In considering what the Scriptures tell us of the present service of the Lord Jesus Christ, we find that the subject naturally divides itself into two parts —(1) Service rendered to us; (2) Service entered into for us. As the Shepherd of the sheep, as the Bishop of our souls, as the Washer of our feet, the Lord Jesus Christ ministers to us; as Advocate with the Father, and as High Priest He is engaged in heaven for us. The former character, that of Advocate, is treated of by John; the latter, that of High Priest, is dwelt upon by Paul.
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not,” are the words of the Apostle John. At first sight they might seem to be merely a repetition of thoughts, expressed in the Old Testament Scriptures, under the form of God’s commands to His people not to sin. But looking at them in the original, we are taught their true bearing, and discern how different is the way, here taken by God, to impress on believers His desire for them, from that of which of old lie was pleased to make use. At Sinai He gave Israel commandments, which forbade the activity of the evil nature that by birth is in each one of us. Whilst they were in the wilderness He commanded them, by Moses, to be holy, because He, the Lord their God, was holy (Lev. 19:22Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy. (Leviticus 19:2)). Now, such injunctions proclaim the holiness of God, and the sinner’s proneness to do wrong, but they do not strengthen him to act aright, nor do they of themselves imply that he can obey them. On the contrary, as was afterward dogmatically taught, “the law entered, that the offense might abound” (Rom. 5:2020Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: (Romans 5:20)). “It was added because of transgressions” (Gal. 3:1919Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. (Galatians 3:19)), to bring home to Israel, who alone were placed under it by God (Rom. 2:1414For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: (Romans 2:14)), what they really were in themselves before Him. And the right action of the law on a quickened soul produces this judgment of itself, leading it to confess, that in itself dwells no good thing, and whilst it approves what is right, it is powerless of itself to do it (Rom. 7). But the law never leads a soul into liberty, nor can it give life (Gal. 3:2121Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. (Galatians 3:21)), nor is it able to bring into subjection the flesh (Rom. 8:77Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (Romans 8:7)). So God’s commands by Moses, they told Israel what they ought to be, and reminded them of the holy nature of the One who was their God, left them powerless to obey, calling on man, as they did, for that which he could not in his own strength, as a fallen creature, render to his God, viz., the obedience of his heart, the subjection of his will. John, on the contrary, wrote to those who were enabled to keep from sin. “My little children, these things write I unto you, in order that ye may not sin.” Their liability to sin is expressly declared, their proneness to it, if unwatchful, is clearly implied; God’s holiness, too, is maintained, as His wish for His children is thus conveyed to them, but their ability to conform to it is most evidently assumed.
But why this difference? The answer is simple. God is now dealing with individuals who are of the number of the elect, and not, as formerly, with an elect nation. Dealing with Israel on national grounds, individuals amongst them might be lost, but the nation never can. The nation was, and is an elect nation (Isa. 45:44For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. (Isaiah 45:4)), but that did not ensure the everlasting security of every individual who by birth belonged to it. Dealing now with individuals, each one of whom is a member of that company chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, God addresses them as His children born of Him. And since the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal life, has been manifested, and we, who believe on Him, have Him for our life, we should learn from His walk how we ought to walk. So God can write to us in order that we should not sin, because we possess through His grace a nature, which in itself is impeccable, though we, who partake of that nature, are liable to sin every day.
Thus we distinguish, and it is important that we should, between person and nature. The Christian partakes of two natures, the one, the old man-the other, the new man. By birth he has received both. By natural generation he partakes of the evil nature, by being born of water and of the Holy Ghost he receives the new nature. The character and actings of each nature are unchangeable. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:66That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:6)). Of the incorrigibility of the flesh we are taught, when we read, that it is “enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:77Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (Romans 8:7)). The undeviating course in which the new nature runs is as clearly traced out, as we hear John declaring, that “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world” (1 John 5:44For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. (1 John 5:4)); for the world, we learn (1 John 2:15,1615Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (1 John 2:15‑16)), is in direct opposition to the Father, and all that is not of the Father is of the world. When the person is treated of, Paul tells us, “They that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:77Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (Romans 8:7)). John, on the other hand, writing of the spiritual characteristics of one in whom the new nature is found, tells us that “Whosoever is born of God sinneth not” (1 John 5:1818We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. (1 John 5:18)). Man, then, acts as his nature inclines him. Man, in the flesh, cannot please God. But the Christian, having a new nature, Christ being his life, is responsible to act in accordance with the dictates of that nature. For responsibility attaches to the person, though the acts are the natural outcoming of the nature within. But, as a nature can only act in accordance with what it is, John, when viewing the Christian abstractedly, declares that “Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God “ (1 John 3:99Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (1 John 3:9)). On the other hand, viewing him, not abstractedly, but as a person possessed of two opposite natures, either of which may at any given moment, if he allow it, dominate over him, he writes, he tells us, to believers, in order that they should not sin. Thus the absolute impeccability of the new nature is affirmed, and the Christian’s ability now through grace to keep from sin is declared; yet his liability to fall into it, and therefore his constant need of watchfulness against it, are ever kept before him.
