My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor{Greek Parakleton: Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, and Comfortor.} with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
Here John introduces sin under the figure of a crime that has been committed and for which a defender is needed. This "Advocate" is with, or, literally, facing the Father. When the Christian sins, he must face God with his sin in repentance and confession, yet he is not alone; Jesus faces God with the sinning child of God before the bar of justice. What a court scene we have here! The judge is our Father, the lawyer is our Brother, and our only plea is "guilty as charged." It would seem that the court is "stacked" in our favor, and it is. Our attorney advises that we plead guilty and throw ourselves on the mercy of the court. Verse 2 shows that our court-appointed attorney has already paid the fine as our "propitiation." On that basis God can be just in forgiving the sin. This passage proves that Jesus is not One Who did something for us in the past and then left us to our own resources; rather, He is constantly active on our behalf as our Advocate. Woods says,