We have an Advocate — one who pleads for another, like a lawyer does. The Lord Jesus takes care of our case before the Father. Our part is to confess the sin to our Father. He owes it to His Son to forgive us, for Jesus has died once for those sins. Unconfessed sins on us will bring unhappiness.
V.1 The previous things were written in order that we should not sin. But if we do sin, God has the remedy — Christ the Advocate.
V.2 “Propitiation” means the way that God can righteously be satisfied about sin. The words “the sins of” are in italics. They are not in the original writings. “Sin” is the nature, “sins” are the fruit of that nature.
V.3-6 The new nature of a believer is an obedient one.
V.7-8 These prove that the ten commandments are not being referred to, but the Word of God.
V.9-11 Blindness and darkness both are characteristics of the unsaved.
V.12 Does this thrill you? In these Epistles, “little children” are the believers of any age but who may not have known the Lord long.
V.12-14 Three stages of growth in a believer: little children, young men and fathers. God does not wish us to remain little children.