To recap 1 John 1: Jesus is eternal; and Jesus is God. God was manifest in the flesh (as Jesus), and was made in the likeness of man for man’s sake. John is writing this epistle to a group of individuals who have come to the knowledge of God, but are beginning to doubt what they know about Him all on the account of discourse with Gnostics on what they teach. That is, you can sin all you want because being Christian doesn’t have an impact on the way one lives; only the continual consumption of gnosis (knowledge) will ticket your way into heaven. That context, we see John establishing truth, and willing to be persecuted for that truth because it is truth indeed. That truth was given to John first-hand by God Himself. That truth came as a message, and that message is this: God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we fellowship with God, then we’ll remain close to the light and thus able to see. Moreover, because He’s the light, and we have no light independently, we need to stay as close to Him as possible in order to course through this life because it’s a dark world. The light is not of ourselves, so we’re destined to fall here and there; but if we confess we have tripped and fell, the Father is faithful and just to forgive us from falling, and clean us up from any bruises and scratches that correspond. In return, we merely get back up, but it’s only logical to get closer to the light (to God), and fellowship more, if we don’t want to keep falling (sinning). But if for some reason we just love falling (sinning), then so be it. Although, we must know, after a while we’ll realize we’re way too bruised to follow along; we aren’t children of God if we do love doing so. If we say there is no need for the light (for God) because we can see just fine, then we’re obviously lying because, again, it’a a dark world. We need fellowship with the Father if we ever plan on being freed from sin! Fellowship. Fellowship....And more fellowship!
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:”
1 John 2:1 KJV
John says his intention for writing these things is so they/we won’t sin, and if they/we do sin, then they/we have an advocate.
Which is a very interesting way to put it, actually. It’s almost like John is saying this: Don’t sin, and if you do... it’ll be okay. It is as if you’d think he’s going to follow “and if you do” with the punishment for violating what he introduced. Like a dad who says “don’t jump on my furniture, and if you do, then you’re getting a whooping, etc. But no; John follows the if/then statement very particularly: “and if you do, you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
Advocate means a person who pleads or stands up for someone. Consider a lawyer who pleads on behalf of a convicted criminal, or in a case of bullying, the advocate would be the courageous child who “stood up” for the little guy. Or, a mother!
To expand on mother, let’s say there’s been a birthday celebration for “Little Mike,” and subsequent cleanup there is large amounts of excess candy. Dad says “Little Mike!..you’ve had enough candy for tonight, don’t get any more!... You hear me!?” Little Mike says “Yes, Sir!” And his dad goes “and if you do... you have an advocate, your mother”
Because of the intimacy between Little Mike’s mom and dad, his mom could plead on his behalf and get him out of trouble with his dad if he disobeyed what his dad commanded. She can cleanse the chocolate from around his mouth, as if he never ate it, and say to her beloved husband “Sweetie, Little Mike ate the candy, but he’s extremely sorry; forgive him,” and he’d be forgiven indeed.
(Little Mike represents you and me; his mom represents God the Son; her words represent the blood of the Lamb; and his dad represents God the Father.)
Little Mike could have been thinking all along that he's definitely getting that candy because he wants it that bad, and his mother is going to cover for him anyway. So, why not? But if Little Mike makes that decision, then we’ll know what kind of relationship him and his father have. On the contrary, we would know that Little Mike and his dad have great fellowship with each other if he’d obey what his father commanded—“don’t eat the candy”—given that he had freedom and ultimate cover even if he pursued his lustful desire.
So, John, throughout chapter one, is emphasizing fellowship with God. Because of that, he says the reason for chapter one is so we will seek fellowship with the Father, which, in turn, will lead us away from sin. And if we do sin, which we will, we have an advocate with the Father, who’s pleading on our behalf, Jesus Christ. If he’d told this message to these on-the-edge-of Gnosticism believing individuals initially, they’d perhaps respond like “we already know this, which is why we sin; we have an advocate.” Maybe not that straightforward, but you get the point of grace abuse. They were teaching that Christianity wasn’t in the business of conversion, but that, instead, you only get to heaven by acquiring information, so habitually-sinning professing-Christians were okay and acceptable.
