1 John, verse-by-verse

Session 3 | 1 John 2:1-4

1 John 2:1-2 | A Plea to Come to Jesus as Messiah

• Verse 1 --

  • We have previously established that the recipients of the letter were not in fellowship with the author (1 Jn. 1:3), therefore the phrase my little children“my children in the faith."

  • There are times when the term is used literally (Mt. 10:14), but most of the time the phrase is used of adults.

    • “term of endearment," the phrase is not necessarily used of those “within the faith" and certainly not to those who are in good fellowship.

    • It is used in John 13:33 to those who are Jesus' disciples, encouraging them to excel in love.

    • Paul uses it in Galatians 4:19 while speaking harshly to the Galatians.

    • This epistle uses the phrase nine times (two with a different Greek word).

    • In the Old Testament, the term is used in 2 Kings 6:23 in a sarcastic manner, demeaning those who are likely young men (see sermon #27 in the *30 Amazing Bible Stories You May Not Know* series).

      
      

  • The phrase these things write I unto you are, in my interpretation, things which are about to be written in the following verses.

    • The author concludes this section in 1 John 2:26, saying These things have I written.

    • With this interpretation, 1 John 2:1-26 will be giving information to Israel on what it means to sin not.

    • The content of chapter 2, therefore, has to be tailored for Israel and not for the Body of Christ.

      
      

  • The content begins with the good news that if any man sin, we have an advocate...Jesus Christ the righteous.

  • The Jewish law required an advocate between man and God, but only Jesus the righteous is able to be that advocate.

    
    

• Verse 2 --

  • The advocate (v. 1) for Israel is the propitiation for our sins.

  • The word propitiation is translated from the Greek ἱλασμός [hilasmos].

    • The Greek is only used here and 1 John 4:10.

    • The English word is also used in Romans 3:25, where God has put forth Jesus as a propitiation through faith in his blood. In Romans the word is ἱλαστήριον [hilasterion], or the place of propitiation and is translated in Hebrews 9:5 as mercy seat.

    • The Greek has a very Jewish flavor, and the usage of the Greek in Jewish documents also carries a very Jewish flavor, centering on Temple sacrifice, and especially the Day of Atonement, in which the nation went (vicariously) to the mercy seat for expiation of national sins.

    • In the past I have used propitiation as the New Testament fulfillment of atonement. Deeper study reveals that this assumption may not have been correct. Rather, propitiation is the national cleansing from sin at the Temple while atonement is the individual removal of a particular sin.

      • All of this is still worthy of further study. However, in the use of the term here, it appears to convey the fact that Jesus is the final Day of Atonement sacrifice for the nation.

      • The same thought is conveyed in other Hebrew epistles, such as 1 Peter 2:24.

        
        

  • The epistle broadens the Day of Atonement (which was only for Israel) to the sins of the whole world. While this is a great truth, the content of the chapter is for Israel.

  1 John 2:3-7 | Sin Not: by keeping His Commandments