Our Advocate

The U.S. Constitution provides for American citizens to receive the services of an attorney to see that they have not been falsely accused and that their freedom and property are not taken away at the whim of rich or powerful people.  In the modern American legal system, most people think the defense attorney’s job is to try to get the defendant off for his crimes.  Trials have become a debating contest between the prosecutor and the defense attorney, rather than an effort to learn the truth, with both sides seeking to get probative information excluded that counters their position.  If convicted, defendants often file appeals claiming the lawyer didn’t do his job properly. 

Because of the way the legal system is perceived, many people are not concerned with what is right, but only with what their lawyer can get them off for.  Many, corporations, criminal organizations, and unscrupulous individuals retain lawyers to advise them as to what they can get by with.  It is their lawyer’s job to get them out of jail.  Unfortunately many so-called “Christians” view Christ the same way.  Paul dealt with this attitude in Romans 6:1, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?”   Like the criminal with a lawyer on retainer, they don’t worry about sin because after all, that’s what they get paid for. 

I John 2:1-2 paints a different picture of what Christ does for us as our advocate.  “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: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”   As Christians, we ought to be concerned about doing what is right, rather than what we can get by with.  An ethical lawyer would not knowingly try to help a client get by with their crimes, and Jesus does not try to help us get by with sin.  Instead, he makes sure the penalties for sin have been paid.  He is our propitiation, our payment in full.  When we unintentionally sin, he can step forward and say the penalty has already been paid. 

When we deliberately sin, Hebrews 10:26-27 warns. “…if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.”  He is not going to bat for people who have deliberately and intentionally done what they know to be wrong.  We must not believe that just because we are Christians we can do whatever we want and Christ is obligated to get us off. 

I John 2:3-6 declares, “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.  He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.  He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”  If a person really knows Christ as his savior, he will understand that deliberate sin will not be excused.  He will make an effort to fulfill God’s commands.  People who assume Christ will simply allow them to do whatever they want are like people who consulted a lawyer but didn’t sign a contract.  They can talk about how they went to him all they want, he is not legally their lawyer.  If they truly loved him and wanted his representation, they would try to meet his requirements. 

The fact that they have learned about what Christ wants and rejected it leaves them in a serious position.  II Peter 2:21-22 warns, “…it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.”  Their nature has not changed, they just got cleaned up on the outside.  If they were truly Christians, their nature would have changed, according to II Corinthians 5:17.  “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”  They would no longer be dogs turning back to their vomit or pigs going back to the mud hole.  The fact that they deliberately do so indicates they are not truly saved. 

This does not mean that a person will never do something wrong, but that he does not intentionally do them.  God permitting, we will look more closely at what the scriptures say about that., understanding that if we do sin, Christ will be there as our advocate.