1 John 2:1-6
Christ Our Advocate
2 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. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know
that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this
we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
I love the fact that John refers to us “My little children.” As Christians,
we are all born to God, and we are his children. There is a warning however... “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” Our Salvation is a free gift from God, but Jesus wants us to “sin no more”.
That sounds easy! NOT! We find that we continue to stumble in our sins. John offers comfort when he say: “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” An advocate is someone who
will stand up for you and speak for you. That advocate is Jesus! And wow, what an advocate! But what are his credentials? His credentials are found in verse 2, but verse 2 has a very big word called “propitiation.”
What does propitiation mean? It means to be reconciled to God. Another word for propitiation is also atonement. This is what Jesus did for us on the cross. Jesus substituted himself to die for our sins and God accepted it as payment
for our sins. Notice however that we do not get off easy. We did nothing for Jesus to die on the cross for us... we didn’t even ask him, but out of love for us, he substituted his life for ours. If we love him, we will want to
obey his commandments. Not out of merit to go to heaven, that is a free gift. We obey his commandments out of gratitude for what he has done for us. John writes: “whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.”
In verse 6, John drives home the point “6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” I think of the hymn “Let us Ever Walk with Jesus”.
I pray:
O Lord, help me to walk and abide with you. Help me through the daily struggles, to do what is right. Not for merit, but out of gratitude for what you have done. You have reconciled me back to God. Amen.