“The Christian no longer loves sin; it is the object of his sternest horror; he no longer regards it as a mere trifle, plays with it, or talks of it with unconcern. He looks upon it as a deadly serpent, whose very shadow is to be avoided. He would no more venture voluntarily to put its cup to his lip than a man would drink poison who had once almost lost his life through it.” -Charles Spurgeon
Anyone who trivializes sin, and the act of committing it needs to see if they are truly in the faith because there’s a high chance they aren’t. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but grace?” God Forbid, NO! Following these questions in Romans, Paul says “I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity.” Paul is speaking after the manner of men who have yielded themselves servants to unrighteousness! The influence that propels one to ask such a question is merely their yieldance to uncleanness! You don’t ask these questions when you have truly been born again because you hate sin! These questions exemplify love for sin in the guise of rationality.
“For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.”
Romans 6:20 KJV
Therefore, now that you are servants of righteousness, be free from sin!
A Christian is genuinely heart-broken when they fall into sin, like a first break-up—but when the recipient of your love is the one who institutes the separation. But the unrighteous enjoy their transgressions. The children of the serpent sit down and arrange sin, and design a master-plan on how they’re going to perform it. But the good that the Godly man would, he does not and the evil that he would not, that he does.... “A man of God will bounce back up like ground balls, but when the unbeliever trips he lands on his face.” - Jermaine Studwell.
Realizing the difference is vital; this is our eternal life at stake. The Word tells us to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. Do we love sin? When we fall into it, are we sorrowful or content? Do we find ourselves abusing God’s amazing grace? Do we use it to justify our lustful desires? We should know that whomever we serve that is who we are servants to; whether it be sin unto death, or obedience unto righteousness.
Brothers and Sisters, let us continue in prayer for this world, so that the lost sheep can join us in our divine advocacy. Let us share the Good News wherever ears can hear. I know fear can inhibit us from sharing our faith, but we’re called to do so. When fear is our hindrance, let us not pray for more courage, but for more love because “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love,” (1 John 4:18 KJV). The kingdom of heaven is at hand, so let us make the name of Jesus Christ known everywhere. Let us get His Word out to our communities. I pray this prayer to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forevermore!
Jesus Christ Advocates for His People (Kajuan)
Commentary 1 John 2:1
Focus #11 Divine advocacy
Keywords: Advocate, Yield, Free
To recap 1 John 1: Jesus is eternal; and Jesus is God. God was manifest in the flesh (as Jesus), and was made in the likeness of man for man’s sake. John is writing this epistle to a group of individuals who have come to the knowledge of God, but are beginning to doubt what they know about Him all on the account of discourse with Gnostics on what they teach. That is, you can sin all you want because being Christian doesn’t have an impact on the way one lives; only the continual consumption of gnosis (knowledge) will ticket your way into heaven. That context, we see John establishing truth, and willing to be persecuted for that truth because it is truth indeed. That truth was given to John first-hand by God Himself. That truth came as a message, and that message is this: God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we fellowship with God, then we’ll remain close to the light and thus able to see. Moreover, because He’s the light, and we have no light independently, we need to stay as close to Him as possible in order to course through this life because it’s a dark world. The light is not of ourselves, so we’re destined to fall here and there; but if we confess we have tripped and fell, the Father is faithful and just to forgive us from falling, and clean us up from any bruises and scratches that correspond. In return, we merely get back up, but it’s only logical to get closer to the light (to God), and fellowship more, if we don’t want to keep falling (sinning). But if for some reason we just love falling (sinning), then so be it. Although, we must know, after a while we’ll realize we’re way too bruised to follow along; we aren’t children of God if we do love doing so. If we say there is no need for the light (for God) because we can see just fine, then we’re obviously lying because, again, it’a a dark world. We need fellowship with the Father if we ever plan on being freed from sin! Fellowship. Fellowship....And more fellowship!
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:”
1 John 2:1 KJV
John says his intention for writing these things is so they/we won’t sin, and if they/we do sin, then they/we have an advocate.
Which is a very interesting way to put it, actually. It’s almost like John is saying this: Don’t sin, and if you do... it’ll be okay. It is as if you’d think he’s going to follow “and if you do” with the punishment for violating what he introduced. Like a dad who says “don’t jump on my furniture, and if you do, then you’re getting a whooping, etc. But no; John follows the if/then statement very particularly: “and if you do, you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
Advocate means a person who pleads or stands up for someone. Consider a lawyer who pleads on behalf of a convicted criminal, or in a case of bullying, the advocate would be the courageous child who “stood up” for the little guy. Or, a mother!
