In 2:1 John says, “If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.” John did not have the confidence that the believers would always be able to keep themselves from sinning. He knew that even though we may be alert concerning the sin that dwells in our flesh, we may still sin. Therefore, he tells us that if we sin, we have an Advocate with the Father.
The Greek word rendered Advocate is parakletos, and it denotes one who is called to another’s side to aid him, hence, a helper; one who offers legal aid or one who intercedes on behalf of someone else, hence, an advocate, counsel, or intercessor. The word denotes consoling and consolation, hence, a consoler, a comforter. Paraclete is its anglicized form. This word is used in the Gospel of John (14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7) for the Spirit of reality as our Comforter within us, caring for our cause or affairs. It is used here for the Lord Jesus as our Advocate with the Father, the One who cares for our case, intercedes on our behalf (Rom. 8:34), and pleads for us if we sin. This interceding and pleading is based upon His propitiation.
In chapter one John speaks concerning the redeeming blood of Christ that constantly cleanses us as we walk in the light. But in this verse John goes further to show us a Person, who is our Advocate with the Father. Hence, in the divine provision we have the blood of Christ and also the Person of Christ as our Advocate.
As we have seen, “Advocate” is a translation of the Greek word parakletos. This word is formed of two words: the preposition para (used here as a prefix) and the word kletos. Put together, these words denote someone called to our side. The Greek word parakletos is used in the New Testament only by John. In his Gospel John says, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever” (14:16). This indicates that while the Lord was with the disciples, one parakletos, one Comforter, was there with them. But this parakletos was about to leave. Thus, there was the need for another parakletos, another Comforter, to come. Actually, the first parakletos and the other parakletos are one. The One who is called “another Comforter” is now in us as the life-giving Spirit, and the One who was the first Comforter, the Lord Jesus Christ, is now in the heavens at the right hand of God.
We may use electricity as an illustration of these two Comforters. On the one hand, electricity is in the power plant. On the other hand, electricity has been installed into our homes. We may say, therefore, that with electricity there are two ends: one end in the power plant and the other end in our homes. As the electricity flows from the power plant, where it is stored, to our homes, where it is applied, these two ends are connected. We may compare the electricity in the power plant to the Comforter, the Lord Jesus, in the heavens, and the electricity in our homes to the other Comforter, the life-giving Spirit in our spirit. In the heavens we have the Lord Jesus Christ as our Comforter, and in our spirit we have the Spirit as another Comforter. However, these two are one. For this reason, the Greek word parakletos is used for both the Comforter in the heavens and the Comforter in our spirit.
In the Recovery Version we translate parakletos as Comforter in John 14:16 and as Advocate in 1 John 2:1. In John 14:26 and 15:26 this Greek word is also translated Comforter. Comforter is an appropriate translation of parakletos in John 14:16, for in this verse there is a certain feeling that this Paraclete comes to comfort the disciples in their sorrow caused by the Lord’s leaving them. The Lord had told His disciples that He was leaving, and they were troubled by this. Therefore, in this chapter the Lord indicated to the disciples that they did not need to be sorrowful, for He would ask the Father to send them another Paraclete, another Comforter. Because the troubled disciples were in need of comfort, it is correct to render parakletos in John 14:26 as Comforter. This Greek word does imply the thought of comfort; it refers to one who helps us, serves us, stands by us, and goes along with us. Such a one surely is a comforter.