"If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."
1 John 2:1
"If
any man sin, we have an advocate." Yes, though we sin, we have him
still. John does not say, "If any man sin he has forfeited his
advocate," but "we have an advocate," sinners though we are. All the sin
that a believer ever did, or can be allowed to commit, cannot destroy
his interest in the Lord Jesus Christ, as his advocate. The name here
given to our Lord is suggestive. "Jesus." Ah! then he is an advocate
such as we need, for Jesus is the name of one whose business and delight
it is to save. "They shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins." His sweetest name implies his success. Next, it
is "Jesus Christ"--Christos, the anointed. This shows his authority to
plead. The Christ has a right to plead, for he is the Father's own
appointed advocate and elected priest. If he were of our choosing he
might fail, but if God hath laid help upon one that is mighty, we may
safely lay our trouble where God has laid his help. He is Christ, and
therefore authorized; he is Christ, and therefore qualified, for the
anointing has fully fitted him for his work. He can plead so as to move
the heart of God and prevail. What words of tenderness, what sentences
of persuasion will the anointed use when he stands up to plead for me!
One more letter of his name remains, "Jesus Christ the righteous." This
is not only his character but his plea. It is his character, and if the
Righteous One be my advocate, then my cause is good, or he would not
have espoused it. It is his plea, for he meets the charge of
unrighteousness against me by the plea that he is righteous. He declares
himself my substitute and puts his obedience to my account. My soul,
thou hast a friend well fitted to be thine advocate, he cannot but
succeed; leave thyself entirely in his hands.
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