As we continue to study 1 John, it is important to remember the context in which it was written. It was likely written between 85 and 95 AD and assumes that the reader has a basic understanding of the gospel. It was written as a response to an established church in the second century that had been struggling with Gnosticism and he challenged these false teachings with the truth that Jesus had and continues to have all authority on Earth and in Heaven.
“The key purpose of 1 John is to set boundaries on the content of faith and to give believers assurance of their salvation.” – Reverend Jordan Clark.
Another great resource for contextualising 1, 2, and 3 John is the Bible Project’s Video, Books 1-3 John Summary: A Complete Animated Video.
The Point: It is only because of Jesus, the Son, that we can enter into Fellowship with God, the Father.
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” – John 14:6 NASB1995.
We must acknowledge that we are sinners; we cannot approach the Throne of God by ourselves.
Sin separates us from God. When we sin, we intentionally disobey God’s Commandments. Sin isn’t just what we do or don’t do; it is about our nature. As Pastor Jordan shared with us last week, this is imputed sin. We take on the charge of Adam’s sin, and it is credited to our accounts.
We have all inherited this sinful nature, and it continues to separate us from God. Luckily, there is someone who does not have this sinful nature and has paid the price for our sins on our behalf. His name is Jesus.
Jesus is our Advocate to the Father; He stands up in our defence and in our place. He makes it possible to know the Father.
Even though we are sinners, and there is nothing that we can do in our strength to approach the Throne of God, we can take comfort in knowing Jesus is our Advocate.
The Enduring Word Bible Commentary defines an Advocate as follows: “Demosthenes uses it to designate the friends of the accused who voluntarily step in and personally urge the judge to decide in his favor.”
Enduring Word Bible Commentary contextualises it like this:
It is as if we stand as the accused in the heavenly court, before our righteous Judge, God the Father. Our Advocate stands up to answer the charges: “He is completely guilty your honor. In fact, he has even done worse than what he is accused of, and now makes full and complete confession before You.” The gavel slams, and the Judge asks, “What should his sentence be?” Our Advocate answers, “His sentence shall be death; he deserves the full wrath of this righteous court.” All along, our accuser Satan, is having great fun at all this. We are guilty! We admit our guilt! We see our punishment! But then, our Advocate asks to approach the bench. As he draws close to the Judge, he simply says: “Dad, this one belongs to Me. I paid his price. I took the wrath and punishment from this court that he deserves.” The gavel sounds again, and the Judge cries out, “Guilty as charged! Penalty satisfied!” Our accuser starts going crazy. “Aren’t you even going to put him on probation?” “No!” the Judge shouts. “The penalty has been completely paid by My Son. There is nothing to put him on probation for.” Then the Judge turns to our Advocate, and says, “Son, you said this one belongs to You. I release him into Your care. Case closed!”
Jesus lived a sinless life, died unjustly, defeated Death, and rose again. Jesus paid the price of our sins so that we could know God. Jesus has imputed His Righteousness on us, even though we don’t deserve it.
Even if we stumble and sin, we don’t need to worry about being separated from God again.
'but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: ' – 1 John 2:5 NASB1995.
Once we truly accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we don’t have to worry about God putting us back on trial. Jesus covered our sins before we accepted Him and continues to cover our sins after we accept Him.
This is not an invitation to go out and commit as much sin as possible but an assurance of God’s Grace that will not forsake us. If we continually repent our sins and turn back to Jesus, He will honour that.
'My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; ' – 1 John 2:1
The Point: It is only because of Jesus, the Son, that we can enter into Fellowship with God, the Father.
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