteousness of God, the Advocate, and the propitiation. With God we have the provisions of His faithfulness and righteousness, and with Christ we have the provisions of His blood and of Himself as our Advocate and propitiation. Day by day, we who have the divine life and the enjoyment of this life in fellowship need to be on the alert concerning sin. But if we sin, we should immediately make confession. Then we shall experience the effectiveness of all these provisions. We shall have the washing of the Lord’s blood, the faithfulness and righteousness of the Father for our forgiveness and cleansing, and Christ as our Advocate and propitiation for the appeasing of the Father and the restoring of the peace between us and the Father. Through Christ as our Advocate and propitiation, we again have peace with the Father and we enjoy fellowship with Him.
