In 1st John 2:1-2 John writes of the believers twofold assurance in the words “And IF anyone sins”. As already established John’s assurance is not speaking of the person who is habitually practicing sin in verse 6 but instead is aimed at the believer who has an infrequent act! We have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous: There are three things to understand about this aspect of our assurance with Jesus:
1 We have: These words provide us the insight that the provision is personal! Jesus is not a formula or a ritual, instead Jesus is an abiding person! This speaks to me as we don’t need to look to find the insurance policy as our assurance is not on some forgotten paperwork but in the person of Jesus.
2 An advocate with the Father: The word in the Greek is the same word used of the Holy Spirit Parakletos and means one called alongside to help. The word with in the Greek is very descriptive as it means facing. Our Advocate is always facing the Father, always in fellowship with the Father. If the believer sins and separates fellowship Jesus is already facing the Father on our behalf to bring us back into fellowship Him. It is also very convicting for the believer to realize that every time we chose to fall into sin Jesus must face the father on our behalf! Yes, Jesus has access and our appeal but the thought of Him having to continue to do so on my behalf just because I’ve chosen to disregard the power Jesus has given me to say no to ungodliness causes me to want to avoid choosing sin.
3 Jesus Christ the righteous: Here John identifies why this is true assurance as it is based Jesus Christ the righteous. Here we understand that Jesus as our advocate before the Father is not proclaiming our innocence. The basis of His appeal before the Father is NOT our innocence instead it is that our guilt has been covered by His blood.
This is important as it means that there can never be any fear that our innocence could ever be overturned on further evidence as our forgiveness has never been granted based upon evidence of our innocence; instead, it is based upon the truth of our guilt and Jesus’ innocence. Jesus faces the Father having been innocent and has covered our guilt in His innocent blood. We are guilty as charged but are forgiven based upon Jesus Christ the righteous. Praise God!!