When people hear about Christ being our advocate, it can easily be misunderstood that He is pleading with a reluctant or distant Father to show us mercy. This view suggests a kind of emotional negotiation, where Jesus is trying to soften the heart of a stern God. But this is not the picture Scripture gives. In fact, Jesus Himself said, “The Father himself loves you” (John 16:27). The Father’s love for us is not something Christ needs to earn, it already exists in full measure. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are perfectly united in their will to redeem humanity.
Christ’s advocacy is not aimed at changing the Father’s mind; rather, it is about addressing the accusations made against us by Satan, “the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night” (Revelation 12:10). The devil’s accusations are not lies in the sense that they are baseless, he accuses us of real sin, real failure. What he leaves out, of course, is the gospel. That’s where Christ steps in, not to deny our guilt, but to present His righteousness and His atoning sacrifice as the full and final answer to every charge.
In this sense, Jesus functions as our advocate within the framework of divine justice, not outside or against it. God is not compromising His justice to forgive us. Instead, He maintains it perfectly by placing our judgment upon Christ. As Romans 3:25–26 explains, through Christ, God demonstrates His righteousness so that He can be both “just and the justifier” of the one who has faith in Jesus. This means our salvation doesn’t require God to turn a blind eye to sin. Christ’s blood satisfies the demands of justice while opening the door to grace.
The role of Christ as intercessor is not about a divided Trinity, where Jesus is loving and the Father is severe. It is about a unified plan of salvation in which the Son carries out the will of the Father and secures for us what we could never achieve on our own. In doing so, Christ silences the voice of the accuser and makes a way for sinners to be forgiven, cleansed, and declared righteous, without undermining the justice and love that form the very foundation of God’s throne (Psalm 89:14).
So when we think of Jesus as our advocate, we should not imagine courtroom drama where He begs for mercy from an angry judge. Rather, we should see Him standing boldly in the heavenly court, presenting the finished work of the cross and declaring with authority that those who trust in Him are fully, eternally justified. We are not saved by a struggle between mercy and judgment. We’re not saved by a tug-of-war between a loving Jesus and an angry Father. We’re saved by the united will of a loving God (Father, Son, and Spirit) acting through Jesus’ death and intercession.
Not Just For Relief
