First John 2:1-2

Introduction

Before we do verses 1-2 of chapter 2 we should review what we have done so far since we have been away from First John for almost a month now.

1. The theme of the book is ASSURANCE, which is found in 5:13, John writes to those who believe in Jesus Christ already so they may know they have eternal life. A key thing to remember here is assurance is OBJECTIVE. That is you know you are assured of salvation when you are doing something, mainly obeying the word of God. Assurance for JOHN NEVER comes from a past event. It is something we see from the present. Are we living for Christ now? Do we continually live for Christ and obey His word? Are we spending time in His word? These are questions we should all ask ourselves when facing issues with assurance and we are having doubts.

2. John was battling a false teaching known as Gnosticism. This teaching denied that Jesus was who He said he was, who the Apostles said He was. They believed that salvation was not found in Jesus Christ but is found through a secret knowledge which only a few have and this knowledge was given to them by God. These teachers somehow invaded the community to whom John wrote this letter and threw the believers faith into disarray.

3. In verses 1-4 John pointed his readers to the historical significance of the incarnation. The incarnation is God taking on the form of human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. John says Jesus was a real man. I saw him, I touched him, I heard him, and so did the other Apostles. I was not the only one there.

4. In verses 5-10 John took his opponents head on. First he assured his readers in vs.5 by pointing them to the character of God, when he said God is light. Believers can be assured because of who God is. Then is verses 6,8,10 John directly challenged what his opponents were teaching. They claimed they were perfect. They had no sin. John says this cannot happen. All people everywhere sin and t deny this truth is to make God out to be a liar, and His truth is not in such a person. Believers realize there sinfulness and they confess their sins to their Father who is faithful and just to forgive them their sins.

This is what we have learned so far. In this lesson we will tackle 2:1-2. These verses end out a section of the book which was started in 1:5. These verses can be difficult if we lose sight of WHO John is writing to.

In 1:6-10 John is directly challenging the false teachers. As we come to verse 1 of chapter 2 John is now addressing believers. Keep this in mind as we look at these verses, I think they will clear up a lot of misunderstanding about these verses. For some here I may present some things you may not have heard before, but my goal is to let the scriptures speak for themselves, and not to put any viewpoint I have into the text.

The Reality of Sin in the Believers Life

Every believer whether we want to or not still sins. In fact a true believer will acknowledge that they sin. John here in vs.1 acknowledges that believers will still sin, although they will confess their sin and know there sin is wrong.

The language of this first part of this verse can be kind of confusing in our English translations. The reason this is because our translations say I write these things so that you may not sin. It seems to us as if John is saying I write these things so you will not sin at all as believers. But then John goes on to say if anyone does sin. So what is John saying here?

First off John is setting forth a standard of Perfectionism in that believers can and should achieve perfection here in this life. If John were to be saying this he would contradict himself and his readers would wonder why he exhorted them to confess their sins just a few moments ago. John is not contradicting himself here.

John is acknowledging the reality of sin in a believers life. The phrase here in this verse “conveys the strong probability of actual occurrence… (which) could be translated ‘if anyone sins and it will happen.’” (MacArthur, John, 1-3 John, 45) John acknowledges that believers will sin. A danger here will be to think that John is condoning sin in the life of a believer. This is not the case at all John is trying to “prevent sin not condone it.” (Stott, John, Letters of John, TNCS, 84) There is no hint whatsoever that John is condoning sin, and this is clear from all of the book which will be VERY clear as we go along in the book.

Sin whether we as believers like it or not is something we will struggle with until we reach eternity with the Father then we will be perfect, we will be glorified we will have new bodies. The difference between a believer, a Christian, and someone who is not a Christian, is the Christian will fight against their sin. They do not want to sin, they will be like Paul in Romans 7 where he says he wants to not sin, but he keeps on doing it. The believer will still sin, but the believer at the same time will not want to sin.

Jesus our Advocate

John acknowledging that believers will still sin, sin is still a reality in the lives of Christians, immediately points the believers to Jesus Christ their advocate.

The first thing to answer here is what does ADVOCATE mean for the believer? The word literally means called along side of (Stott, 85). It means advocate or counsel for the defense in a legal context (Marshall, The Epistles of John, NICNT, 116). In other words it is someone who is called to help someone on their behalf. But what does this mean for the Christian?

First we must realize that Jesus is pleading on the behalf of sinners is not pleading based off of what the believers has done. In fact Jesus is an odd defense attorney in that he realizes and acknowledges the person’s guilt before God. They are guilty. James Montgomery Boice says this on this verse: “In John the idea of merit on the part of the accused is entirely absent; rather the merit is on the part of the advocate.” (Boice, James Montgomery, The Epistles of John, 38) Jesus is our advocate but he pleads our case on what HE has done and NOT on what WE as believers have done. The reason is we have done nothing which could possibly merit any forgiveness at all. If Jesus were to be our advocate based upon what we have done He would lose his case every time, but He is our advocate based on what he has done and therefore “Jesus as our advocate has never lost a case and never will.” (MacArthur, 44)

Here is what the scene is. You all have heard this before from me. I Ben Wilson am standing before the Holy Judge of the Universe, God the Father. He is trying me and going through everything I have ever done in my life. As He looks at my life and holds my life up to the light of His Holiness the only sentence God the Father can give me is eternal punishment in Hell, that is all I deserve. The trial is almost over the gavel is about to strike the desk and all of the sudden there is this crashing in the back of the courtroom. We look at around to see who it is and it is Jesus. Jesus pleads on my behalf and says Father I obeyed your will for him, I died for Him and I rose for Him. I know he is guilty and deserves your wrath, but Father in your love you sent me to die for him so he could be made right with you. I did all I did for him. He is mine.

