Jesus Christ the Righteous Advocate and Propitiation

John’s goal is that his “little children” not sin, but he immediately addresses what happens when a believer does sin: “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” The Greek word behind “advocate” is the same family of word used in John’s Gospel for the promised Comforter/Helper. Here it is applied to Jesus in his representative role before the Father. John then calls Christ the “propitiation” for sins, returning to the sacrificial and atonement Thread that runs from Israel’s offerings and Day of Atonement into the New Testament’s explanation of Jesus’ death. The statement “not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” widens the horizon beyond the immediate community and guards against treating Christ as the possession of one small circle.