1 John 2:1–2: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins, but also for the whole world.”

This is my third time on this passage. Let’s now focus on verse two: “And He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins, but also for the whole world.”

Now, some people who have the idea of universal salvation—everybody is saved—may want to go to this second verse and say, “He’s the atoning sacrifice for our sins and not only for our sins, but also for the whole world.”

Let’s see what is being said here.

One thing is being said: “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” That is personal. That is communicating a personal relationship. That communicates that your sin has been borne on the cross by Jesus, and that is the basis for your being reconciled to God on a personal level, not on a general level. And that is the context in which the writer is saying, “Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

“And not only for our sins, but also for the whole world.” So that means He is the atoning sacrifice for the whole world.

Let’s go back to Noah. God destroyed the world in a flood, and Noah made sacrifices. What did God say? That He would not again destroy the world with a flood (Genesis 8:20–22; 9:11). So in a way, you can see that that was not just an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the individuals there, but for “the whole world,” because the world got a favor from God because of that sacrifice. That is a general thing now, because of that sacrifice.

So there is a general grace of God—that’s the way I’m seeing it—that is poured out into the world because of Jesus Christ.

This letter, of course, was written to Christians. So he is saying “not just for ours.” There’s an “our‑ness” about the sacrifice of Jesus—about our sin being taken care of, about Christ being our advocate with the Father. There’s an individual coming to God. The writer of Hebrews says we have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire, but we have come to Mount Zion, to innumerable angels, and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant (Hebrews 12:18–24). Those are personal words. It’s individual. It’s you coming to God. It’s you receiving the kingdom. It’s you believing in the Lord Jesus. It’s you confessing with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believing in your heart (Romans 10:9–10).

That is different from this broader phrase: “He is also the atoning sacrifice for the whole world.”

John said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). That means there is a sense in which the grace of God is poured out on the world because of Jesus Christ.

And when you go to John 3:16, we are told that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” So we still see that loving “the world” and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ communicate the love of God to the world. But there is also that personal sense: “whoever believes in Him will not perish,” which talks about something in the future.

God bless you. See you later.