ACC ~ 1 John 2 v1

SON AND SPIRIT. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: For just as the Lord is an advocate on our behalf before the Father, so also there is an advocate whom he deigned to send after his ascension. ADUMBRATIONS.

GOD’S POWER FLOWS. ORIGEN: How could Jesus have become an advocate and propitiation without the power of God which completely destroys our weakness, a power furnished by Jesus which flows in the souls of believers? COMMENTARY ON JOHN 1.241.

COMFORTER AND INTERCESSOR. ORIGEN: Let us consider whether the title advocate (“paraclete”) means one thing when applied to the Savior and another when applied to the Holy Spirit.In regard to the Savior “paraclete” seems to mean intercessor, for in Greek it bears both meanings, comforter and intercessor, but according to the phrase which follows, in which it is said that he is the propitiation for our sins, it seems that it must mean intercessor, because he intercedes with the Father for our sins. When used of the Holy Spirit, however, the word paraclete ought to be understood as comforter, because he provides comfort for the souls to whom he opens and reveals a consciousness of spiritual knowledge. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 2.7.4.

THE MEANING OF HIS ADVOCACY. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: We have an advocate, Jesus Christ, not indeed someone who prostrates himself before the Father on our behalf—such an idea is slavish and unworthy of the Spirit! It would be unworthy of the Father to require this, as also for the Son to submit to it, nor is it right to think such things of God. But by what he suffered as man, he as the Word and counselor persuades the Father to be patient with us. I think this is the meaning of his advocacy. THEOLOGICAL ORATIONS 30.14.

GLORY IN HIS ADVOCACY. AMBROSE OF MILAN: I will not glory because I have been redeemed. I will not glory because I am free of sins but because sins have been forgiven me. I will not glory because I am profitable or because anyone is profitable to me but because Christ is an advocate on my behalf before the Father, because the blood of Christ has been poured out on my behalf. ON JACOB AND THE HAPPY LIFE 6.21.

YOUR ADVOCATE BECOMES THE JUDGE. AUGUSTINE: If you should have a case to be tried before a judge and should procure an advocate, you would be accepted by the lawyer and he would plead your case to the best of his ability. If, before he has finished his plea, you should hear that he is to be the judge, how you would rejoice, because he could be your judge, who shortly before was your lawyer. SERMONS 213.5.

JUDGE AND ADVOCATE. MAXIMUS OF TURIN: Christ is a judge when he sits and an advocate when he rises. It is clear that he was a judge to Jews but arises as an advocate for Christians. On the one hand, standing before the Father of the Christians, even though they are sinners, he pleads their cause, while on the other he sits with the Father of the Pharisees, who are persecutors, condemning their sins. Angry with the ones, he wreaks harsh vengeance on them, while he gently has mercy on the others, interceding on their behalf. SERMONS 40.3.

ACCUSING ONESELF. GREGORY THE GREAT: There is a problem here. A righteous advocate never takes unrighteous cases, which ours of course are. What can we do, dear brothers? The only way to get around this is to follow what Scripture says: “The righteous man accuses himself first of all.” Therefore a sinner who weeps over his sins and accuses himself is set on the path of righteousness, and Jesus can take up his case. SERMONS ON EZEKIEL 1.7.24.

THAT YOU MAY NOT SIN. ANDREAS: John knows that those who have been enlightened have not been given an impassible nature, but neither have they been let out of prison in order that they might sin. CATENA.

HE TOOK OUR SINS UPON HIMSELF. BEDE: There is no contradiction between what John is saying here and what he has just said in the first chapter, namely, that it is impossible to live without sin. There he warned us with great foresight and concern for our welfare that we must be aware of our human frailty and not think that we are somehow innocent. Here, following on from that, he tells us that if we want to avoid all blame for our sinful state, we must do our utmost to live in such a way that we are not bound by it, but rather put it away from us as firmly and as conscientiously as we can, so that we can overcome at least the greater and more obvious faults that we have. … The Lord intercedes for us not by words but by his dying compassion, because he took upon himself the sins which he was unwilling to condemn his elect for. ON 1 JOHN.

THE POWER TO FORGIVE SINS. OECUMENIUS: John calls Jesus our advocate because it is he who prays to the Father for us. In saying this he is speaking in a human way and within a human context, just as elsewhere he says: “The Son can do nothing by himself.” He puts it this way so that the Son will not appear to be the Father’s opponent. For that the Son has the power to forgive sins is clear from the case of the paralytic,and by giving his disciples the power to forgive sins, he shows that he can also share his power with others. COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN.

1 Jn