TRV
Study This Verse
Public-domain commentary
Matthew Henry
From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry comments on passages, not single verses — this entry covers 1 John 2:1–2. His two-level outline is real structure in the source text, so it is rendered as structure.
These verses relate to the concluding subject of the foregoing chapter, in which the apostle proceeds upon the supposition of the real Christian's sin. And here he gives them both dissuasion and support.
1.Dissuasion. He would leave no room for sin: "My little children, these things write I unto you, that you sin not, Jo1 2:1. The design or purport of this letter, the design of what I have just said concerning communion with God and the overthrow of it by an irreligious course, is to dissuade and drive you from sin." See the familiar affectionate compellation with which he introduces his admonition: My little children, children as having perhaps been begotten by his gospel, little children as being much beneath him in age and experience, my little children, as being dear to him in the bonds of the gospel. Certainly the gospel most prevailed where and when such ministerial love most abounded. Or perhaps the judicious reader will find reason to think that the apostle's meaning in this dissuasion or caution is this, or amounts to this reading: These things write I unto you, not that you sin. And so the words will look back to what he had said before concerning the assured pardon of sin: God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, etc., Jo1 1:9. And so the words are a preclusion of all abuse of such favour and indulgence. "Though sins will be forgiven to penitent confessors, yet this I write, not to encourage you in sin, but upon another account." Or this clause will look forward to what the apostle is going to say about the Advocate for sinners: and so it is a prolepsis, a prevention of like mistake or abuse: "These things write I unto you, not that you sin, but that you may see your remedy for sin." And so the following particle (as the learned know) may be rendered adversatively: But, if a man sin, he may know his help and cure. And so we see,
II.The believer's support and relief in case of sin:
And (or but) if any man sin (any of us, or of our foresaid communion), We have we an Advocate with the Father, etc., Jo1 2:1. Believers themselves, those that are advanced to a happy gospel-state, have yet their sins. There is a great distinction therefore between the sinners that are in the world. There are Christianized (such as are instated in the sacred saving privileges of Christ's mystical or spiritual body) and unchristianized, converted and unconverted sinners. There are some who, though they really sin, yet, in comparison with others, are said not to sin, as Jo1 3:9. Believers, as they have an atonement applied unto them at their entrance into a state of pardon and justification, so they have an Advocate in heaven still to continue to them that state, and procure their continued forgiveness. And this must be the support, satisfaction, and refuge of believers (or real Christians) in or upon their sins: We have an Advocate. The original name is sometimes given to the Holy Ghost, and then it is rendered, the Comforter. He acts within us; he puts pleas and arguments into our hearts and mouths; and so is our advocate, by teaching us to intercede for ourselves. But here is an advocate without us, in heaven and with the Father. The proper office and business of an advocate is with the judge; with him he pleads the client's cause. The Judge with whom our advocate pleads is the Father, his Father and ours. He who was our Judge in the legal court (the court of the violated law) is our Father in the gospel court, the court of heaven and of grace. His throne or tribunal is the mercy-seat. And he that is our Father is also our Judge, the supreme arbitrator of our state and circumstances, either for life or death, for time or eternity. You have come - to God, the Judge of all, Heb 12:23. That believers may be encouraged to hope that their cause will go well, as their Judge is represented to them in the relation of a Father, so their advocate is recommended to them upon these considerations: - 1. By his person and personal names. It is Jesus Christ the Son of the Father, one anointed by the Father for the whole office of mediation, the whole work of salvation, and consequently for that of the intercessor or advocate. 