We Have an Advocate
Fellowship is a big word in the Christian vocabulary. The underlying Greek word in the New Testament only occurs 19 times, but the concept looms large in our thinking about the spiritual relationship Christians have with one another and with God. Even though we use the word a lot, it seems we do not fully grasp its meaning. Part of the reason for that is that we are quite familiar with interpersonal relationships with other people, including non-Christians. When we hear the term, those images come to mind. When we talk about Christian fellowship, we think of “normal” human interpersonal relationships, but of relationships that reflect a deeper bond than those we have with unbelievers.
We can converse, have coffee, laugh, joke, go to ball games, be related by blood or friendship, and have shared life experiences with non-Christians. When we are connected with other Christians, we can do most of those same things (minus hearing bad language) on a more spiritual level. Is that all there is to Christian fellowship?
Recent studies in 1 John struck me powerfully concerning what the Bible means about our fellowship with God and with one another.
Let’s establish, first of all, that the depth of our relationship with other Christians would not exist apart from our relationship with God. Let’s look at a few passages.
God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Cor 1.9)
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 Jn 1.3)
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: (1 Jn 1.6)
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 Jn 1.7)
There are many parties to Christian fellowship. There is the person called to salvation (the believer), God (in all three persons), the apostles, and “one another” — other believers. We get that, but how can we understand the depth of the relationships?
Another word in 1 John brought on this line of thinking. The word “advocate” in 1 Jn 2.1.
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: (1 Jn 2.1)
We all know how sin mars relationships. When we sin against other people, subsequent interactions are (at best) difficult until full reconciliation and forgiveness happens. The same is true of our relationship with God, as we know. John discusses a lot of the doctrine of sin and forgiveness in 1 Jn 1.5-10. Then comes 1 Jn 2.1 and a new idea comes in that makes our fellowship with God vivid, the word “advocate.” What does it mean?
“Advocate” is the same word John uses several times in his Gospel, referring to the Holy Spirit (translated “Comforter” in the kjv). We’ll come to that later, but let’s note that we often transliterate our word as “paraclete.” We’ll use paraclete going forward.
The root sense of the term is “someone called in to help.” The term developed a special use as “a helper in court.” Occasionally the term could be used outside of court, but one scholar says, “Even when there is no ref. to a representative in court, the idea is still more or less clearly legal.”1 However, although the term has this legal sense, it is not exactly the same as our word, “lawyer.” The people of the first century knew about lawyers. The Latin term was “advocatus,” the Greek’s had two terms other than paraclete to describe a legal representative.
Louw-Nida comments on the “lawyer” idea with this:
“A rendering based upon the concept of legal advocate seems in most instances to be too restrictive. Furthermore, there may be quite unsatisfactory connotations associated with any word which suggests a lawyer, especially since in so many societies, a lawyer is thought of primarily as one who ‘bribes the judges’ or ‘can speak two truths’ or, as in one language, is ‘a professional liar.’”2 (Ouch!)
A better idea is something like having a friend in court who can argue on our behalf even though our friend isn’t directly involved in the case. That is, our friend isn’t accused (as we are), but our friend has standing to be able to argue on our behalf. He comes to our help. He gives us advice. He argues for us.
“The history of the term in the whole sphere of known Greek and Hellenistic usage outside the NT yields the clear picture of a legal adviser or helper or advocate in the relevant court.”3
Well, what courtroom are we in? 1 John 2.1 says we have “an advocate with the Father.” We are in God’s court. It appears that we are accused for cause, that is, for our sins. The accuser isn’t specified, whether the devil, others whom we wronged, or our own conscience. We don’t really need a lawyer, we are guilty and there is no defense. But we do have a paraclete! An advocate! A friend who can argue for us.
Why can our friend argue for us? Because he is Jesus Christ, the Righteous. He is the only one who has standing in this court. He can come and go as he pleases and we are in fellowship with him. By virtue of our faith in Christ, we have a relationship that persists even though we are sinning sinners.
“There is something very wonderful in this verse which we should not overlook. It says, ‘And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father.’ It does not say with God, but rather with the Father. He is still our Father even if we sin.”4
Our advocate is our friend, not our lawyer, we are in fellowship with him (we have something in common), and that allows Jesus to argue on our behalf. What do we have in common? The righteousness of Jesus Christ.
When Jesus was getting ready to die for us, he said something to Peter that bears on this. He knew a terrible test was coming for Peter, but, even before Peter failed the test and sinned, Jesus already advocated for him.
And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. (Lk 22.31-32)
Jesus is our friend in the court of heaven and we are in fellowship with him.
There is a bit more to this, however. On that same occasion, in the upper room, Jesus spoke of “another Comforter [paraclete, advocate].” (Jn 14.16) We have another “friend in court.” The term “another” means “another of the same kind.” In the Lord’s subsequent instruction about the coming Spirit, he said that the Spirit would be our Instructor (14.26) and our “Revelator” of Christ (15.26), just as the Lord served his disciples while on earth.
There is one more function of the Spirit as Advocate – in Jn 16.7-11 we find that the Comforter/Helper/Advocate serves us in court as well, but not in the court of heaven, in the court of the world. If we have fellowship with God, we have a Friend in court with standing to advocate for us as we face the world. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgement. We have a powerful Advocate working on our behalf, just as Jesus did defending his disciples against Pharisaic criticism and attack.
Elsewhere in the NT, the work of the Spirit seems Advocate-like, though the term is not used. Before the Father, the Spirit aids our prayers, “with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Rm 8.26) What a Friend! What a Helper! He also comes to our aid when we stand before human tribunals. (Mk 13.11, et al)
Let’s consider what fellowship with God means in light of these functions of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Jesus, in fellowship with us, comes to our aid especially as we struggle with our sins. He helps us before the Father, working mightily in us to cleanse us from our unrighteousness (1 Jn 1.7). The Spirit, in fellowship with us, comes alongside and teaches us, reveals Christ, defends us before the world, and aids our halting prayers. What a tremendous supernatural fellowship!
Not only that, we are in fellowship with one another. We can uphold one another in prayer, help those who are sick, provide for those who suffer. We can love one another. All this because we are in fellowship with God, and truly our fellowship is with all those who are born of Him.
Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.
- Johannes Behm, “Παράκλητος,” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, vol. 5 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964), 801. [↩]
- Johannes E. Louw and Eugene A. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 141–42. [↩]
- Behm, “Παράκλητος,” 803. [↩]
- William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 2311. [↩]