Jesus Our Advocate (1 John 2:1-2)

It is clear from John’s letter that different responses were being made to sin among his readers, with some of them advocating heretical notions connected to some of the cultural ideas of the time, one of them being the notion that actions of the physical body did not matter. Therefore some had claimed to have stopped sinning and said that they had no sin to confess. Such people, says John, were deceiving themselves.

Others seemed to have forgotten that sin affects believers in three directions: upwards, because we lose communion with God; outwards, because it can lead to estrangement from other believers; and inwards, because we react in various ways to our sin such as embarrassment for falling into it, or a determination not to repeat the particular sin based on assumed personal ability. Confession of sin should be accompanied by such an awareness of the effects of sin.

It looks as if John’s readers had forgotten to ask the most important question of all, which is, what does Jesus in heaven do whenever his people on earth sin? This is an important question because all we need to do is observe how often we have sinned in the last ten minutes, and perhaps now we are bothered about it. John deals with answering that question in these verses.

We can see that John says that Jesus is the advocate of his people. Perhaps when we read this verse a picture of a British advocate comes to mind, which may distort our understanding of what John has in mind. The word translated as advocate is parakletos and it is the same word that Jesus used of the Holy Spirit in his teachings given to his disciples in the Upper Room. This word is translated in different ways – such as helper, comforter, and counsellor. Perhaps there is a combination of those ideas here as we think of how Jesus acts on behalf of his people when they sin. He will want us to be helped, to be comforted, and to receive his counsel.

One way to understand what is being described here is to ask suitable questions about it. We may have read Kipling’s verse: 

I keep six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who.

So using them, I have put together a list of such questions.

1. Why do believers need an advocate?

Someone could say, ‘I thought I was forgiven all my sins when I was converted, so why should they be mentioned again?’ Thinking in that way is mixing up biblical perspectives. It is true that a believer is not treated as an estranged sinner after his conversion, but he will be dealt with as a family member by the heavenly Father. If he does not repent, he faces the unwelcome prospect of divine chastisement, an experience described as grievous by the author of Hebrews.

Believers also need an advocate because when they sin two accusers appear. One of the accusers is the devil (John says in Revelation 12:10 that the devil accuses them day and night in heaven). We get an insight into that scenario in the Book of Job where the devil accuses Job of the sin of hypocrisy, which was a false accusation. The other accuser is the believer’s conscience which can also accuse him day and night when he sins, especially if he has a tender conscience, which is not the same as an informed conscience. So we can see why a believer would need to know what his advocate was doing on his behalf.

2. What are Jesus’ qualifications?

We know that an earthly advocate is a highly qualified person who has spent years studying and preparing for his role in courtrooms and legal cases. Yet we also know that an advocate is guilty of personal sin, and may even have committed worse sins than his client. With Jesus, his character is part of his qualifications because he is described by John as ‘Jesus Christ the righteous’. This is a reference to his holy, perfect life that he lived on earth when he obeyed from the heart all the commandments of God. In other words, we have a sinless advocate. He was in many situations where people would have sinned, but he did not. Yet although he remained sinless, he is marked by concern for his people, which an earthly advocate may not have for his client.

A second qualification concerns the skills he shows and the effective arguments he  makes because he is the wonderful counsellor (Isa. 9:6), a description that basically means that he always knows the right thing to say, whether it is giving advice or in defending from accusation. And covering his righteous character and his counselling abilities is his great love for his clients, a love that began long before they had even asked for his help. After all, the first time he represented them after his ascension was not the first time he had worked on their behalf. He is dedicated to them and has been since eternity.

3. Where is Jesus positioned?

We are familiar with how an advocate works in our system of justice. He or she stands before the judge because he or she has no say in the judge’s verdict. Jesus does not represent his sinning people in that way. He does not stand before the Judge on the heavenly throne; rather he sits beside the Judge on the throne. We should recall that he has all authority in heaven and on earth, which means that he always speaks with finality. So when he speaks as the advocate of his people, he speaks from a place of prominence and power.

4. What does Jesus know about the accused?

We know that an advocate in a courtroom does not know what the judge is thinking and he does not know what his client is thinking. He does not even know if either of them are listening to him. He does not know if his client was telling the truth when he pled not guilty, or if the judge is impressed by his questioning and arguments about what seems a pointless case.

