Podcast: 1 John: Our Great Lawyer in the Sky

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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. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
-1 John 2:1-2

I’ve spent a lot of time in court. Not on my own cases, but as a court clerk for several years. It was a misdemeanor court, and I saw literally thousands of people charged with crimes go in and out of that courtroom. Some charges were just dismissed, others pled out. A small portion of these cases went to trial.

You know, it’s sometimes our impression from watching the news and hearing about cases that the defense attorney is really the deciding factor in a case. If you can afford a good enough defense, you’ll beat the charges.

It’s not supposed to happen like this, and it usually doesn’t. Of course, it sometimes does. What’s supposed to happen is that everyone will get a fair trial no matter who is sitting beside that person, and the verdict will be rendered according to the evidence. But then, some lawyers are very persuasive, while others can’t seem to hold a sentence together. Some lawyers work really hard to examine the evidence and test the case against the defendant, and others are just there to get paid. It happens, but I don’t think anyone likes it that it happens.

But in truth, this is sort of what happens with God. When we get to Judgment Day, a lot is going to depend on our defense attorney.

John does not want us to sin. He wants us to be good people who don’t mess up. Most of us want this for ourselves too. But John knows something that most of us won’t admit. We are sinners.

Oh, sure, most people will admit to making a mistake here or there, but the truth of the matter is much more severe than that. The previous chapter tells us something about the meaning behind sin. Verse 6 tells us that “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” We haven’t gotten this far yet, but verse six of chapter two tells us that “whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”

John will continually tell us how someone who walks with the Lord will act. He makes it very clear that if we sin, which is disobedience, we are not walking with Jesus.

This is what is really happening in sin. We are turning from God and racing back into the darkness for sex, money, power, prestige, or just a little entertainment. We are betraying the only true God, Creator of all things, and racing away for something far less wonderful.

In sin, we are betraying God.

Listen, we are all going to stand before His throne and give an account for our lives. We will have to give an account for every sin. They will be stacked against us, countless ones of them! How many times, even just today, have we turned from God, betrayed God, for something else? We will have to answer for that.

But in Christ, we have an advocate. We have an attorney, so to speak.

Now, it is not the slickness of this attorney that will free us. It is not that He is good at public speaking and can sway the Judge. No, God does not show partiality (Romans 2:11). Our defense attorney doesn’t have any sort of trick to get the evidence thrown out. No, it will all still be there. Our defense attorney is different.

Our defense attorney comes in and says, in essence, “Yes. Yes, Paul Lytle is guilty. Yes, he deserves to die. By his sins he has earned that punishment. But it is a punishment that I have already paid, and this one belongs to me.”

See, Jesus lived a perfect life. He did not deserve to die, but he died anyway. In that death He paid the price for our sins. In love He took our place in death. In repentance and faith we can be given life when we deserve death because of Jesus’ sacrifice.

It is not that Jesus manipulates the court to get us a “not guilty” sentence. It is that we are guilty, but that the punishment has already been paid.

That is what the word “propitiation” means. It means that Jesus substituted Himself in our place to satisfy the wrath of a vengeful God. He was the substitutionary atonement for us. He took our place in death so that we may live.

We have to wonder now if everyone is forgiven. After all, it says that Jesus died for the “whole world” here. This is not a universal statement by John, that every single person in the world will be forgiven. Let’s look at the context. Only three verses before he tells us exactly who will be forgiven – those who confess their sins.

So for whom was Jesus a propitiation, if not literally “the whole world”? This is very hotly debated, whether Jesus died for everyone, and we can choose whether to accept or reject Him, or whether he died for those people who would be saved. I fall into the latter camp. I believe Jesus died for those God chose to be saved. God willing, I may try to discuss this in more detail in an upcoming episode. For now, let me point out that when John uses the word “world,” he is usually talking about races and nations. He is countering here the notion that only Jews can be saved. This was very big issue at the time, and so John constantly reminds people that Jesus didn’t just die for “us,” meaning the Jews, but for Gentiles too.

This is the only reading that makes sense, because the other alternative is to think that the “us” means Christians. In other words, you don’t have to be a Christian to be saved, which contradicts all of John’s other writings, where he states plainly that Jesus is the only way to salvation. No, he is talking about racial and social lines here, not religious ones.

Now, let’s go back to the first part of this section. “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” A lot of people tie this back to the previous chapter and John’s discussion on God’s holiness as the light. I don’t agree. I believe John is tying this to the main force of the chapter, and that is the forgiveness of sins by the Blood of Jesus. The incarnation of Christ is described in the first three verses, and then both verses 7 and 9 speak of the good news of the gospel directly. Literally half the first chapter is dedicated to Jesus and the forgiveness of sins.

And the gospel is about the forgiveness of sins. He has told us that we are all sinners and need Jesus, so don’t sin, but when you do, Jesus will take care of it. Why insert that part about not sinning?

Because the gospel is going to change us. Look at this. John tells us that he is writing about the forgiveness of sins so that we will not sin. He is talking about that transfer from darkness to light that comes in repentance and forgiveness.

By the Blood of Christ, we are drawn into the light, where we need not sin again. That change in us from wretched sinners to children of God is what allows us not to sin. You don’t want to sin? Well, John is telling you about the gospel so you don’t have to. It can’t be done by your own will (John has already said that no one can claim to be without sin), but it can be done with God’s transforming Spirit.

When we repent and are filled with the Spirit, we will turn from sin and focus more on Christ. It doesn’t mean we won’t mess up. We will. But we have an advocate with the Father in Jesus when we do. But that change will refocus us on His path, not our old sinful one. This isn’t a battle you can win, so John is telling you about the One who can win it for you.