What Does 1 John 2:1 Mean in the King James?

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 righteous:
1 John 2:1 · KJV
The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

The verse puts the missed mark and the advocate in the same sentence: the miss is real, and so is the one who stands with you before the Father.

You are addressed as a child even as the verse names the possibility of missing the mark. Its desire is that you not miss; when you do, Jesus Christ, the aligned one, is your advocate with the Father. Your failure is named without becoming the final word about your place before the Father.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie that one failure leaves you alone before the Father is undone: the verse names an advocate precisely when someone misses.

ἁμάρτητε

hamartēte

GROWS FROM

ἁμαρτ-

hamart-

The Greek word-family carries the image of missing or failing to attain; in this verse it names sin.

“sin” in this verse is hamartēte. The verse leaves the miss visible, but places an advocate in the very sentence that names it. Exposure and abandonment are not the same thing here.

ALSO GROWS

hamartanō: To miss or fail; the verb’s lexical form.

ἁμαρτάνω

It shows the action behind the verse’s word for sin.

hamartia: Sin; a missing or failure.

ἁμαρτία

This noun names the same word-family and appears again in 1 John 1:9.

hamartōlos: A sinner.

ἁμαρτωλός

This branch shows how the word-family can describe a person in relation to sin.

παράκλητον

paraklēton

GROWS FROM

⁨παρά⁩ + ⁨καλέω⁩ (para + kaleō)

⁨Παρά⁩ (para) means beside; ⁨καλέω⁩ (kaleō) means call. ⁨Παράκλητος⁩ (paraklētos) names one called in as support, hence an advocate.

The Greek word carries both the advocate’s role and the image of a summoned presence. That presence is named exactly where the possibility of missing is named.

ALSO GROWS

paraklētos: Advocate or helper.

παράκλητος

This is the noun used for Jesus in the verse.

paraklēsis: Appeal, encouragement, or comfort.

παράκλησις

It shows another way this word-family can express support.

kaleō: Call or summon.

καλέω

The call at the center of the word helps illuminate the advocate as one summoned to support.

δίκαιον

dikaion

GROWS FROM

δικ-

dik-

Right or just; the quality of being in alignment.

“the righteous” in this verse is dikaion. Jesus is named as the aligned one while the verse speaks plainly about the reader’s missing. The advocate’s defining quality is not the miss but alignment.

ALSO GROWS

dikaiosynē: Righteousness; alignment.

δικαιοσύνη

This related noun makes visible the alignment carried by the adjective.

dikaioō: To justify or declare right.

δικαιόω

This verb shows the family’s connection to being set in a right relation.

When a person has missed, scripture names the failure and places intercession or cleansing beside it.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 53:12 · KJVThe verse names transgression and places intercession for the transgressors beside it.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Romans 8:34 · KJVChrist’s intercession stands alongside the question of condemnation.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 · KJVThe verse brings sins into the open and names release and cleansing.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 · KJV

Both verses use the same Greek word-family for sin: ⁨ἁμαρτάνω⁩ (hamartanō, to miss) here and ⁨ἁμαρτία⁩ (hamartia, sin or missing) there. Here the advocate is named when missing is possible; there, that same missing is brought into the open and met with release and cleansing.

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1 John 2:1 KJV Meaning