2. By his qualification for the office. It is Jesus Christ the righteous, the righteous one in the court and sight of the Judge. This is not so necessary in another advocate. Another advocate (or an advocate in another court) may be an unjust person himself, and yet may have a just cause (and the cause of a just person in that case) to plead, and may accordingly carry his cause. But here the clients are guilty; their innocence and legal righteousness cannot be pleaded; their sin must be confessed or supposed. It is the advocate's own righteousness that he must plead for the criminals. He has been righteous to the death, righteous for them; he has brought in everlasting righteousness. This the Judge will not deny. Upon this score he pleads, that the clients' sins may not be imputed to them. 3. By the plea he has to make, the ground and basis of his advocacy: And he is the propitiation for our sins, Jo1 2:2. He is the expiatory victim, the propitiatory sacrifice that has been offered to the Judge for all our offences against his majesty, and law, and government. In vain do the professors of Rome distinguish between and advocate of redemption and an advocate of intercession, or a mediator of such different service. The Mediator of intercession, the Advocate for us, is the Mediator of redemption, the propitiation for our sins. It is his propitiation that he pleads. And we might be apt to suppose that his blood had lost its value and efficacy if no mention had been made of it in heaven since the time it was shed. But now we see it is of esteem there, since it is continually represented in the intercession of the great advocate (the attorney-general) for the church of God. He ever lives to make intercession for those that come to God through him. 4. By the extent of his plea, the latitude of his propitiation. It is not confined to one nation; and not particularly to the ancient Israel of God: He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only (not only for the sins of us Jews, us that are Abraham's seed according to the flesh), but also for those of the whole world (Jo1 2:2); not only for the past, or us present believers, but for the sins of all who shall hereafter believe on him or come to God through him. The extent and intent of the Mediator's death reach to all tribes, nations, and countries. As he is the only, so he is the universal atonement and propitiation for all that are saved and brought home to God, and to his favour and forgiveness.
Historical interpretation
Eight Centuries of Reception
10 surviving comments on this verse. Each one is dated, so this reads as a timeline rather than a list.
Select a marker to jump to its quote. Markers stagger vertically where authors wrote within a few decades of each other.
"And not only for our sins,"-that is for those of the faithful,-is the Lord the propitiator, does he say, "but also for the whole world." He, indeed, saves all; but some [He saves], converting them by punishments; others, however, who follow voluntarily [He saves] with dignity of honour; so "that every knee should bow to Him, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth;" that is, angels, men, and souls that before His advent have departed from this temporal life.
Moreover, we do not prejudge when the Lord is to be the judge; save that if He shall find the repentance of the sinners full and sound, He will then ratify what shall have been here determined by us. If, however, any one should delude us with the pretence of repentance, God, who is not mocked, and who looks into man's heart, will judge of those things which we have imperfectly looked into, and the Lord will amend the sentence of His servants; while yet, dearest brother, we ought to remember that it is written, "A brother that helpeth a brother shall be exalted; " and that the apostle also has said, "Let all of you severally have regard to yourselves, lest ye also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ; " also that, rebuking the haughty, and breaking down their arrogance, he says in his epistle, "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall; " and in another place he says, "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth; yea, he shall stand, for God is able to make him stand." John also proves that Jesus Christ the Lord is our Advocate and Intercessor for our sins, saying, "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 Supporter: and He is the propitiation for our sins." And Paul also, the apostle, in his epistle, has written, "If, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us; much more, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."
He that has said, "We have Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins:" having an eye to those who would divide themselves, and would say, "Lo, here is Christ, lo, there;" and would show Him in a part who bought the whole and possesses the whole, he forthwith goes on to say, "Not our sins only, but also the sins of the whole world." What is this, brethren? Certainly "we have found it in the fields of the woods," we have found the Church in all nations. Behold, Christ "is the propitiation for our sins; not ours only, but also the sins of the whole world." Behold, thou hast the Church throughout the whole world; do not follow false justifiers who in truth are cutters off. Be thou in that mountain which hath filled the whole earth: because "Christ is the propitiation for our sins; not only ours, but also the sins of the whole world," which He hath bought with His blood.