“In order that ye should not sin.” God would then display His grace and power by enabling creatures to refrain from sin, who are not merely able to sin as Adam was before he fell, but who are prone to it, because conceived in sin, and shapers in iniquity. The weakness of man in himself was evidenced, when the devil succeeded in his design on Adam and Eve, who till then were innocent. The inability of fallen man to conform to God’s will in his own strength was demonstrated in the history of Israel, to whom Jehovah gave His statutes, and showed them His judgments, “which, if a man do, he shall even live in them”; but they did not observe them, and their captivity by the Assyrians and by the Babylonians was the consequence of their failure. Now, God would exemplify in Christians the ability of those born of Him, but who were first born in sin, to keep themselves from it when walking as new creatures in Christ. The ability is theirs, as born of God, and indwelt by the Holy Ghost. But, though strength is freely bestowed on His children to do His will, the sense of personal responsibility is constantly maintained, and the need of watchfulness is impressed on us, as such exhortations, God’s recorded desires for His people, are read and pondered over by us; and as we are reminded of the blessing, which every Christian, who is walking aright, can now enjoy, viz., communion with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
That we should have fellowship, then, in this with John and others, the apostle wrote (1 John 1:33That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:3)). Enjoying it himself, he desires those whom he addressed to share it with him. Fellowship, or communion with the Father, all that that is, John wished them to know and rejoice in. The knowledge of the Father’s thoughts and purposes, and all that He has unfolded to us of the Son, this John wished them to enjoy. Fellowship, or communion with the Son in all that He has told us. of the Father, and in all that He has declared to us of God, this too the apostle earnestly longed for them. But to enjoy this, the possession of a nature capable of understanding such things is requisite. Hence we must be born of God. And, since communion implies the sharing of God’s thoughts and purposes, we can only enjoy it in the terms prescribed. “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” To have fellowship with Him, and to walk in darkness as well, is impossible. Between light and darkness there is, there can be no communion. But we, who are addressed in this Epistle, have sin in us (1 John 1:88If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)), and we often yield to it. How, then, we can be restored to that communion, which by our unwatchfulness has been interrupted, is a most serious question to be considered, but one to which, thank God, we have a very clear and a very full answer. This leads the apostle to acquaint us with the active ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ on high for us, as Paraclete, or Advocate with the Father, a term only met with in the New Testament in the writings of John, applied by the Lord Jesus in the Gospel to the Holy Ghost, who was to come (14, 15 applied here by the Holy Ghost to the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. Often, when reading the First Epistle of John, we are reminded of truths dwelt on in his Gospel, and especially of those touched on by the Lord in that last discourse with His disciples on the night of his betrayal (John 13-16). The hostility of the world, the new commandment, abiding in Christ, the character of God, the water and the blood, these, as John treats of them in his Epistle, carry us back in thought to his Gospel, and the designation of the Lord Jesus in the Epistle, as Paraclete or Advocate, throws light on the Lord’s own description of the Holy Ghost, as “another” Paraclete, or Comforter. For the Holy Ghost was not to be a substitute for the Lord, making up, by His presence with the disciples, for the loss they had sustained through His departure; but He came as an additional Paraclete, engaged on earth on behalf of God’s saints (Rom. 8:2626Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. (Romans 8:26)), whilst the Lord Jesus would be occupied with their affairs in heaven. Yet the office of the Lord in heaven was not a new one, created for Him only after His return to glory. The term “another” implied the existence of one already, and the Lord’s words to Peter, before he fell, illustrate to us how He takes up the cause of His failing people before ever they are aware of their need of it (Luke 22:3232But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. (Luke 22:32)). What He was for Peter then Christ’s words told him. But now, since His work on the cross has been accomplished, His advocacy, based upon it, can be treated for our instruction and comfort.
“If any man sin, we have an Advocate.” Then this service is called forth, when sin has interrupted the communion we may enjoy with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ; for though the fullest grace is ours now in Christ, and we possess a nature, which, if active in us, would make us keep from sin, yet, in spite of all that we know and all that we have, we do fail, and how often that is, the history of each soul could surely tell. But He, who died to save us from the outpouring of that divine wrath which we have so justly merited—He, who is our life, takes up also our cause on high, that we may afresh enjoy that communion about which we have manifested so little concern.
“An Advocate with the Father.” How sweet are these words to a Christian who mourns over his sins! From God Himself we learn about this, not from man, though a man has been the channel of the divine communication. As of old the Israelite knew, on the authority of Jehovah, through the instrumentality of the lawgiver, that his sins were forgiven him when he had brought his offering, and that offering had been duly dealt with at the altar, so we learn on the same authority (God’s word) of His gracious provision for us who are His children. In human affairs, the man who has need of an advocate selects one, and entrusts his matters to him. In divine things, it is God who has selected the Advocate, and that Advocate needs not, nor waits for, any instructions from us. He acts when, and as He sees fit.
