This is the principle of 1 John 2:1-2: forgiveness in advance for any sin that might ever come into our lives. This is God’s promise, and it is given to us precisely 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. Moreover, and in spite of this, He sent His Son to die for the sins of His people so that there might be full forgiveness. Such love is unmeasurable. Such grace is beyond human comprehension. But God tells us of that love and grace in order that we might be won by it and determine, God giving us strength, that we will not fail Him.
But sometimes we do fail him, in spite of His assurance of pardon. What then? In that case, says John, we are to come to God to confess the sin and seek forgiveness, knowing that we are able to approach Him through the work of Christ as children approach a father. In this statement the reference to cleansing through the blood of Christ (1:7), the promise of forgiveness and cleansing for those who will confess their sins (1:9), and the call to holiness (2:1-2) are tied together.
The work of Christ is the basis upon which the Christian may approach God for full forgiveness and cleansing. John uses three terms to describe it. The first is “advocate.” This is a legal term, in Greek as in English; but in the Greek language, unlike English, the word has a passive rather than an active sense. It means literally “one called alongside of” and describes anyone who is called upon to help another, particularly in a court of law. It is easy to see, then, how John can use the word of Jesus; for he simply means that Jesus is the One called in to help us before the judgment bar of God. As Barclay says, “We are not to think of him as having gone through his life upon the earth, and his death upon the Cross, and then being finished with men.” Rather, “He will bear his concern for men upon his heart.”1
The word “advocate” does not occur outside the Johannine writings, but the ministry of Christ to which it refers occurs in many places. Jesus promised Peter that He would intercede for him that his faith might not fail in the aftermath of denying his Lord (Luke 22:23). John 17 records a prayer to the same effect on behalf of all believers. Jesus also declared that “whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God (Luke 12:8). Paul describes Jesus as the One “who is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Rom. 8:34).
There is one thing to be noted in John’s use of the word “advocate,” however. When the term is used in a legal sense today, one usually thinks of the work of a lawyer in presenting the full case of the defendant; that is, in defending the accused largely upon the merits of his case. 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. The former idea is illustrated by a use of the term in the early rabbinic tractate Pirkē Aboth: “He who does one precept [of the law] gains for himself one advocate, but he who commits one transgression gains for himself one accuser” (4:13). In the New Testament, it is entirely of God’s grace.
1William Barclay, The Letters of John and Jude (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1958), 45.