Advocate

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.

 1 John 2:1

The modern use of the word “advocate” communicates the idea of a supporter or enthusiast, such as we use when we say, “he’s a green energy advocate.”  That’s a long stretch from what the Greek word meant. The original word here is paraklesis which means “a calling to one’s side” (para “beside”; kaleo “to call”).  A paraclete would be someone who you could call on in difficult times.

Although this word is translated as advocate in English it is translated as “abogado” (i.e. lawyer) in Spanish. This translation is a better description of the original word since a paraclete was allowed to stand with the accused at trial and defend him before the court.

When people stand before God on the day of judgment they are not accused of lying so many times or stealing so much money. They are brought as enemies of God and are accused of rebellion and complicity in the murder of the Son of God.  The whole human race is guilty of crucifying an innocent man – God Himself.  Our human nature does evil instead of good and believes a lie instead of the truth.

The creation rejected, tortured, and put to death its Creator. Our sins only prove that we would have done the same thing given the opportunity. We are guilty because it is in our nature and the evidence is stacked against us.

The only thing that you can say to a criminal who is clearly culpable is “I hope you have a good lawyer.”  The good news of the gospel is that believers do have a good one; He is Jesus Christ the righteous.  He’s not only the Advocate, He is the judge and the victim.  If the Lord Jesus died for someone, s/he is going to walk.