See John himself observing humility. Assuredly he was a righteous and a great man, who from the Lord's bosom drank in the secrets of His mysteries; he, the man who by drinking from the Lord's bosom indited of His Godhead, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God:" he, being such a man as this, saith not, Ye have an advocate with the Father; but, "If any man sin, an advocate," saith he, "have we." He saith not, ye have; nor saith, ye have me; nor saith, ye have Christ Himself: but he puts Christ, not himself, and saith, also, "We have," not, ye have. He chose rather to put himself in the number of sinners that he might have Christ for his advocate, than to put himself in Christ's stead as advocate, and to be found among the proud that shall be condemned.
When John says that Christ died for the sins of the “whole world,” what he means is that he died for the whole church.
Hence also the two cherubim that cover the mercy seat look upon one another with their faces turned toward the mercy seat. For cherubim means "fullness of knowledge." And what is signified by the two cherubim except both Testaments? And what is figured by the mercy seat except the incarnate Lord? Of whom John says: "For he is the propitiation for our sins." And while the Old Testament proclaims that this was to be done which the New Testament declares was done concerning the Lord, it is as if both cherubim look upon one another, while they turn their faces toward the mercy seat, because while they see the incarnate Lord placed between them, they do not disagree in their view, for they narrate the mystery of his dispensation in harmony.
John is saying: “I am writing these things to you, not so that you may say that you no longer sin at all, but so that when you do sin, you will not remain in that state, for Jesus propitiates your sins in the Father’s presence.”
And he himself is the propitiation for our sins. He who intercedes for us with the Father through his humanity, also propitiates for us with the Father through his divinity.
Not only for our own sins, etc. The Lord is not a propitiation only for those for whom John wrote while they were then living in the flesh, but also for the whole Church spread throughout the breadth of the world, from the first chosen to the last who will be born at the end of the world. By these words, he reproves the schism of the Donatists, who claimed that the Church of Christ was confined only to the borders of Africa. Therefore, the Lord intercedes for the sins of the whole world, because the Church, which He bought with His own blood, is spread throughout the entire world. That the whole world is in the power of the evil one does not contradict this statement, for there are those throughout the whole world who serve the evil one, that is, the ancient enemy.
My little children, I write these things 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 is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.
Knowing our instability and inclination to sin, and that we always have a tendency towards worse things, and that there is a envious demon lurking against our salvation, it is necessary for those who have already become familiar with God to live cautiously to avoid sinning: John adds that even if we fall after remission, we should not despair of ourselves. For if we turn back, we will attain salvation through the Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. For He, interceding for us with the Father, will appease Him not for ours only, but also for the whole world. He said this either because He was writing to the Jews, so that the repentance would not be concluded only for them, but would also extend to the Gentiles; or because the promise was not made only to those who were alive at that time, but also to all who would come afterward.
John indeed calls Him an Advocate who prays or pleads with the Father for us. However, these things are said with regard to human nature and a certain privilege: just as that saying, "The Son can do nothing of Himself." (Jn. 5:19) For He says this so that He does not appear to oppose God. For he had shown that the Son also had the power to forgive sins in the case of the paralyzed (Matt. 9:2-6), and by giving His disciples the authority to forgive sins, He demonstrated that He conferred this power by His own authority. (Jn. 20:23)
But as we said, either the Apostle is saying this as a certain privilege, or he is showing the same nature of the Son with the Father and the same power, and that whatever one of the three holy persons would do, it would be common to the others.
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Summary
First John 2:2 profoundly declares Jesus Christ as the singular "propitiation" for humanity's sins, signifying His atoning sacrifice that satisfies divine justice and reconciles God with humanity. This pivotal verse not only affirms the efficacy of Christ's work for believers but also powerfully extends its provision to encompass "the sins of the whole world," underscoring the boundless scope of God's redemptive love and the universal availability of salvation through Christ.
Context
Literary Context
This verse immediately follows 1 John 2:1, where John introduces Jesus as our "Advocate with the Father." The transition from advocate to propitiation is seamless and logical: Christ can advocate for us precisely because He has already dealt with the sin that separates us from God. The broader context of 1 John 1 emphasizes the reality of sin even for believers, the necessity of walking in the light, and the cleansing power of Christ's blood. John is reassuring his readers that despite their inevitable stumbles, God has provided a complete and sufficient remedy for sin through Christ, ensuring continued fellowship and forgiveness.
