Advocate

1 John 1:8 - 2:2

If someone says they don’t have sin, then they’re lying themselves. That’s basically what it says in verse 8. Then there’s a formula: if we confess, then he will forgive us, then cleanse us, because he is faithful and he is just. It goes on to say that if we say we haven’t sinned, then we make God a liar and his word is not in us.

The author also says that he’s writing these things so that we won’t sin, but if we do, know that we have an advocate in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the propitiation for our sins, and not just our sins, but also for the sins of the whole world.

This is all very interesting to me… God calls us to do one thing: confess. If we confess, then He takes action. He will forgive us, then he’ll cleanse us. I want to connect the dots to what we were studying earlier with Adam and Eve. God called out their sin. “Where are you?” “Who gave you this fruit?” “Who told you that you were naked?” God just wants a confession, because God is just. God will even the scales of Justice. But, God is also faithful. He’ll forgive and then he’ll cleanse.

The next part of this passage is cool, too. The author says that he’s writing this so that you won’t sin...but if you do… I had to lol a little here, because we’re going to sin. And when we sin, Jesus Christ is our advocate to God the Father. God is just, and all the bad things we do require justice from God. I think it’s in our nature a little to require justice, too. But we have an advocate in Jesus.

This can start to sound a little weird. So, Jesus is God, and God the Father is God, and Jesus is an advocate to God for our sins. Weird. The trinity makes no sense, and I don’t think it should. I’m starting to read Forgotten God by Francis Chan. It’s about the Holy Spirit being the “forgotten God”. The Trinity blows me away…