1 John 2:1-6

1 John 2:1-6 English Standard Version (ESV)
Christ Our Advocate
1 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. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.​

John writes this epistle as a father-figure to one or more of the churches that he was an overseer for.  You will often see him refer to the people that were in his care as "little children."  This is not to imply that they were young in age, but probably is more of an indication of how much he loved them.

You will see that the tone of this letter is far different than the epistle of 2nd Peter that we just went through.  John is concerned with keeping the people of God from sin and reminding them that Jesus is our advocate, our righteousness, and the "propitiation" for our sins.  Since "propitiation" is one of those big words not used very much outside of the Church, let me define it for you.  "Propitiation" mean "appeasement" or "satisfaction," as in Jesus' death on the cross "satisfied" the debt that we owed to God by paying it in full and the righteousness of Christ satisfies God's holiness in order to let us into heaven (since no sin or sinner can enter His presence and live).  God now sees the righteousness of His Son and is satisfied.  It is a much bigger word than that, but for now that will do.  Just understand everything that makes us "acceptable" to God is found in Christ and all that is wrapped up in the word "propitiation."

Again, we see that Jesus, then Peter, and now John have said that true disciples of Christ are marked by their obedience to the commandments of God, and that anyone who claims to love God but is a lawbreaker by identity and nature is a liar the truth (meaning the presence of God) is not in him.  When John says that the love of God is "perfected" in those that obey the Law this is the idea of being "made complete."

We may go back sometime and look at the gospel of John where this idea of "abiding" is covered more fully in the teaching of the vine and the branches, but for now understand that the idea here is that a branch must stay connected to the vine and let the sap from the vine flow through it to produce fruit.  The branch is just a conduit, but the sap (the Spirit that lives in and through us) does all the work and produces the fruit.  If we are living by the Spirit-filled life of a Christian, then we should be walking the same kind of life as Jesus as He left the Spirit fill Him and guide Him during His time here on earth.  Everyone should be able to look at our lives and see the life of Christ within us.