Historical & Cultural Context
John's epistle was likely written towards the end of the first century, addressing a community facing emerging false teachings, particularly proto-Gnosticism. These heresies often denied the true humanity of Christ, minimized the reality of sin, or suggested a path to salvation through special knowledge rather than through Christ's atoning work. By emphasizing Christ as the propitiation for sins, John directly counters any notion that human effort or esoteric knowledge could bridge the gap with God. The concept of propitiation (hilasmos) would resonate with both Jewish readers familiar with sacrificial atonement in the Old Testament and Gentile readers acquainted with the idea of appeasing deities, though John redefines it as God's own initiative.
Key Themes
1 John 2:2 is central to several major themes in John's epistle and broader New Testament theology. It highlights the nature of atonement, specifically that Christ's death was a substitutionary sacrifice that satisfied God's righteous demands against sin. It underscores God's justice and love, demonstrating how both attributes are perfectly upheld in the cross: justice demands payment for sin, and love provides that payment. Furthermore, the verse emphasizes the universal scope of Christ's provision for salvation, indicating God's desire for all humanity to be reconciled to Him, echoing themes found in John 3:16 and 1 Timothy 2:4.
Exposition and Analysis
Key Word Analysis
This word, translated as "sins," refers to a missing of the mark, a deviation from God's perfect standard, or a transgression against His law. In the biblical context, it encompasses not just individual acts of wrongdoing but also the inherent state of rebellion against God, a fundamental brokenness in human nature. John consistently emphasizes the reality and seriousness of sin throughout his epistle, making Christ's work as propitiation all the more essential.
Translated as "world," this term signifies an orderly arrangement or decoration, but in the New Testament, it frequently refers to humanity as a whole, or more specifically, humanity alienated from God and hostile to His purposes. In 1 John 2:2, it denotes the entirety of fallen humanity for whom Christ's atoning work was provided, emphasizing the expansive, universal reach of God's redemptive plan.
Verse Breakdown
"And he is the propitiation for our sins"
This clause establishes the core theological truth. The term "propitiation" (Greek: hilasmos) refers to an atoning sacrifice that satisfies divine justice and averts wrath, thereby reconciling God and humanity. It is crucial to understand that this is not humanity appeasing an angry deity, but rather God Himself, in His love, providing the means of reconciliation through Christ's sacrificial death. Jesus, by offering Himself, fully met the righteous demands of God's holy law against sin, making forgiveness and restoration possible for "our sins"—referring specifically to the sins of believers.
"and not for ours only"
This phrase serves as a transition, clarifying that the scope of Christ's propitiatory work is not limited solely to those who have already come to faith. While the benefits of atonement are applied to believers, the provision itself extends beyond this immediate group.
"but also for [the sins of] the whole world"
This powerful declaration expands the scope of Christ's propitiation to all humanity. It emphasizes the universal sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice. God's provision for salvation through Christ is offered to all people, demonstrating His immense love and desire for all to be reconciled to Him. This does not imply universal salvation, but rather that Christ's death is sufficient for all, and its saving efficacy is applied to those who believe.
Literary Devices
The verse employs Juxtaposition to highlight the expansive nature of Christ's atoning work. The contrast between "our sins" (referring to believers) and "the sins of the whole world" emphasizes that while the benefits are received by faith, the provision itself is universally sufficient. This rhetorical move broadens the reader's perspective from an individual or community-centric view of salvation to a global one. The central Theological Terminology of "propitiation" (hilasmos) is a profound theological concept, carrying the weight of Old Testament sacrificial systems and New Testament fulfillment, concisely encapsulating the essence of Christ's reconciling death. Furthermore, the phrase "the whole world" functions as a Synecdoche, where "world" stands in for "all people" or "all humanity," representing the inhabitants rather than merely the physical globe, thereby underscoring the comprehensive reach of God's saving grace.
