…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…
Romans 3:23
Sometimes referred to as the depravity of man, today’s passage reveals the two things of which all of us are guilty. First, we have all sinned against God. Whether we view our lives as the worst of the worst or we assess ourselves a bit more favorably, we are all sinners and have rebelled against God. Secondly, we have all “fallen short” of the glory of God. “Falling short” can be defined as “missing the mark.” We could use the analogy of a marksman who is aiming at a target. His goal is to hit the center of the target yet as much as this skilled marksman attempts to achieve that outcome, he continues to fall short of it. No matter how many adjustments he makes, he continues to miss his target. This is what means when we say that we have all “fallen short.” No matter how good we believe ourselves to be and no matter how much effort we put into being a “good person,” we still fall short. We see this stated in Old Testament prophecy as well:
All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way…
Isaiah 53:6a
So the problem applies to all of us…we have all sinned, we have all fallen short, and we have all gone astray spiritually. But the gospel brings an equally powerful reason to hope. The first portion of this passage is often quoted without consideration for the second part. But without even taking a breath, Paul continues past the problem to present to us the solution:
…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus…
Romans 3:23-24
So who is being justified in this passage? Those mentioned in the first portion of the passage…all of humanity. So everyone is now justified? Well, no. The promises of God must be received in order for them to profit us. Consider the words from the writer of Hebrews:
Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.
Hebrews 4:1-2
Just as a parent’s love for a child is not always reciprocated or one spouse to another, the love of God demands a response by us. The promise of His justification must be united by our faith in Jesus. Otherwise, we will find ourselves “coming short of it.” So yes, the grace of God is for all who have sinned yet that kind and gracious offer must be received. We see the same thing in our passage from Isaiah written some seven hundred years before the birth of Christ:
All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.
Isaiah 53:6
Again, we have all sinned and gone astray yet the gift of God is that the iniquity of us all has fallen upon Jesus so that we may live. But this is only accomplished as we approach salvation by placing our faith completely in what He has already accomplished for us.
So the gospel contains three basic truths that we must be able to declare to others:
- God loves you!
- Jesus died for you!
- Salvation is being offered to you on the basis of faith alone in Christ!
We are all equally in need of salvation and when we declare these truths to the world, we will see many come to faith in Jesus Christ!
Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”
Romans 10:15b
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