The Christians Defense Attourney

Background on 1 John

Written by the Apostle John approx. AD 80 to AD 90

Written to Christians probably in and around Ephesus

Written to them to combat a false teachings they were facing

The Text

1 John 2:1–3 ESV

1 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.

1 John 2:4–6 ESV

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.

We have four points we are going to look at today

The Advocate vs. 1

The Satisfaction for sins vs. 2

Salvation Verification vs. 3-5

How to Pass the Test vs. 6

The Advocate

1 John 2:1 (ESV)

1 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.

John uses the phrase little children to show his love and concern for these believers.

The wording of “if anyone does sin” can be seen as when they do sin. John knows and understands that sin will happen, and we should as well. We should by no means take advantage of God’s grace, but we must realize we are not perfect and we will mess up, but and I love this but we have an advocate, in other words we have a defense attorney pleading our case before God the Father, and that attorney is none other than Christ Himself. I would not want anyone else speaking on my behalf, would you.

The Satisfaction for sins

1 John 2:2 (ESV)

2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Here we see the use of the word propitiation, so what does that mean the short answer is that Christ is the appeasement or satisfaction of all our sins. The long answer is that through His sacrificial death on the cross Christ turned God’s wrath from us the sinners to Himself, which removed all our guilt and condemnation. Christ satisfied the demands of God’s justice which pacified God’s holy wrath against the believers sin.

Salvation Verification

1 John 2:3 (ESV)

3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

In these next verses John gives the readers what you might say is a test, a test to make sure they are on the narrow path. He states ways in which they can know they are saved or not.

1 John 2:4 ESV

4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,

Here we see one of the ways a person can know they are not saved, and that is to not follow God’s commandments. We must be very careful here to not go to far and become legalistic, it is not the keeping of His commandments that saves us but our relationship with Christ. Once we have that relationship it is our of that we desire to follow His commands.

1 John 2:5 (ESV)

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:

So, if we have a relationship with Christ and keep His word that is how we know we are in Him. It is first and for most about a relationship with our Lord and Savior, everything else falls into place after that. God’s love is perfected in us through our relationship with Christ. Remember as John MacArthur says it is not the perfection of our lives but the direction of our lives.

How to pass the Test

1 John 2:6 ESV

6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

This is the only way we can pass the test that John has given. It is to walk in the same way Jesus walked. He is our ultimate example of how we are to live our lives. It is as simple as WWJD, we should ask ourselves this question much more often than we do.

The Christians Defense Attorney