1 John 2 begins with a Father’s aim and a Saviour’s provision: “these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” From there John gives the tests of a real faith: keeping His commandments, walking as Christ walked, loving the brethren, and refusing to love the world, which “passeth away.” He warns of “many antichrists” who deny the Father and the Son, and he urges his little children to abide in Christ, “that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.”
A study in 1 John 2 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 19 min read
An Advocate With The Father
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
1 John 2:1-2
“My little children.” The old apostle writes with a father’s tenderness, and his first aim is clear: “that ye sin not.” Chapter 1 said we must never claim to be without sin. But that does not mean sin is expected or excused. The goal of the Christian life is victory over sin.
And yet John knows his children will sometimes fall. So he adds at once: “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” An advocate is one called to stand beside someone, a counsel for the defence. Jesus used the same word for the Holy Spirit, “another Comforter” (John 14:16). The Spirit pleads with us on earth. Christ pleads for us in heaven, in the sanctuary above, where He ministers as our High Priest (Hebrews 7:25; 8:1-2).
Notice what qualifies Him: He is “Jesus Christ the righteous.” A sinful advocate could not plead for sinners. And He does not plead that our sins are small, or that we meant well. He pleads His own sacrifice. “He is the propitiation for our sins,” the offering that fully meets the claims of God’s law and turns away its penalty. And its reach has no limit: “not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
“Jesus does not excuse their sins, but shows their penitence and faith, and, claiming for them forgiveness, He lifts His wounded hands before the Father and the holy angels, saying: I know them by name. I have graven them on the palms of My hands.”
Ellen G. White · The Great Controversy, p. 484
That is the scene in the judgment, when the accuser points to the record of our failures. The believer does not stand alone. And the same Advocate pleads for us today.
“In the courts above, Christ is pleading for His church—pleading for those for whom He has paid the redemption price of His blood. Centuries, ages, can never lessen the efficacy of His atoning sacrifice.”
Ellen G. White · The Acts of the Apostles, p. 552
If We Keep His Commandments
“And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”
1 John 2:3-6
How can someone know that he really knows God? John’s answer is simple: “if we keep his commandments.” Knowing God, in the Bible, is not just having information about Him. It is a relationship, and a relationship shows itself in how we live. So “he that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar.”
Some in John’s day taught that the love of Christ released them from obedience to God’s law. John says the opposite. Where God’s love is truly at work, it produces obedience: “whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected.” Obedience does not earn God’s love. It is what His love looks like when it has taken hold of a life.
“John did not teach that salvation was to be earned by obedience; but that obedience was the fruit of faith and love.”
Ellen G. White · The Acts of the Apostles, p. 563
And the pattern is Christ Himself. “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” Jesus kept His Father’s commandments (John 15:10), including the Sabbath, which He kept faithfully all His life (Luke 4:16). To walk as He walked is to love as He loved and obey as He obeyed.
The True Light Now Shineth
“Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.”
1 John 2:7-14
Which commandment does John mean? The command to love. It is “old,” because God’s law has always required it: “thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18). And it is “new,” because Jesus gave it a new measure: “love one another; as I have loved you” (John 13:34). The old law of love was seen fully for the first time in Christ.
“The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.” In chapter 1, walking in the light meant honesty with God about sin. Here it means love for our brothers and sisters. A person who “saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.” Hatred blinds. The one who hates “knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.”
“It is not the opposition of the world that most endangers the church of Christ. It is the evil cherished in the hearts of believers that works their most grievous disaster and most surely retards the progress of God’s cause. There is no surer way of weakening spirituality than by cherishing envy, suspicion, faultfinding, and evil surmising.”
Ellen G. White · The Acts of the Apostles, p. 549
Then John pauses to encourage every age group in the church. To the “little children,” all believers, he says their sins are forgiven. To the “fathers,” the mature, he says they have known the eternal Christ. To the “young men,” those in the thick of the battle, he says they have “overcome the wicked one,” because “the word of God abideth in you.” The strength to overcome comes from the word of God living in the heart, as it did for Jesus in the wilderness.
Love Not The World
“Love 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. For 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. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
1 John 2:15-17
John who wrote “God so loved the world” (John 3:16) now writes “Love not the world.” There is no contradiction. God loves the people of the world and gave His Son to save them. What John forbids is love for the world as a system, the way of life organised without God and against Him.
He names its three great pulls. “The lust of the flesh”: appetite, the craving for physical gratification. “The lust of the eyes”: the desire to have what we see. “The pride of life”: boasting in position, possessions and achievements. These were the very pulls of the first temptation, when Eve saw that the tree was “good for food” (appetite), “pleasant to the eyes,” and “to be desired to make one wise” (pride) (Genesis 3:6). They were the pulls Jesus met and conquered in the wilderness.
“Cares, riches, pleasures, all are used by Satan in playing the game of life for the human soul.”
Ellen G. White · Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 55
And the decisive reason not to love the world: “the world passeth away, and the lust thereof.” Every empire, every fortune and every pleasure of this world will end in ruins. “But he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” Only one kind of life lasts.
Even Now Are There Many Antichrists
“Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.”
1 John 2:18-23
John is the only Bible writer who uses the word “antichrist.” He tells his readers they have heard “that antichrist shall come,” the great end-time power the prophets describe (Daniel 7; 2 Thessalonians 2). But “even now are there many antichrists.” The spirit of antichrist was already at work in the church, in teachers who had left it and taken others with them.
What makes someone an antichrist? John defines it: the one “that denieth that Jesus is the Christ,” the one “that denieth the Father and the Son.” It is an attack on who Jesus is. And the word itself can mean both “against Christ” and “in place of Christ.” Antichrist can oppose Christ openly, or it can put something else in His place while still using His name.
“Some held that Christ was a good man, but denied His divinity. Some who pretended to be true to the cause of God were deceivers, and in practice they denied Christ and His gospel. Living themselves in transgression, they were bringing heresies into the church.”
Ellen G. White · The Acts of the Apostles, p. 553
“Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father.” There is no way to God that goes around His Son. And against every deception, the believers have a protection: “ye have an unction from the Holy One.” The Holy Spirit, given to every believer, leads into truth (John 16:13).
“Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.”
1 John 2:24-29
“Ye need not that any man teach you.” John is not saying Christians should ignore teachers. He himself is teaching them in this very letter. He means that they do not need the new “insights” of the false teachers. What they “heard from the beginning,” the apostolic gospel, confirmed in their hearts by the Spirit, is enough. Anything that contradicts it is not new light. It is a lie.
The key word of this section is “abide.” Abide in what you heard, and you will abide in the Son and the Father. And the chapter ends by looking forward: “abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.” The Advocate who pleads for us now is the King who is coming. Those who abide in Him will be able to meet Him without shame.
