"we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous"
Protestants completely reject intercession, whether by the Virgin Mary, by angels, or by saints, relying on the words of the Holy Apostles John and Paul: "...we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" [1John 2:1], "There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" [1Tim 2:5].
Indeed, there is a fundamental difference between the mediation by our Lord Jesus Christ and the intercession by the saints.
The mediation by our Lord Jesus Christ is a reconciliation, so that through His help our sins may be forgiven, for He is the atoning sacrifice, offered to erase our guilt and sins. In His intercession, He speaks to the Father: "Do not count their sins against them, for I have taken their guilt upon myself" [Isa 53:5]. Thus, He stands as the mediator between God and men, or rather, He is the only mediator between God and men; He obeyed the divine will, died as an atoning sacrifice for humanity, and thereby obtained forgiveness of their sins.
Indeed, there is a fundamental difference between the mediation by our Lord Jesus Christ and the intercession by the saints.
The mediation by our Lord Jesus Christ is a reconciliation, so that through His help our sins may be forgiven, for He is the atoning sacrifice, offered to erase our guilt and sins. In His intercession, He speaks to the Father: "Do not count their sins against them, for I have taken their guilt upon myself" [Isa 53:5]. Thus, He stands as the mediator between God and men, or rather, He is the only mediator between God and men; He obeyed the divine will, died as an atoning sacrifice for humanity, and thereby obtained forgiveness of their sins.
 | Author: Shenouda III. Rank: Pope AD: 2012 Source: Title: 20 Vergleichende Theologie Author: Pope Shenouda III, 117th Pope of Alexandria Number of pages: 119 Copyright: Biblical texts are quoted from the 'Einheitsübersetzung der Heiligen Schrift © 1980 Katholische Bibelanstalt Stuttgart'. Used with the kind permission of the Katholische Bibelanstalt Stuttgart. Print: St.Mina Kloster, Mariut, Ägypten Translation: Dr. phil. Samir F. Girgis, Ruth Girgis |
Advocate and Propitiation
[Verse 1] From what John said in the above-mentioned, two misconceptions can arise. The first is that you may be overwhelmed by a kind of discouragement. After all you cannot do anything about it if you sin, for sin is still in you, isn’t it? The second is that you may think: ‘It is not a big deal if I sin, for if I sin, I can just confess it, right?’ As a response to these questions the word of John sounds: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” Right, you may say, I am willing to accept that, but unfortunately, it still happens that I do sin. Well, says John, in case you sin you may know that you have “an Advocate with the Father”.
In the way John takes note of this, you see that he takes into consideration that it is possible for you to sin, but he does not consider it inevitable. But in case it does happen, you do not need to despair. It’s not that sin is not bad. Sin is always awful. How terrible sin is, is best seen on the cross of Calvary, where God brought His nothing-sparing judgment on sin upon His beloved Son. At the same time that is the basis for the work of Jesus Christ as an Advocate with the Father in case it does happen that you sin.
If you sin, it will cause your fellowship with the Father to be disturbed. You indeed still remain His child, but because of the sin you’ve committed you cannot enjoy it. When one of my children does something that causes him to deserve punishment, it stands in the way for me to show him that I love him. Indeed I love him, but our relationship has been fractured. What has come between us must first be resolved by repentance.
As an “Advocate with the Father” the Lord Jesus does what is necessary to restore your relationship with the Father. The way He does that you see in the denial by Peter. The Lord leads Peter to repentance by reminding him of what He said to him earlier [Luke 22:61-62]. Because of that repentance Peter’s fellowship with the Lord has been restored. If you come to a confession of sin, you owe that to Him; it is His work.
He is pleading your case as “the righteous” with the Father. He represents you with the Father as the One Who bore the judgment on the sin that you have to confess. He is the Righteous because He always has perfectly fulfilled the righteousness of God in His life.
[Verse 2] He also perfectly fulfilled God’s righteousness toward sin. After all, He is the “propitiation” for the sin that you have committed. The work that He has accomplished is the basis of the restoration of your fellowship with the Father.
He is of course not only the propitiation for that particular sin of yours. You may know that He is the propitiation for all your sins and also for all the sins of all God’s children. Of course it couldn’t be otherwise. When He accomplished the work at the cross He knew exactly who have believed in Him since Adam and who was going to believe in the future. Of all those people He knew all their sins and became the propitiation for them.
But it does not stop there. It goes further. He is also the propitiation for the whole world. Now it is important for you to read well what is said here. It is not written that He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. This is how some people read it which can lead to the erroneous conclusion of the false doctrine of the so-called universal atonement. [Note: In this verse the words “[those of]” are put in brackets, which means they don’t belong to the inspired Bible text.]