Lest someone think this analogy pins Jesus and God the Father against one another rest assured it does not. Jesus is not against the Father and the Father is not against Jesus. They work together, they have the same purpose. John Stott put it this way: “In a picture of a righteous advocate standing before the Father on our behalf, ‘the case is not that of love pleading with justice.’ Rather the opposite ‘Justice pleads with love for our release.’” (Stott, 86)

Jesus can only be our advocate because of who He is. He is Jesus Christ the Righteous. Jesus is righteous. Everything about Him is righteous. His death is only effective once and for all time because he is righteous. Jesus the righteous one is our advocate before the Father. What a comfort this is to think upon as believers. Knowing that we still sin, James Montgomery Boice said this of this verse as believers we have, “forgiveness in advance for any sin that might come into our lives. This is God’s promise, and it is given that we might not sin. God is not shocked by human behavior, as we often are, for he sees it in advance, including the sins of Christians.” (Boice, 37)

As believers who still struggle with sin may we remember we have a righteous advocate before the Father Jesus Christ.

Jesus our Atonement

Before we begin this verse I want to throw out a word of caution. This verse has been HIGHLY and HOTLY debated throughout the History of the church. The reason is there is two different views relating to the EXTENT or the SCOPE of the ATONEMENT OF CHRIST. Did Christ die for all people unqualified? As in every person on the earth? Or did Christ die for a specific people, mainly those who believe? These are all sensitive questions, and questions which we as believers must let the scriptures speak on their own.

The key to understanding this verse is focusing upon the word PROPITIATION. If we do this vs.2 will not be as difficult as some make it out to be. Many want to focus on the word world and this throws confusion into everything.

John starts off this verse by saying Jesus is the propitiation for our sins, that is for himself and the people to whom he is writing to. Some translations of the Bible use “atoning sacrifice” here is this verse instead of propitiation, and this is probably preferable. But what we must keep in mind though is if we take this view propitiation is still in view. Just because we use a different phrase does not mean propitiation is gone. Some problems people have with this verse and what word to us instead of propitiation is the Greek word here is used only twice in the whole New Testament and the other use is in ch. 4:10 of First John.

Jesus being our atoning sacrifice is our propitiation and our expiation. Propitiation has to do with the removal of the wrath of God. Jesus in His death on the cross bore the wrath of God for sin. Jesus is also our expiation. That is Jesus on the cross-bought the removal of sin, so we can be forgiven. I. Howard Marshall says here: “The one action has the double effect of expiating the sin and thereby propitiating God.” (Marshall, 118)

The problem many people face here is they see the idea of propitiation as archaic and heathen. In Ancient times people would offer sacrifices, mainly human sacrifices, to ward off an angry deity. They believed this would appease the wrath of this angry deity. The truth of propitiation is TOTALLY different in a biblical context. “In Christianity it is never the man who takes the initiative or makes the sacrifice, but God himself who out of his great love for the sinner provides the way by which his own wrath against sin may be placated.” (Boice, 40)

• “There can, therefore, be no question of human beings appeasing an angry deity by their gifts. The Christian propitiation is quite different, not only in the character of the divine anger but in the means by which it is propitiated. It is an appeasement of the wrath of God by the love of God through the gift of God… His wrath is averted not be an external gift, but by his own self-giving to die the death of sinners.” (Stott, 93)

Propitiation is the love of God sending His son to die for sinners so they could be made right with him. The death of Jesus is the most loving thing God could have done. As sinners we deserve the wrath of God against our sin. But God in His love has made a way whereby our sins can be forgiven and his wrath can be turned away from us, Jesus Christ our ATONING SACRIFICE.

One last hurdle must be jumped to understand this verse. What is meant by world here? Some say that the whole world, “must be comprehended as a generic expression that refers to humanity in general, but not necessarily every individual.” (MacArthur, 49) Another has suggested that “The universal provision implies that all men have need of it… the possibility of forgiveness is cosmic and universal.” (Marshall, 119) The question we want to know is in a biblical framework can world here mean every person in the world or can it mean something different. In other words to whom does the atoning sacrifice of Christ apply? Another thing to keep in mind here is the Greek word for would can also mean humankind (BDAG, 562). This is a general term and not a specific term. It can just mean humanity in general, without meaning every person individually.

