All Sin and Fall Short of the Glory of God
There is a verse in the Bible that many people use as an excuse or cliché, in order to minimize sin and unrighteousness. Many people will quote this verse in defense of ungodly actions. The verse is so overused for this excuse that the meaning has been distorted.
The verse can be found in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” As you can see from this one verse, there is a comma. There is more to this statement. This verse just by itself is taken out of context top fit into someone else’s narrative. By taking just this verse and manipulating it to mean, “Well we all sin and fall short of God’s glory,” therefore it is okay to sin because we all sin and fall short of God’s glory!
The fact is that this is part of a larger scope and meaning. Paul, the author of Romans, wrote this verse in the middle of explaining the righteousness of God through faith! This one verse in itself is acknowledging that we all sin and we all fall short of the glory of God. Let us look at the entire story of what Paul was stating.
Romans 3:21-26. We are only going to touch on this section of Scripture.
The Righteousness of God Through Faith
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
As R.C. Sproul describes this in his commentary, The righteousness of God must be received now that “it has been manifested.” Believing for Paul involves knowledge of the Gospel’s content, mental assent to its testimony about Christ, and trust and reliance on Him as Savior and Lord, which manifests itself in obedience. The righteousness of God is exclusively for those who have faith and inclusive of all who have faith, whether Jew or Gentile. There is no distinction, for all have sinned.
As we have all sinned and fall short of God’s glory, this is a poignant description of the consequence of sin. We are made in the glorious image of God and humanity has exchanged God’s glory to idolatry and distorted the divine image. Now people are morally and spiritually ugly and depraved. Grace renews and restores humanity’s lost glory in believers.
In Scripture, justification is the opposite of condemnation. It is the declaration of the unbelieving sinner to be just, for example, righteous, and it comes by virtue of the imputed righteousness of Christ, the “gift of righteousness.” Christ’s righteousness is now legally considered to be the possession of the sinner. Justification is final and is irreversible. It is grounded in Christ’s lifelong obedience, in which He fulfilled the precepts of God’s law for us, and in His death on the cross, where He bore the penalty of God’s judgement against us. Believers are united in faith alone to Christ Jesus in His resurrection, which vindicated His own flawless obedience to God’s law. He was raised for our justification. Therefore, believers now share the same righteous status as the risen Christ Himself, with whom they are united now and forever.
Now after explaining the true intention of this verse, yes, we all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, but we as Follower’s of Christ have been justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
I bring all of this up so that we as men will understand that we should not use Scripture taken out of context to substantiate our sinful nature. As I mentioned in yesterday’s podcast, I would be starting a series ministering to Christian men. There is a Scripture that I want you to hear. It is taken from Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” As we move forward in the month of May, it is my hope that we can minister to men so that they will be strengthened in the faith.
Yes, although we all sin and we fall short of God’s glory, this verse should not be used by men as an excuse to sin. We will be addressing sin and temptation issues that men may face hundreds of times each day, but I want to tell you that there is hope and deliverance through Christ Jesus. Let today be the first day of the rest of your life in overcoming sin through Christ Jesus.
Rev. Joseph T. Lee is the Overseer of Marketplace Evangelism Ministries Inc. Please tune into our Podcast called “The Daily Bread” with Rev. Joseph T. Lee. The Daily Bread is broadcast on several platforms including but not limited to Apple, Buzzsprout, and Spotify. Here is the latest podcast link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2324842/15003211
References:
The Reformation Study Bible
RC Sproul