John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
John 10:9 “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
Ephesians 2:18 “For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”
Hebrew 10:19-20 “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.”
1st Peter 3:18 “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”
Romans 1:4 “And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.”
Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
John 11:25-26 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
Let’s begin with this:
1st John 2:2 “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father.”
There’s some interesting things about this line from John.
Where he writes that we have an advocate with the Father the word for advocate is Greek is “paraklete.”
Why is this interesting? For starters the term is used by Jesus Himself four times in scripture – and this is the only time the word is used – all in the Gospel of John.
And how does Jesus use the term?
In John 14:26 He says:
“But the Comforter (parakletos), which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
This is one instance (of four) where (because comforter is masculine) the Holy Spirit is assigned the masculine gender “He” instead of its typical neuter gender, “it.”
But also note that Jesus says:
“But the parakletos, which is the Holy Ghost . . .”
Who did Jesus say this too? The apostles, right? Of whom John was one. He was there and heard Jesus say this. But now here in His epistle John calls whom the paraklete?
“And if any man sin, we have an advocate (paraklete) with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He (Christ Jesus) is the propitiation for our sins . . .”
In John, Jesus calls the paraclete the Holy Spirit and here John calls the paraclete Jesus.
What gives? Prior to his passion and ascension and overcoming sin and death, Jesus was operating by God’s spirit in Him. Once He overcame His flesh by hearkening to the Spirit of God in Him, the Spirit of Jesus – which we “might, might, might” consider as the spirit of God that has been filtered in and through Him and His flesh – abides and works in and through us, allowing Christ to, as Paul says in Galatians 2:20
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Of course Paul also said in Ephesians 3 beginning at verse 14 (listen carefully to these words):
14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man
(got that – now listen);
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
It seems that John has assigned the term, paraklete (which Jesus called the Holy Spirit) to Christ – or the Spirit of Christ. In one heck of a passage, Paul says in Romans 8:9-10
“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”
Philippians 1:19 speaks of “the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,”
And Peter writes in 1st Peter 1:11 “Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify . . .”
In 2nd Corinthians 3:17 Paul clearly assigns the Spirit to Jesus when he says:
“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
All of these things cause me to see the Spirit or Holy Spirit much more in terms of the motivating force from God, which once it passed through the perfect mortal flesh of Jesus is now relatable to man and to wonder (yet again about the third co-eternal person of creedal Trinitarianism.
One more thing. There is a tendency to teach and reiterate that Jesus is presently up in heaven advocating on believer’s behalf before the Father. We make some really nice stories up that appeals to this belief – you know:
Satan the accuser approaches God and points a gnarled finger at us and screams that we are guilty, guilty guilty – but Jesus, our advocate, stands up and says:
“Father, that one is mine.”
It is certainly dramatic and does pull at the heart strings but there are a number of problems with it if you allow yourself to think a minute.
First of all, God is all knowing, and so the drama is off base. It’s not like there is an ongoing drama in the heavens. Jesus finished the drama and those who are His are His – and God knows those sheep.
Second, Jesus said BEFORE He even went to the cross (in John 12:31)
“Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.”
The word translated “now” used twice in this verse, refers to “the Primary particle of present time” – then (when Jesus said it) and then from henceforth.
If Jesus could say that the Prince of this world would NOW be cast out then all the accusatory actions on His part are over.
He might still be able to tempt but He has been rendered powerless as Jesus has once and for all time have the victory.
Finally, John’s assigning the term paraklete or advocate does NOT refer to a defense attorney standing before God and wrangling with Him over whether we are His or not but the term, translated advocate is better understood as our having a friend, a comforter who has access to the Father, who by the Spirit, abides with us, showing that we have not lost ground but are His – and this comforter confirms this to us.
Okay, after saying:
1 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 – don’t you just love that title, by the way – Jesus Christ the righteous?
John adds:
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
The word rendered propitiation in the King James comes from the Greek “hil-as-mos” and it does not occurs anywhere else in the New Testament except in 1st John 4:10 (which says)
1st John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Paul appeals to a derivation of the word, saying in Romans 3:24-25
Romans 3:24-25 “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation (hilasterion) through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God”
We also discover the writer of Hebrews appealing to a derivation term in Hebrews 9:5 where it is rendered “mercy-seat” and then Luke appeals to another derivation (the verb hilaskomai) in Luke 18:13 where Jesus has a publican humbly pray:
“God be merciful to me, a sinner.”
All of these usages appeal to the concept of reconciliation, appeasement, turning away of anger, rendering propitious (or what means to “make favorable.”) The idea is that there is anger or wrath or an offense has occurs and something has been done to turn away that wrath or to appease or to make right. This might be why Christians being peacemakers is such a blessed thing since this is at the heart of what Jesus, the Prince of Peace, did. We know in the world propitiation can be accomplished through all sorts of ways and means. People can be calmed by a soft answer, by an apology, even mere acknowledgement of a wrong, by monetary remuneration, restitution of another sort, or sacrifices of time or giving of gifts.
Sometimes people are appeased by the fact that a person changes (or repents) and alters their behavior. But when it comes to God sacrifices (in the Old Covenant) appeased Him (for a time) but did not (could not suffice) in making true propitiation because being holy the propitiation had to be holy. Being eternal the propitiation had to also be eternal, and being that mortals were the offending party the propitiation had to be mortal too!
All found in the Lord Jesus Christ and His offering . . . on our behalf.
