Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 1 John · About this commentary
An Advocate with the Father
1 John 2:1-2
1 My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. · WEB
The title used four times in the fourth Gospel for the Spirit is used once in Scripture for Jesus, and it is used here.
Verse 1 states the purpose plainly and prevents the previous paragraph from being misread: I write these things to you so that you may not sin. The provision for failure was never permission for it.
Then the sentence turns, and the realism is what makes the letter trustworthy. And if anyone sins — not a remote possibility for other people, since the writer has just included himself in every we of the preceding verses.
The title given is parakletos, one called alongside to help, and its distribution in Scripture is exact. It occurs five times. Four are in the fourth Gospel, all of the Spirit whom the Father would send. The fifth is here, and it is Jesus with the Father. The two do not compete; one is called alongside the believer, the other stands alongside on the believer's behalf.
He is named the righteous, which is the qualification the role requires. An advocate who shared the client's liability could not act.
Verse 2 supplies the ground, using a word found only twice in Scripture and both times in this letter 1 John 4:10. Its force is that God provides the covering rather than receiving it. And the scope is pushed as wide as language allows — not for ours only, but for the whole world, which is an odd thing to write to a group tempted to think itself the remnant of a split.
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