1 John 2:1-2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
The goal before is us to avoid sin. We cannot water that goal down at all. We cannot explain away sin. We cannot form an excuse for it. We must acknowledge so that we can avoid it. In warfare, there is a saying that one should know the enemy. We must know the enemy when it comes to spiritual matters. John gives the goal here as a possibility and requirement.
John also recognizes that sin is a reality and experience for all people, like Paul in Romans 3:23. And like Paul, John also finds the answer in Jesus. He is righteous, without sin, one who identified with us in humanness but overcame our biggest problem of sin. John may have the same thought as the writer to Hebrews 4:15: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” This qualifies Jesus to do two things: 1) to be our advocate before the Father because of his victory over sin, and 2) to be the means of atonement before the Father because of this righteousness as the perfect sacrifice.
John’s thinking expands at the end of verse two. His experience of forgiveness and cleansing sends him out in mission to the world. A changed heart propels us out into the world with the message of forgiveness and cleansing that we have received. There is a link here between holiness as experienced through confession and mission. Mission is the result of holiness.
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