For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Romans 3:23-24 - To all of today’s believers and for those who are still seeking Him, these verses offer the certainty of our salvation through Christ’s sacrifice.
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Romans 3:23-24 NIV
I am too much of a believer to think that things are coincidences when I know that they are guided by God’s hand. Today’s excellent sermon at our church was from 1 Thessalonians (we’re in the midst of a wonderful verse by verse exploration of that epistle), but it hammered home the point that is covered so eloquently in these verses from the Epistle to the Romans. It’s definitely no coincidence that God pointed out these words from Paul to me today!
This part of the epistle is all about righteousness through faith. In a few previous verses, the apostle Paul explains that “no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.” (Romans 3:20). To the Jews who had become followers of Christ, this provided the realization that they no longer needed to maintain strict dietary and health laws from the original Mosaic covenant, nor keep up the complex system of sacrificial offerings, or stick to a calendar of feasts and holy days. Their righteousness came through faith in Jesus Christ.
The verse just prior to today’s verses (Romans 3:22) is quite straightforward: “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,” and continues with “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”
David Guzik’s excellent Enduring Word commentary on these verses titles this section “Man’s universal need and God’s universal offer”, which pretty much sums it all up. “For all have sinned…” highlights man’s universal need for salvation, and the Gospel is God’s universal offer.
Guzik’s commentary is so well written that it is repeated here:
a. Being justified: Paul develops his teaching about salvation around three themes.
Justification is an image from the court of law.
Redemption is an image from the slave market.
Propitiation is an image from the world of religion, appeasing God through sacrifice.
i. Justification solves the problem of man’s guilt before a righteous Judge. Redemption solves the problem of man’s slavery to sin, the world, and the devil. Propitiation solves the problem of offending our Creator.
b. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God: This universal statement is answered by a universal offer to be justified freely by His grace. It is open to everyone who will believe.
i. Morris1, quoting Moule: “The harlot, the liar, the murderer, are short of it; but so are you. Perhaps they stand at the bottom of a mine, and you on the crest of an Alp; but you are as little able to touch the stars as they.” Everyone falls short, but everyone can be justified freely by His grace.
c. Fall short of the glory of God: It’s impossible to describe every way we fall short, but here are four important ways man falls short of the glory of God.
i. We fail to give God the glory due Him, in our words, thoughts and actions.
ii. We fail to qualify for, and thereby reject the glory and reward that God gives faithful servants.
iii. We fail to properly reflect God’s glory by refusing to be conformed into His image.
iv. We fail to obtain the final glory God will bestow on His people at the end of all history.
d. Justified freely by His grace: Being in such a sinful state, the only way we can be justified is to be justified freely. We can’t purchase it with our good works at all. If it isn’t made free to us, we can’t have it all. So we are justified freely by His grace — His unmerited favor, given to us without regard to what we deserve. It is a giving motivated purely by the giver, and motivated by nothing in the one who receives.
i. Freely is the ancient Greek word dorean. The way this word is used in other New Testament passages helps us understand the word. Matthew 10:8 (Freely you have received, freely give) and Revelation 22:17 (And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely) show that the word means truly free, not just “cheap” or “discounted.” Perhaps the most striking use of the ancient Greek word dorean is in John 15:25: They hated me without a cause (dorean). Even as there was nothing in Jesus deserving of man’s hatred, so there is nothing in us deserving of justification — all the reasons are in God.
ii. Calvin on the use of both the words freely and grace: “He thus repeats the word to show that the whole is from God, and nothing from us... lest we should imagine a half kind of grace, he affirms more strongly what he means by a repetition, and claims for God’s mercy alone the whole glory of our righteousness.”
e. Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Again, Paul’s gospel centers squarely in Christ Jesus. Salvation is possible because of the redemption found in Him. God cannot give us His righteousness apart from Jesus Christ.
f. Redemption: This has the idea of buying back something, and involves cost. However, God pays the cost and so we are justified freely.
i. The word translated redemption had its origin describing the release of prisoners of war on payment of a price and was known as the “ransom.” As time went on, it was extended to include the freeing of slaves, again by the payment of a price.
ii. The idea of redemption means that Jesus bought us; therefore, we belong to Him. Paul expressed this thought in another letter: For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Corinthians 6:20).
For the Christians living in Rome, receiving and reading this letter from Paul provided the reassurance they needed in the face of uncertainty and persecution. To all of today’s believers and for those who are still seeking Him, these verses offer the certainty of our salvation through Christ’s sacrifice.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Today I found a perfectly written prayer from Heartlight that encompasses these verses:
Dear Father, just and justifier,
Thank you that your righteousness has been manifested to us. You made this happen apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, to your righteousness through faith in Christ Jesus for all who trust in him. How just you are in making no distinction between people on this matter, since every person has sinned and falls short of your glory.
Thank you for justifying us by your grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom you put forward as an expiation by his blood, so we can receive it by faith.
Praise be to you, O holy God, for showing us how righteous you really are. In your divine forbearance you have passed over former sins, but now you have made provision for forgiveness-the righteousness of your Son, Jesus Christ, in whom we place our faith.
In the name of Jesus we ask all this and lay claim to the grace which you have so generously extended. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica US, Inc.®. Used by permission.
Commentary quotations from Enduring Word are used with the written permission of the author
Prayer from Heartlight is by Eldon Degge, author of the book Praying with Paul.
Praying with Paul ©1997, Degge, Eldon. Published by Meridian Publishing.
Morris, Leon "The Epistle to the Romans" (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1988)