p274 [To the same.] F Kingscote, I apprehend that both "the righteous" and "propitiation" (1 John 2:1-2) intimate to us the double character of perfectness - actual state, and work - of Christ, as the basis on which advocacy is carried on to restore the soul. If any man sin, there is an unchangeable and accepted righteousness in Christ, and a perfect work which has been presented to God for our sins, and indeed in view of the whole world. So that neither the ground of our acceptance nor the putting away of our sins are in question for our access to God. It is a question of restoring, not of accepting the soul - both according to God's glory. Our place and cleanness for it are that in respect of which, and according to which, advocacy is carried on, and that positively and negatively.

"He" (1 John 1:9) must, I think, apply to God here, from verse 5 dealing with God in His nature. But you will find God and Christ wonderfully put together as one object in this epistle. See 1 John 2:23 - 3:3, and other passages. It is abstract, as all these passages, and applies to saint and sinner. There is a difference between God's forgiveness in the sense of non-imputation according to Romans 4, and governmental forgiveness - for us the Father's. Matthew 6:14-15, as referring abstractedly to a state of soul might apply to both. But the difference is very real, because justifying forgiveness (unknown in the Old Testament) is complete once and for ever, as Hebrews 9, 10 - "no more conscience of sins"; whereas fatherly forgiveness one may daily need. We are not exactly called to seek it, but to confess our sins and we get it. But confession applies to our starting point also.

The Lord be with you in your work and in your soul. I trust the Lord has blessed the word round here, and cheered up the saints too by it.

Yours affectionately in the Lord.

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