16神圣的家庭充满了爱,但这家庭也充满了义,因此有规则,也有父的管教。……我们的父是有次有序的,祂的家应当远比人间的法庭有次序。但是我们这些父家里的儿女常常很顽皮。我们犯错,违反家规,得罪父。为这缘故,我们需要主,我们的长兄,作我们与父同在的辩护者。为我们流血的主耶稣,乃是那义者。祂不仅与父是对的,与我们也是对的。主是我们的帮助者(“辩护者”一辞,原文指被召到另一个人身边以帮助他的一位)。祂到我们身边来帮助我们,服事我们,照顾我们,并供应我们所需要的一切。我们需要洗净的血,因此,祂以自己的血供应我们,为要救赎并洗净我们。我们也需要人照料我们的案件,因此,祂现今是我们的辩护者,我们的帮助者(约翰一书生命读经,一五○、一四五至一四七页)。
16The divine family is full of love, but it is also full of righteousness. Hence, there are regulations and also the Father’s discipline…Our Father is orderly, and His house should be much more orderly than a human court of law. However, as children in the Father’s house, we are often naughty. We make mistakes, break the family regulations, and offend the Father. For this reason we need the Lord, our elder Brother, to be our Advocate with the Father. As the One who shed His blood for us, the Lord Jesus is the righteous One. He is right not only with the Father but also right with us. The Lord is our Paraclete (the anglicized form of parakletos, the Greek word rendered “Advocate”). He comes alongside to help us, He serves us, He takes care of us, and He provides whatever we need. We were in need of the cleansing blood; therefore, He provided us with His own blood for redemption and cleansing. We also need someone to take care of our case. Therefore, He is now our Advocate, our parakletos. (Life-study of 1 John, pp. 120-121, 117-119)