Living in forgiveness, reflecting the love of Christ

1 John 2:12-14 (ESV)
I am writing to you, little children,
because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake.
[13] I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, children,
because you know the Father.
[14] I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God abides in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.

First John is law/gospel, law/gospel, law/gospel. Reading it makes me feel like Jack and Jill tumbling down the hill. He gives law follows it up with gospel and then repeats. But now he starts explaining why he writes to us with this law that came before. Why? Because our sins are forgiven. Why? Because we have overcome the evil one. Why? Because we know the Father. Why? Because we are strong, because the word of God abides in us. He preaches law precisely because we have the gospel, and he would not have us lose it. He preaches law so that we would hold onto the gospel with so much more tenacity. He preaches law because he knows that we have the forgiveness of sins, the love of Christ.
There is something to this. When we do not know of our victory in Christ, the law becomes our enemy. When we do not know that we have overcome the evil one, then the law becomes fearful for us. People who preach the law and stay on it, inevitably start watering it down. The Gospel must accompany any preaching of the law, or the people will be left in their sin. Only knowing the gospel, only living in the love of Christ and his forgiveness can we then reflect his love through the law. That is only then can we live the law in such a way that it is truly a reflection of the love of Christ in our lives.
Jesus died for us, forgave us our sins, became a propitiation for the world that we would be saved from sin, not so that we would live in it. We don’t use his propitiation as an excuse for sin. Neither do we live in such a way that we try to earn our forgiveness, make ourselves worthy of it or anything else. But having been loved by Christ, forgiven of our sins, we look to the law, to learn how to show that love to our neighbor, as we live in forgiveness by the blood that he shed for our propitiation.