“With the Father.” Then the link of relationship, the birth-tie, we are assured, has not snapped. Thank God, it never can! And at such a moment He reminds us of it. He is our Father, and we are His children, however naughty we may have been. Restoration to communion, nevertheless, is no light matter, since it needs the active service of the Lord Jesus Christ as Advocate to effect it. But, had He not first made atonement, it never could be done. “Jesus Christ the righteous.” Of what He is in Himself we here read: “The propitiation for our sins.” What He is before God for us we are also to remember. Thus we are turned to a consideration of His person in this double character-righteous in Himself and the propitiation for our sins.
And here divine wisdom is manifested, as the written word treats of the Lord Jesus. How often is the language of a Christian who has failed, ‘I must go back to the blood;’ and ground is taken, in words at least, as if he needed a fresh atonement to be made for him to blot out the sin which, unhappily, he has committed. The Spirit, however, speaks not to us here of the blood, but of the personal fitness of the Lord Himself to take up our cause, and of what He is for us before God. Righteous He is, so can always be heard. The propitiation for our sins He is, so can act for us who have failed. “He is the propitiation.” Not He was it, not He will effect it, but He is it. Not a thought is ever allowed to weaken in the least the sense of the abiding value of His atoning work. No suggestion have we that we need a renewal of the sacrifice. “He is the propitiation.” Then its value remains unaltered before God; to it we can add nothing, and time can make no change in either its character or its efficacy. Man’s teaching would often unsettle in the soul the fixed sense of the perpetual validity of Christ’s work, by telling us we need, as saints, after each sin, to be washed in Christ’s blood; or, by affirming the necessity of a renewal of the sacrifice in some shape or other. God’s word shuts the door against both these errors, and that at a most critical moment of a saint’s history. He is “the propitiation for our sins,” are words indited by the Spirit of God, to fall on the ear of a Christian when really repentant before His Father for something, by which he has brought dishonor, it may be, on the name of Christ.
Do we, then, no more need the blood of Christ? some may ask. We do need it, and that constantly, is the answer provided by God. For “if we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we have fellowship one with another;” yet, besides that, John adds, “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:99If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)). How different are the thoughts of God from those of men, and even of Christians, unless they are subject to the Word. Men teach too often the need of recurrence to the blood, when it is a question of restoration to communion. God at such times recalls to our remembrance who, and what, He is before Him, who has undertaken the office of Advocate on high. Our standing remains unaltered and unalterable, because He, who is our Advocate, is the propitiation for our sins. But when it is a question of our being before God, walking in the light, as God is in it, a wonderful thing to be allowed, and to be able to do, the word reminds us that the blood of Jesus cleanseth us from all sin. At such a time we assuredly are not sinning, yet it is then we as saints need the blood of Christ. Not that we are then to be sprinkled with it, nor that the High Priest again takes it in before God on our behalf, for the language of the Apostle points, not to any fresh dealing with it, but to its characteristic action before God. “It cleanseth.” Shut up to this at such a moment, nothing else will avail us, but nothing more is wanted. It cleanseth. Its virtue abides unimpaired. John had proved it surely, and the Holy Ghost, writing by him, asserts its characteristic efficacy. Where the Christian then might have thought, in his ignorance, that he needed not the blood, the Apostle tells him it is everything to him. Where men would have brought it in, the Apostle, divinely guided, leaves it out. Nothing but the cleansing action of the blood can enable a fallen creature to be at rest in the light before its God, where no stain of sin can remain concealed. Our need of the blood constantly is most fully affirmed, but the everlasting validity of the atoning work is as unhesitatingly declared.
Another question may be asked. If the Lord is our Advocate, do we need to ask Him to act for us? We never read that we are to go to the Advocate at all. “We have an Advocate,” John writes. He is that always, and when it is needed He exercises His advocacy before God. Peter was prayed for by the Lord before he had sinned, and certainly before he felt his need of the Lord’s intervention. So the Lord acts as our Advocate without our asking Him, and we reap the fruit of His service, when brought to feel the need of confessing what we have done wrong. Confession is our part, advocacy is Christ’s. Unless we had Him for an Advocate with the Father, restoration to communion would never be effected. Unless we confess when we have sinned, it can never be enjoyed.
Gracious and merciful He is—He thinks of us—He knows all about us. And, as we learn from Peter’s history, He knows all that is before us. Communion with the Father and with His Son is a wonderful favor, and restoration to it, as often as it has been interrupted by our sinful ways, should surely be prized very highly, when we learn the need of an Advocate for that purpose, and know who He is, “Jesus Christ the righteous, the propitiation for our sins.”