“Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” 1 Jn 3:2
Sin basically means to do wrong. Lawlessness means to act against established law. This passage shows us that sin means to act against God’s established law. It means to act against the law of God that He has written upon our hearts. (Jer 31:33) It means to go against the law of love that God has given us (1 Jn 4:23).
Although sin and lawlessness are basically the same, lawlessness carries a little more meaning behind it.
Whenever a nation is established, a good leader will institute law. The idea of having a law is for the common good of all the people. A law’s purpose is to provide a level playing ground where all the people have a fair opportunity to have a good and prosperous life. When a person breaks that law they are, for the most part, making a selfish decision that helps themselves but hurts someone else. One someone steals, they help themselves to money, but take the money that someone else has worked hard for, for example.
This should help you understand why God has instituted His perfect law. It should also help you understand why it is unacceptable to break His law. And it should help you understand why the world is in such a mess.
When you commit sin or lawlessness, you are in some way always hurting another. Even when you sin against yourself (by hurting yourself or by being lazy, ect.) you are still hurting others by denying the world of the God given gifts that God has given you to benefit it.
God has established a law, he has written in our hearts via conscience and the Holy Spirit. He has provided His Word as a confirmation and a firm testimony of truth. He has promised to give a new heart to those who have made their heart as stone. He does this because he loves us and wants the best for us, as any good father would. The person who rejects God’s law does it to the detriment of himself and to the world. This is why God hates sin so much. He hates sin because it destroys his most prized creation: us.
Hal Chaffee 