NOTES for Jo1 2:2

There are two false images of God: one says that God is a stern overseer, judge, and executioner all at once; the other that He is a good-natured grandfather who watches our "pranks" with a smile. Clearly, both are lies. God is not indifferent to our sins; He is offended by them and is angry. But He does not wish to be an executioner, He does not want to punish us for our sins, He seeks an opportunity to have mercy on us. At the same time, sin inevitably brings retribution: death.

And so God finds the only possible way for our salvation: His Son becomes the sacrifice of propitiation, that is, He accepts death, paying for human sins, the sins of all people, by which justice is satisfied and the way is opened for God's mercy. Thus in Christ all people are offered the possibility of receiving God's pardon, and those who believe in Him receive it.