To expand on mother, let’s say there’s been a birthday celebration for “Little Mike,” and subsequent cleanup there is large amounts of excess candy. Dad says “Little Mike!..you’ve had enough candy for tonight, don’t get any more!... You hear me!?” Little Mike says “Yes, Sir!” And his dad goes “and if you do... you have an advocate, your mother”
Because of the intimacy between Little Mike’s mom and dad, his mom could plead on his behalf and get him out of trouble with his dad if he disobeyed what his dad commanded. She can cleanse the chocolate from around his mouth, as if he never ate it, and say to her beloved husband “Sweetie, Little Mike ate the candy, but he’s extremely sorry; forgive him,” and he’d be forgiven indeed.
(Little Mike represents you and me; his mom represents God the Son; her words represent the blood of the Lamb; and his dad represents God the Father.)
Little Mike could have been thinking all along that he's definitely getting that candy because he wants it that bad, and his mother is going to cover for him anyway. So, why not? But if Little Mike makes that decision, then we’ll know what kind of relationship him and his father have. On the contrary, we would know that Little Mike and his dad have great fellowship with each other if he’d obey what his father commanded—“don’t eat the candy”—given that he had freedom and ultimate cover even if he pursued his lustful desire.
So, John, throughout chapter one, is emphasizing fellowship with God. Because of that, he says the reason for chapter one is so we will seek fellowship with the Father, which, in turn, will lead us away from sin. And if we do sin, which we will, we have an advocate with the Father, who’s pleading on our behalf, Jesus Christ. If he’d told this message to these on-the-edge-of Gnosticism believing individuals initially, they’d perhaps respond like “we already know this, which is why we sin; we have an advocate.” Maybe not that straightforward, but you get the point of grace abuse. They were teaching that Christianity wasn’t in the business of conversion, but that, instead, you only get to heaven by acquiring information, so habitually-sinning professing-Christians were okay and acceptable.
“The Christian no longer loves sin; it is the object of his sternest horror; he no longer regards it as a mere trifle, plays with it, or talks of it with unconcern. He looks upon it as a deadly serpent, whose very shadow is to be avoided. He would no more venture voluntarily to put its cup to his lip than a man would drink poison who had once almost lost his life through it.” -Charles Spurgeon
Anyone who trivializes sin, and the act of committing it needs to see if they are truly in the faith because there’s a high chance they aren’t. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but grace?” God Forbid, NO! Following these questions in Romans, Paul says “I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity.” Paul is speaking after the manner of men who have yielded themselves servants to unrighteousness! The influence that propels one to ask such a question is merely their yieldance to uncleanness! You don’t ask these questions when you have truly been born again because you hate sin! These questions exemplify love for sin in the guise of rationality.
“For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.”
Romans 6:20 KJV
Therefore, now that you are servants of righteousness, be free from sin!
A Christian is genuinely heart-broken when they fall into sin, like a first break-up—but when the recipient of your love is the one who institutes the separation. But the unrighteous enjoy their transgressions. The children of the serpent sit down and arrange sin, and design a master-plan on how they’re going to perform it. But the good that the Godly man would, he does not and the evil that he would not, that he does.... “A man of God will bounce back up like ground balls, but when the unbeliever trips he lands on his face.” - Jermaine Studwell.
Realizing the difference is vital; this is our eternal life at stake. The Word tells us to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. Do we love sin? When we fall into it, are we sorrowful or content? Do we find ourselves abusing God’s amazing grace? Do we use it to justify our lustful desires? We should know that whomever we serve that is who we are servants to; whether it be sin unto death, or obedience unto righteousness.
Brothers and Sisters, let us continue in prayer for this world, so that the lost sheep can join us in our divine advocacy. Let us share the Good News wherever ears can hear. I know fear can inhibit us from sharing our faith, but we’re called to do so. When fear is our hindrance, let us not pray for more courage, but for more love because “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love,” (1 John 4:18 KJV). The kingdom of heaven is at hand, so let us make the name of Jesus Christ known everywhere. Let us get His Word out to our communities. I pray this prayer to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forevermore!
Amen!