What is sin?

Most people have a working definition of sin, and it is usually a list.

Scripture's definition is wider and more uncomfortable than any list.

Sin is measured against God, not against other people

The instinctive defense is comparison. I am not perfect, but I am not like him.

Comparison always finds someone worse, which is why it never produces repentance.

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

The standard is not the person next to you. The standard is God's own holiness.

Measured that way, nobody clears it.

It is not only what you do

Sin includes actions, and it does not stop there.

Thoughts. Attitudes. Words. Motives.

And the things you never did.

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

That last category is the one most people have never counted.

What sin actually breaks

Sin is not primarily rule-breaking. It is relationship-breaking.

But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

That is why sin cannot be fixed by better behavior. Behavior was never the root of it.

Sin is universal, and it is not all identical

Every person is affected. That does not mean every person is as bad as they could possibly be, and it does not mean every sin does equal damage in the world.

A harsh word and a betrayal are not the same wound.

But both fall short of the same standard, and both need the same remedy.

What it costs

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Wages are earned. Gifts are not.

The verse puts both in one sentence on purpose.

So what is sin?

Any failure to meet God's holy standard.

In what you do.

In what you think.

In what you leave undone.

It is universal, it is serious, and it is why the answer to it is a Savior.

Sin is not a behavior problem with a behavioral solution.