1 John 2:1–2

Context

The author of 1 John has traditionally been identified as the apostle John, though some scholars regard the author as a leader of the Johannine community. The author addresses the readers as "My little children" and writes in a pastoral tone.

In the immediately preceding verses, 1:8–10, the author warns that claiming to "have no sin" is self-deception and states that those who confess their sins are forgiven. This passage first makes clear that this teaching does not license treating sin lightly ("that ye sin not"). It then presents two roles of Christ as the ground on which believers may rely when they do sin.

• Advocate: This translates the Greek paraklētos, meaning one who stands alongside to plead another's case. It is the same word rendered "Comforter" in John 14:16, where it refers to the Holy Spirit.
• Propitiation: This translates the Greek hilasmos, referring to an offering that deals with sin and restores the relationship with God.

Interpretation

Across denominations, this passage is commonly read as teaching that the atonement of Jesus Christ is the basis for believers' ongoing forgiveness and repentance. Traditions differ, however, in which part of the passage they emphasize.

• Reformed reading (Presbyterian and others): This reading assumes that believers continue to sin during their earthly lives (1:8) and emphasizes Christ's work of advocacy in heaven as a ground for the assurance of salvation.
• Wesleyan-Holiness reading (Methodist, Holiness, and others): This reading gives special weight to the opening words, "that ye sin not," as the goal of sanctification. It treats the passage as one of the texts in 1 John that support the doctrine of Christian perfection, that is, holiness. The latter part of the passage is understood as a gracious provision for times of failure.

Debates and Issues

• Extent of the atonement: The phrase "but also for the sins of the whole world" is frequently cited in debates over for whom the atonement was made.
• Arminianism and Wesleyan theology regard the passage as support for universal atonement, the view that Christ died for all people.
• The doctrine of limited atonement in Calvinism (the view that Christ's atonement is effective for the elect) interprets "the whole world" as believers throughout the world, not Jews only. Alternatively, following the Canons of Dort, it affirms that Christ's death is sufficient to atone for the sins of the whole world while maintaining that its efficacy extends to the elect.
• Both sides agree that the passage does not teach universalism, the view that all people are automatically saved.
• Meaning of "propitiation": Scholars also disagree on how to understand hilasmos.
• One view takes it as "propitiation," the appeasing of God's wrath; another takes it as "expiation," the cleansing or removal of sin.
• The British New Testament scholar C. H. Dodd is known as a leading proponent of the latter view, and Leon Morris of the former.
• English Bible translations are likewise divided: the KJV and ESV render it "propitiation," the RSV "expiation," and the NIV "atoning sacrifice."

Related Passages

• 1 John 1:9 — the promise of forgiveness for those who confess their sins
• 1 John 4:10 — the same word, "propitiation"
• Romans 3:25 — God set forth Christ to be a propitiation
• Hebrews 7:25 — Christ ever lives to make intercession
• 1 Timothy 2:5–6 — the one mediator between God and men