1 John 2:1-2

II.

(4) The third idea that arises from the great fact that God is Light has already been suggested (1 John 1:7), but now takes its distinct place in the series. It is the doctrine of Reconciliation and Redemption. St. John does not wish them to contemplate with complacency the probability of sinning; but to remember gratefully, in spite of falls, that the Author and Restorer of Light has provided a remedy both for the offence before God, and for its effect on themselves. First comes the principle that we must not sin; second, the admission that we do sin; third, the consolation for actual sin when it is in spite of sincere zeal for sanctification.

(1) My little children. — Six times in the letter occurs this diminutive of tender and caressing love: 1 John 2:12; 1 John 2:28; 1 John 3:18; 1 John 4:4; 1 John 5:21. He was aged, he felt a fatherly care for them, he was their spiritual progenitor. (Comp. Galatians 4:9.) The thought of the shame and misery of sin melted his heart. “My child” was what he called out to the lapsed youth, according to Eusebius (H. E. iii. 23).

These things. — He carries them on through the former points up to the new thought.

That ye sin not. — Another side of the object of the teaching: their joy could not be full unless they were earnest against sin. And yet the most holy would not be perfect.

If any man sin. — See 1 John 1:8.

We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. — The word here translated Advocate was translated Comforter in John 14:16; John 14:25; John 15:26; John 16:7. It has two meanings; one, as in Job 16:2, he who comforts, or exhorts; the other, as here, he who is appealed to — a proxy, or attorney. (Comp. Romans 8:26; Hebrews 4:14; Hebrews 7:25.) The Redeemer, the Word made flesh, and reascended with His human nature, is that part of the Deity which assures us of the ever-active vitality of divine love. If the justice of God is connected most with the Father, the mercy is pledged by the Son. He has exalted our nature, undertaken our interests, presents our prayers, and will one day be surrounded by the countless millions of His human brothers whom He has rescued, wearing the same nature as Himself. He is represented as continuing our advocate, because otherwise His work might appear a mere separate earthly manifestation; “righteous,” because Christ, the only blameless example of human nature, can alone intercede for it with God (Hebrews 7:26; 1 Peter 3:18; John 16:8). The Armenian translation actually adds “and blameless.” Augustine remarks that St. John did not set forth any apostle or saint as intercessor (here, if anywhere, he would have done so), but only Christ. “We” is not the Church corporately, but merely another instance of St. John’s kindly delicacy, as in 1 John 1:6, &c.

(2) And he is the propitiation for our sins. — On the word “propitiation,” see the Introduction. By the satisfaction which the voluntary sacrifice of the Saviour offered to that divine order which requires the punishment of rebellion, both for its own correction and for a universal warning, the whole Deity has been rendered propitious, His graciousness has been called out, the righteousness of Romans 3:16 has been set in motion, that willeth not the death of a sinner, and is higher than mere retributive justice. (Comp. 1 John 4:10; John 14:5; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:18; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 9:28; Hebrews 10:20; 1 Peter 2:21.)

And not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. — This statement must not be limited. Its scope is that Christ’s redemption was offered for the whole of mankind, from Adam to the last man. Who lay hold of the redemption, must be determined on other considerations. (Comp. 1 John 4:14; John 1:29; John 4:42.) Multitudes may be saved through this redemption who never heard of Christ (Acts 10:34; Romans 2:14). St. John’s object in introducing this truth here is to rebuke the arrogance of those Christians who looked down on the non-Christian world as outside the Fatherhood and mercies of God. Such an error might be seen, for example, in the heated partisanship of a Crusader or persecutor for a civilisation politically Christian against one outside his own sympathies. (Comp. Titus 3:2; Romans 11:17.)