One questions must be answered first. If Christ died for EVERYONE in the world why then is there a future judgment? Part of the work of Christ on the cross is taking the judgment that we as sinners deserve. If then, as many people believe this verse teaches, Christ paid the penalty for ALL SIN, that is EVERY persons’ sin why is there a judgment that will take place, and that judgment is because of sin?

Second is Christ paid for the SINS of ALL PEOPLE everywhere why do people stay in unbelief? If Christ died for every sin of every person on the face of the earth then why do people no believe, since unbelief is a sin, and Christ paid for it?

Enough of worthless speculation to the source, to the scriptures. It is wise in this case since we are studying John that we should look at what John has to say about the extent of the atonement. Who did Christ die for?

First to better understand what John means here by sins of the world I want to look for what John said in John 11:45-52. What we have going on here is Caiaphas is the High priest this year. The Jews are together and they are planning how they can put Jesus to death, how could they kill Jesus? He says in this verse that it is better that one-man die for the nation of Israel, which is Jesus, and John says he did not say this of his own accord but he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, but not the nation only but for the children who are scattered abroad from every nation. In other words Jesus died for more people than just the Jews. He died for all of those who would believe from the nations.

Another verse we can look at to this point is Rev, 5:9-10:

Rev. 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
Rev. 5:10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”

Jesus in his death ransomed a people for God from every, tribe. Tongue and nation. In other words Jesus ransomed people from all over the world for the Father. Those who believed from all around the world Jesus died for.

First lets look at John 3:14-16:

John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
John 3:15 that whoever believes fin him may have eternal life.”*
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world,* that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus says here is verse 15 first that whoever believes has eternal life, and then in verse 16 Jesus was sent into the world by the Father to die so that whoever believes in Jesus will have eternal life. Notice in vs.16 we see the word world, but in the same verse we see that those who believe have eternal life.

John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him

This verse teaches us that whoever believes in the Son has Eternal life but whoever does not obey the Son, those who do not believe in Him, the will not see life and the wrath of God remains on them. They did not believe therefore the wrath of God remained on them therefore the wrath of God for their sin was not placed upon Jesus because they did not believe in Jesus. They will face the wrath of God on their sin because they did not believe.

Jesus laid his life down for his sheep. Jesus said this in John 10:11, the sheep are those who believe in Him. They are his children.

John 17 is the last thing we will look at. This is commonly called the High Priestly prayer of Jesus. Jesus in this prayer is interceding for those who are his disciples. First he prays for the disciples he had then and in vs.20 he prays for those who would believe because of their word. He is praying for those who would believe in later times. What is important is in vs.9 Jesus says I am not praying for the world, the whole world, but I am praying for those who were given to me, those who believed.

If the scope of Jesus’ intercessory work had a scope in which only believers were then why would the cross be any different. We also see in 1Jn. 2:1 that those for whom Jesus is an advocate is limited. It is limited in the sense that Jesus is the advocate for ALL who believe. It is important to remember that although Jesus only paid for the sins of those who believed the gospel is open to all, anyone may believe. So world here should probably best be taken as those who have believed from all over the world, because if people have not believed they are still under the wrath of God, and the Atonement of Jesus has not effect on them. The world here therefore “Cannot be pressed into meaning that all sins are automatically pardoned through the propitiation of Christ, but that a universal pardon is offered (for the sins of) the whole world and is enjoyed by those who embrace it.” (Stott, 89)

We do see from scripture where the cross has some impact on the world. There are so many passage which point to this, but we also see that scripture CLEARLY teaches that Jesus paid the penalty only for those who believe in Him. If Jesus paid the penalty for ALL people everywhere and people still do not believe there is something wrong with the atonement of Jesus Christ, this view gives the Atonement more power in that the Atonement actually secured the salvation of those who believe, not merely making it possible so some could be saved. The Atonement has unlimited power in anyone who believes in Jesus Christ’s atoning death on the cross can be saved.

Lets review here for a moment. Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for all who believe in his name. Jesus die for all peoples without distinction. That means anyone can believe in Jesus. No matter where they live who they are or what they believed before. The atonement is infinitely powerful to save all who believe in the name of Jesus Christ and trust in His Life, Atoning Death, and Resurrection from the dead.


Conclusion

As we do in every lesson we want to tie everything we have learned in with what John has taught us from the theme of First John: Assurance.

1. We can have assurance because Jesus is pleading our case before the Father. When we sin we should know that Jesus is still pleading our case. He does not stop because we failed, in fact the way John presents this is that we will fail and Jesus and God the Father already know this, but they still give believers there grace and mercy.
2. Jesus is our atoning sacrifice. Jesus paid the price we could not pay. In His death on the cross Jesus bought my forgiveness and turned away the wrath of God from me. There was nothing I could do. There was nothing I could do to earn the forgiveness of God or to turn away the wrath of God, but Jesus did it. There was no gift I could offer for this to happen Jesus and Jesus alone could do it. And from this I should be assured there is nothing I can do to ruin what Jesus has done for me, even when I sin, if I am a true believer a true Christian, His death still was for me.

In our next lesson we will pick up the pace just a little and we will do 2:3-14 so we might finish First John before the end of the semester.