1st john the advocate

1 JohnEverlasting Mercy Fellowship

The Atonement of Christ: Our Advocate and Propitiation

1st John 2:1-2 (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.

Analogy: The Lawyer became the Lamb

The specifics of the case

John desires that the recipients of the epistle not engage in sin however he acknowledges that not only will we sin, but if we pretend that we don’t sin, the truth of God is not in us. 1st John 1:8

▪ 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1st John 1:10▪ 10If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

The specifics of the case

What is sin? Sin is a violation of moral or divine law for example… Genesis 2:16-17

▪ 16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.“

The specifics of the case

God sets the law in motion saying… “You can eat anything you want with no negative consequences with the only exception being the tree of knowledge of good and evil – that will kill you…”

Every law has consequences – good and bad. You are free to carry out the law but not always to

determine it’s consequences. We know Adam and Eve violated the law as we

still violate laws today …

A case for grace

A case for grace

A lawyers job is to be an advocate for his/her client.

The Law clearly states death is the penalty for sin. The Father who is the judge is holy and therefore

MUST keep His word and sentence sinners to death.

The Son who is our advocate is also holy and takes our place on the stand. This makes him our propitiation.

He is our stand-in before a Holy God. His life is exchanged for ours; His perfection for our imperfection. Romans 5:12-21

▪ 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17F or if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.  18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

A case for grace