In contrast, Jesus knows everything about his clients – remember at this moment he is not only representing one of them. Instead, he is representing all of his people on earth at this moment, and who can say how many of them there are? He always knows that every time he represents them they are guilty of sin in more than one way. The reality is, he only represents guilty sinners. And he does not minimise their actions in any way. Indeed, often he knows that they have sinned against divine light to a high degree.

He also knows that the heavenly Judge will always go by his own rule book. The heavenly Father will never make an unjust decision. Sin has to be punished, a penalty has to be paid, that is the rule of the court.

5. What plea does Jesus make?

We know that in an earthly court the advocate may use all kinds of arguments on behalf of his clients. His aim is to get a not guilty verdict for his client, and even if he senses that his client will be found guilty he will mention a range of mitigating circumstances in order to try and reduce the sentence.

What does Jesus mention to his Father? It is interesting to note the preposition that John uses here when he says ‘with’ the Father. In English we can be with a person in different ways. For example, I can be beside him or behind him, but when I say with, it does not specify how I was with him. In Greek, however, there are several words translated as ‘with’, and the one used here means to be with someone in the sense of being face to face with him. So as the Father and the Son are face to face, what does the Son say about his clients?

Jesus does not present any mitigating factors: he does not base his argument on our regret for past errors or good intentions for the future. Instead, unlike any earthly advocate, Jesus Christ on the throne of God directs his Father’s attention to the wounds that mark his body, which wounds the Father always sees. Those wounds are the permanent reminder in the heavenly courtroom that the price of sin has been paid. Unlike earthly advocates, Jesus does not have to make a speech urging clemency. In reality, he does not have to say anything because his wounds always speak very loudly.

Speaking of his wounds brings us to consider the theological term that John uses here, propitiation. The verb propitiate means ‘to turn away wrath’. When Jesus suffered on the cross, he performed a work which enables God to cease to be angry with each sinner who trusts in Jesus. He bore the tremendous and distressing situation of undergoing the full experience of the wrath of God against sin. And he paid the penalty that was required of him as the substitute of his people.

6. What is the outcome of Jesus’ advocacy?

The answer to this question is firstly to note that Jesus is 100% successful; he has never failed to obtain what his clients need from the heavenly Judge. He has taken in hand millions of clients and represented each of them on an incalculable number of occasions, and on each single occasion he has succeeded.

The outcome that Jesus the Advocate looks for is that his guilty clients will be forgiven their sins by the Judge, the heavenly Father. As the Judge looks at the wounds of the Advocate he says about the accused: ‘The price of their sins has been paid. Therefore, they must be forgiven. I’m delighted to see that they are sorry for their sins, but their sorrow is not the basis of my judgement. Instead I forgive them because their Advocate has paid the penalty due to their awful sins.’

7. How much does Jesus charge his clients?

In Britain, an advocate is normally an expensive lawyer. What price does Jesus demand for representing his clients? The answer is that he does it for free. This is the meaning of grace. Grace can never be purchased by a sinner, even a saved sinner. It comes freely and grandly from a Father permanently pleased with what his Son achieved on the cross.

Some points to note

First, John stresses that Jesus is the only propitiation for sin that God will accept. People miss the point when they try and use verse 2 in discussing the extent of the atonement. What John is saying is that the only propitiation available for any sinner in all the world is Jesus. He is the one whose sacrifice of himself has satisfied the justice of God concerning sin. So he alone is the Saviour of sinners. None other is available anywhere.

Second, we should think more often of the great work that Jesus does in heaven on our behalf. This is what he is doing at the moment. He never misses an appointment on behalf of his sinning people. He is always there, making intercession for his people as their representative priest.

Third, when we sin we should immediately think of Jesus. Imagine losing your temper. You may not have meant it, but it has happened once again. Of course, you should apologise to the other person, but an apology, even a very intense one, does not remove the guilt. As McCheyne observed, ‘I am sure there is neither peace nor safety from deeper sin, but in going directly to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is God’s way of peace and holiness. It is folly to the world and the beclouded heart, but it is the way.’

Fourth, what do we do when we make a mess of our spiritual privileges? We all know that we have spoiled in one way or another various aspects of our spiritual benefits. Perhaps we did not prepare for the Lord’s Supper as we should have done. Maybe we did not engage in our personal devotions as we should have done. The list is endless. Yet with all of our failures we can turn to our Advocate for help, for comfort and for counsel. When we do we will discover that he is already on our case and has successfully dealt with it.