Romans 3:23

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for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 3:23 (NKJV)

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 3:23 (NIV)

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

Romans 3:23 (KJV)

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard.

Romans 3:23 (NLT)

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 3:23 (ESV)

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 3:23 (NASB)

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

since all have sinned and continually fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 3:23 (AMP)

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives.

Romans 3:23 (AMPC)

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC), Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

Since we've compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us.

Romans 3:23 (MSG)

Scripture quotations from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.

New Covenant Meaning

"All Have Sinned": The Universal Verdict

Romans 3:23 is the conclusion of a sustained argument that runs from Romans 1:18 through 3:20. Paul has prosecuted both Gentiles (1:18-32) and Jews (2:1-3:20) and arrived at the same verdict for both: none is righteous, not even one (3:10). The word "all" in 3:23 is the hammered-down conclusion of all that prosecution. No person, regardless of religious background, moral effort, or cultural standing, is exempt. This is not pessimism. It is the honest diagnosis that makes the remedy in verse 24 possible. You cannot receive a gift you do not know you need.

The Standard Is God's Own Glory, Not Human Comparison

Falling short of "the glory of God" redefines what the standard actually is. People generally measure themselves against other people: I am better than most, worse than some. But Paul sets the standard as the doxa of God, the radiant weight of His perfection, the full expression of what human beings were designed to reflect as image-bearers (Genesis 1:26-27). Against that standard, comparison to other humans becomes irrelevant. The question is not whether you are better than your neighbor. It is whether you reflect the full glory of your Creator. No one does. That is the diagnosis. And it opens the door to verse 24.

Romans 3:23 is never meant to be read in isolation. Verse 24 continues: "and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." The two verses are one sentence in the original Greek. The fall-short of verse 23 is the setup for the justified-freely of verse 24. Paul does not land on the universal failure and leave the reader there. He pivots immediately to the universal offer: the same grace available to everyone who has failed equally. The "all have sinned" levels humanity so that the "freely justified by grace" can be equally available to all.

Application for Your Life

The Diagnosis Removes the Comparison Game

When Romans 3:23 sinks in, it makes the comparison game obsolete. If all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, then no one has a standing before God based on their moral performance relative to others. The Pharisee and the tax collector, the religious person and the notorious sinner, stand before the same verdict. This levels the ground around the cross in a way that both humbles the self-righteous and dignifies the one who knows they have nothing to offer. The verdict is universal. So is the remedy.

Falling Short of Glory Is the Invitation Back to Glory

The glory (doxa) that humanity fell short of is also the glory that the gospel restores. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:18 that believers are "being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another." Romans 8:30 says those God justified He also glorified. The glory forfeited in the fall is not permanently lost for those who are in Christ. Romans 3:23 describes the human condition before grace. The rest of Romans describes what grace does to that condition. The verse is not the end of the story. It is the ground on which the story of redemption begins.

Prayer Based on This Verse

Father, I do not stand before You on the basis of my moral record or my comparison to others. I have sinned and fallen short of the glory You made me to reflect. I acknowledge that honestly. And I receive what verse 24 says comes next: I am justified freely by Your grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Not partially. Freely. I do not earn my standing. I receive it. Let this truth flatten every tendency in me to compare myself to others or to try to earn what You have already given. I am not righteous in myself. I am righteous in Him. I receive that today. In Jesus' name. Amen.