How does I John 2:1 work for believers? One commentator talks of consent for the advocate to succeed but sometimes believers don’t get convicted of their sins immediately, for example, David in II Samuel 11 and 12. Does this mean his advocacy will not avail them? If they die, will they go to hell?<\/p>\n\t
I John 2:1 cannot be taken in isolation. It is a continuation of what John talked about in chapter 1. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world<\/em>” (I John 1:8-2:2).<\/p>\n When we sin, and we all do so, God requires that Christians confess their sins in order to be forgiven. The reason He can do so justly is that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. The whole world will not be saved because the whole world will not turn to God. But for the Christian who has turned to God, and confesses his sins, Jesus speaks on our behalf before the Father.<\/p>\n What happens if a Christian does not turn from his sins? Then we face God in Judgment concerning our sins. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad<\/em>” (II Corinthians 5:10). I cannot tell you what the end result of that judgment will be, since it has yet to take place. But knowing that the danger of hell exists, we seek all the more to help people out of sin. “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men<\/em>” (II Corinthians 5:11).<\/p>\n The fact that God is willing to forgive sin does not translate into freedom to sin. Sin is going to happen in a Christian’s life. Our goal is to avoid sins as best we can. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?<\/em>” (Romans 6:1-2).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: How does I John 2:1 work for believers? One commentator talks of consent for the advocate to succeed but sometimes believers don’t get convicted of their sins immediately, for example, David in II Samuel 11 and 12. Does this mean his advocacy will not avail them? If they die, will they go to hell?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[51,47,179],"class_list":["post-28825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-confession","tag-salvation","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":52229,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-you-explain-continual-cleansing\/","url_meta":{"origin":28825,"position":0},"title":"Could you explain “continual cleansing?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Could you explain \"continual cleansing?\" Answer: Continual cleansing is the concept that Christians are Teflon-coated, so sins don't stick them; instead, the blood of Christ continually cleanses them of all sins, even if they don't ask for forgiveness. It is based on a misunderstanding of I John 1. \"This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49560,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-continue-to-ask-for-forgiveness-if-jesus-died-for-all-our-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":28825,"position":1},"title":"Why continue to ask for forgiveness if Jesus died for all our sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A friend and I found a small church to attend, but their pastor prays at the beginning of their service asking for forgiveness of their sins. This made me wonder: Jesus died on the cross for us and he put the past, present, and future sins on that cross\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23313,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-non-believers-ever-invited-to-assemblies\/","url_meta":{"origin":28825,"position":2},"title":"Were non-believers ever invited to assemblies?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 11, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In the last couple of years, I have come to believe that the assembly is for believers. I haven't seen any examples that non-believers were ever invited to the first of the week assembly. Have you any thoughts on the matter? Thanks. Answer: \"In the Law it is written,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39373,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-will-god-judge-the-believer-and-the-non-believer\/","url_meta":{"origin":28825,"position":3},"title":"How will God judge the believer and the non-believer?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I have some more questions about things in the Bible that I thought of. I don't have any verses about these things right now. Is it a bad thing to be scared of living forever, even though I know I am going to Heaven? I think about it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16381,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/once-you-are-saved-can-you-live-a-sin-free-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":28825,"position":4},"title":"Once you are saved, can you live a sin-free life?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you believe that once you're truly saved that you can live a \"sin-free\" life? Answer: John stated, \"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41670,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/our-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":28825,"position":5},"title":"Our Sin","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ethan R. Longhenry \"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28825\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}