Theological and Thematic Connections
The concept of propitiation in 1 John 2:2 is a cornerstone of biblical theology, beautifully illustrating the profound intersection of God's perfect justice and His infinite love. Sin, by its very nature, incurs God's righteous wrath and creates an insurmountable barrier between humanity and a holy God. Propitiation means that Christ's sacrifice fully absorbed and satisfied that wrath, turning it away from us. It is not about changing God's disposition, as if He were an angry deity needing to be appeased by human effort, but rather about God Himself, in His sovereign love, providing the means to uphold His own holiness while simultaneously extending mercy and reconciliation to a fallen humanity. This divine initiative underscores the depth of God's grace, making forgiveness and fellowship possible without compromising His righteous character.
Reflection and Application
1 John 2:2 offers profound assurance and a powerful call to mission. For the believer, it is a bedrock truth that anchors our hope and peace: our forgiveness and reconciliation with God are not dependent on our fluctuating performance or merit, but entirely on the finished, perfect work of Jesus Christ. When we stumble, this verse reminds us that we have a propitiation, a complete covering for our sins, which prevents despair and encourages repentance and renewed fellowship. Furthermore, the expansive declaration that Christ is the propitiation "for the sins of the whole world" should ignite within us a passionate, outward-looking vision for evangelism and global missions. It reminds us that God's heart is for all people, and His provision is sufficient for every nation, tribe, and tongue. This truth compels us to participate in His redemptive plan, sharing the good news of this universal propitiation with those who have not yet heard or believed.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does "propitiation" mean, and how does it relate to God's wrath?
The term "propitiation" (Greek: hilasmos) refers to an atoning sacrifice that satisfies divine justice and thereby averts wrath. In the biblical context, particularly with Christ's work, it means that Jesus' death on the cross fully absorbed the righteous judgment and wrath of God against sin. It's crucial to understand that this is not humanity appeasing an angry deity, but rather God Himself, in His boundless love, providing the perfect sacrifice through His Son to deal with sin according to His own holy standards. Christ's propitiation means that God's wrath, which sin justly deserves, has been fully satisfied and turned away from those who believe, allowing for reconciliation and peace with God.
Does "the whole world" in this verse mean that everyone will be saved?
No, the phrase "the whole world" in 1 John 2:2 refers to the sufficiency and provision of Christ's atoning work, not its automatic application to every individual. It means that Christ's sacrifice is universally sufficient to cover the sins of all humanity, and God's desire is for all to be saved, as seen in 1 Timothy 2:4. However, the efficacy or application of this propitiation is conditioned upon individual faith and repentance. Only those who personally receive Christ and believe in Him are reconciled to God and experience the saving benefits of His propitiatory work (John 1:12 and John 3:18). Therefore, while the provision is for the whole world, salvation is for those who believe.
Christ-Centered Fulfillment
1 John 2:2 stands as a profound declaration of Christ's ultimate fulfillment of God's redemptive plan. Jesus Christ is not merely an advocate but the propitiation, the complete and final sacrifice that perfectly satisfies God's righteous demands against sin. This truth finds its roots deep in the Old Testament, where countless sacrifices foreshadowed the coming Lamb of God, whose blood would truly atone for sin (Leviticus 16 and Isaiah 53). Christ's death on the cross, therefore, is the culmination of all these types and shadows, the definitive act by which God's justice was upheld and His wrath against sin was fully absorbed by His beloved Son. As the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Jesus perfectly embodied the sacrificial system, offering Himself once for all (Hebrews 9:26). His propitiatory work demonstrates that God's love (Romans 5:8) and His holiness are not in conflict but are perfectly reconciled in the person and work of Christ. It is through Him alone that humanity, both "ours" (believers) and "the whole world," can find forgiveness, reconciliation, and eternal life, because He who knew no sin became sin for us, that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.