Virtual Service March 19, 2023
The Word of Life P2
1st John 2:1-9
All Believers Have Binding Legal Counsel (AND ITS FREE!)
1 John 2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have One who speaks to the Father in our defense–Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
Advocate—paraklētos
…literally ,”called to one’s side,” i.e., to one’s aid… It was used in a court of justice to denote a legal assistant, (the) counsel for the defense, an advocate; generally, one who pleads another’s cause, an intercessor, advocate, as shown in 1 John 2:1, of the Lord Jesus. (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words)
WITH Our Advocate Coverage, We Also Have Access To Full Debt Forgiveness
1 John 2:2 AND He is the propitiation (satisfying the payment) for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
hilasmos
Usage Notes: akin to hileōs (“merciful, propitious”), signifies “an expiation, a means whereby sin is covered and remitted.” It is used in the NT of Christ Himself as “the propitiation,” in 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10, signifying that He Himself, through the expiatory sacrifice of His Death, is the Personal means by whom God shows mercy to the sinner who believes on Christ as the One thus provided. In the former passage He is described as “the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words)
hilasmos
The italicized addition in the AV, “the sins of,” gives a wrong interpretation. What is indicated is that provision is made for the whole world, so that no one is, by Divine predetermination, excluded from the scope of God’s mercy; the efficacy of the “propitiation,” however, is made actual for those who believe. In 1 John 4:10, the fact that God “sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins,” is shown to be the great expression of God’s love toward man, and the reason why Christians should love one another. (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words)
Access To These Privileges Is Conditional On One Issue: Christlikeness
1 John 2:3-6 We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. The man who says, “I know Him,” but does not do what He commands is a liar and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys His word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.
John Likens Our Walk With God As Being In His Light
1 John 2:7-8 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. (God IS Light 1:5) Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in Him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
Walking In The Light Of God Is Seeing Others As God Sees Them
1 John 2:9-11 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.