According to those who defend the universal atonement, all people and even satan with his angels will ultimately be saved. This is a reprehensible conclusion that is against the clear statements of the Scripture concerning an eternal torment of unrepentant sinners in hell [Rev 20:10]. Do not let yourself be deceived by this!
The work of the Lord Jesus is that great and the value of His blood reaches that far, that on that ground God can save each person. That is God’s side of the truth. The other side of the truth is that only the person who repents, becomes a partaker of that. These things go beyond our logical thinking. We can only look at the different aspects of God’s truth separately – we know in part, in pieces (cf. [1Cor 13:12]) – and admire and worship Him for what we see then.
In the way John takes note of this, you see that he takes into consideration that it is possible for you to sin, but he does not consider it inevitable. But in case it does happen, you do not need to despair. It’s not that sin is not bad. Sin is always awful. How terrible sin is, is best seen on the cross of Calvary, where God brought His nothing-sparing judgment on sin upon His beloved Son. At the same time that is the basis for the work of Jesus Christ as an Advocate with the Father in case it does happen that you sin.
If you sin, it will cause your fellowship with the Father to be disturbed. You indeed still remain His child, but because of the sin you’ve committed you cannot enjoy it. When one of my children does something that causes him to deserve punishment, it stands in the way for me to show him that I love him. Indeed I love him, but our relationship has been fractured. What has come between us must first be resolved by repentance.
As an “Advocate with the Father” the Lord Jesus does what is necessary to restore your relationship with the Father. The way He does that you see in the denial by Peter. The Lord leads Peter to repentance by reminding him of what He said to him earlier [Luke 22:61-62]. Because of that repentance Peter’s fellowship with the Lord has been restored. If you come to a confession of sin, you owe that to Him; it is His work.
He is pleading your case as “the righteous” with the Father. He represents you with the Father as the One Who bore the judgment on the sin that you have to confess. He is the Righteous because He always has perfectly fulfilled the righteousness of God in His life.
[Verse 2] He also perfectly fulfilled God’s righteousness toward sin. After all, He is the “propitiation” for the sin that you have committed. The work that He has accomplished is the basis of the restoration of your fellowship with the Father.
He is of course not only the propitiation for that particular sin of yours. You may know that He is the propitiation for all your sins and also for all the sins of all God’s children. Of course it couldn’t be otherwise. When He accomplished the work at the cross He knew exactly who have believed in Him since Adam and who was going to believe in the future. Of all those people He knew all their sins and became the propitiation for them.
But it does not stop there. It goes further. He is also the propitiation for the whole world. Now it is important for you to read well what is said here. It is not written that He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. This is how some people read it which can lead to the erroneous conclusion of the false doctrine of the so-called universal atonement. [Note: In this verse the words “[those of]” are put in brackets, which means they don’t belong to the inspired Bible text.]
According to those who defend the universal atonement, all people and even satan with his angels will ultimately be saved. This is a reprehensible conclusion that is against the clear statements of the Scripture concerning an eternal torment of unrepentant sinners in hell [Rev 20:10]. Do not let yourself be deceived by this!
The work of the Lord Jesus is that great and the value of His blood reaches that far, that on that ground God can save each person. That is God’s side of the truth. The other side of the truth is that only the person who repents, becomes a partaker of that. These things go beyond our logical thinking. We can only look at the different aspects of God’s truth separately – we know in part, in pieces (cf. [1Cor 13:12]) – and admire and worship Him for what we see then.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-2
1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world.
 | Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-09-26 Source: Title: 1 John Author: Ger de Koning Copyright: kingcomments.com Note General: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author or the publisher. |
All the more fully: "Little children, these things have I written to you, lest ye sin; and if ye shall have sinned, an Advocate we have with God the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and, He is the propitiation for our sins."
 | Author: Tertullian of Carthage Rank: Author AD: 220 |
""And if any man sin "says he, "we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins."
 | Author: Peter of Alexandria AD: 311 |
Wherefore we have need of the dew of God, that we be not consumed by fire, nor be rendered unfruitful, and that where we have an accuser there we may have also an Advocate,
 | Author: Irenaeus of Lyons Rank: Bishop AD: 202 |
And lest haply he should seem to have given impunity for sins, in that he said, He is faithful and just to cleanse us from all iniquity; and men henceforth should say to themselves, Let us sin, let us do securely what we will, Christ purges us, is faithful and just, purges us from all iniquity: He takes from you an evil security, and puts in an useful fear. To your own hurt you would be secure; you must be solicitous. For He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, provided you always displease yourself, and be changing until you be perfected.
 | Author: Augustine of Hippo Rank: Bishop AD: 430 |
The listed verse explanations of the individual persons have nothing to do with the explanations of the other persons. This also applies to the Bible translations.
