# Romans 3.23 **Book:** [Romans](/codex/romans/) · NASB95 ## Verse > for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23, NASB95) ## Immediate context (±2 verses) **NASB95** ([NASB95](/codex/nasb95/)) > 21. But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, > > 22. even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; > > **23. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,** > > 24. being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; > > 25. whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; (Romans 3:21-25, NASB95) ## Setting - **Speaker:** Paul the Apostle. - **Audience:** the church at Rome. - **Location:** Paul writing from Corinth. - **Time period:** c. AD 56-57. ## Theological reading The verse is **Step 1 of the Romans Road** evangelistic schema, and the most concentrated single statement of Paul's universal-sin doctrine. Two claims: 1. **All have sinned.** *Pantes hamartēsan*, aorist active. The aorist tense (a single complete action in the past) often functions in Greek as a simple summary statement: *all sinned* (in their lifetimes, as a category description). Paul has just argued (Romans 1:18-3:20) that Gentiles have sinned (1:18-32), Jews have sinned (2:1-3:8), and indeed *everyone* under God's law has sinned (3:9-20, "Jews and Greeks are all under sin"). v. 23 is the summative judgment. 2. **Fall short of the glory of God.** *Hysterountai tēs doxēs tou theou*, present middle/passive. *Hystereō*, to lack, fall short, be deficient. The present tense names ongoing inability: even now, all of us continue to fall short of God's *doxa*, His glory. Two readings: - **Falling short of the glory God meant for us** (the imago Dei reading): humans were created in God's image; sin causes us to fall short of that image-bearing destiny. - **Falling short of the standard set by God's glory** (the moral-standard reading): God's character is the standard; we fail to measure up. Both senses are present; conservative scholarship (Schreiner, Moo) treats both as operative. **Universal scope: *pantes*.** The word excludes no one. Not "most people," not "many," not "non-Jews"; *all*. The Greek scope is total. This is the Pauline-Augustinian-Reformed doctrine of *original sin* and *universal sinfulness*: every human (Christ excepted, as the sinless one of 2 Cor 5:21; Heb 4:15) is born into sin and sins personally. **Romans Road context.** The four verses of the canonical Romans Road: 1. **Romans 3:23**, universal sinfulness (this verse) 2. [Romans 6.23](/codex/romans-6-23/), sin's wages, God's gift 3. [Romans 5.8](/codex/romans-5-8/), God's love demonstrated 4. [Romans 10.13](/codex/romans-10-13/), confession and salvation The four-verse outline is the foundation of Reformed evangelistic strategy since the Reformation. **The verse's role within Romans 3:21-26.** This passage is the *climax* of Paul's argument from Romans 1:18 onward. The structure: - 1:18-3:20, universal sinfulness established (Gentile, Jew, all under sin). - 3:21-26, the gospel solution: God's righteousness is now manifested *apart from* the Law, *through faith in Christ*, *for all who believe*, *justifying as a gift by His grace*. v. 23 is the bridge between the diagnosis (all sinned) and the cure (justification by grace through faith). The "for there is no distinction" of v. 22 makes the universal-sin claim universal-mercy ground: just as all sinned, so all may be justified. ## The "no distinction" theme A subtler theological claim in v. 22-23 (often missed): there is *no distinction* between Jew and Gentile. **Both** are under sin; **both** are justified the same way (faith in Christ). This is the resolution of the Jew/Gentile question that drives Romans 9-11 and Galatians. This grounds: - **Universal mission**, the gospel is for all peoples, not just for Jews (Matthew 28:19; Acts 1:8). - **No second-class Christianity**, Gentile believers are full members of the people of God (Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 2:14-18). - **The end of ethnic / class privilege in salvation**, the gospel levels every human to the same need and the same rescue. **Patristic.** Augustine (*Confessions* 8; *On the Spirit and the Letter*; *On Original Sin*) develops the universal-sin doctrine from this verse and Romans 5:12, sin is not just a *behavior* but a *condition*; everyone inherits Adam's fall. This becomes the catholic doctrine of *original sin*, codified at Carthage (AD 418) and Orange (AD 529). **Reformation.** Luther (*Lectures on Romans*, 1515-1516) and Calvin (*Romans* commentary; *Institutes* II.1-5) develop universal sinfulness as the bedrock of justification doctrine: only because all are sinful by nature does justification by grace through faith make sense. Anything less than universal-sin makes salvation a partial issue; Romans 3:23 grounds the *whole* gospel in the *whole* condition. **Modern conservative.** D. A. Carson (*The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God*, 2000), Douglas Moo (*Romans* NICNT, 1996), and Thomas Schreiner (*Romans* BECNT, 1998) develop the verse as foundational hamartiology. R. C. Sproul (*The Holiness of God*, 1985) and Sinclair Ferguson (*Devoted to God*) treat it pastorally, until we grasp the depth of universal sin, we cannot grasp the depth of grace. ## Apologetic significance The verse engages multiple non-Christian moral systems: 1. **Against moralism** ("good people earn salvation by good deeds"): Romans 3:23 says no one is good enough; the standard is God's glory, and all fall short. 2. **Against universalism** ("everyone goes to heaven anyway"): Romans 3:23 (with 6:23) establishes that universal sin produces universal liability, and salvation is by *gift through faith*, not by automatic transfer. 3. **Against relativism** ("there is no objective sin"): Paul has argued in Romans 1-2 that conscience and creation reveal God's standard; sin is *real* and *objective*. 4. **Against works-righteousness** ("I'm basically a good person"): Paul's universal-sin argument cuts through self-assessment, *all* fall short, including those who think themselves good. ## Key words - [G0266 - hamartia](/codex/g0266-hamartia/), *hamartanō* (verb) / *hamartia* (noun), sin - [G1391 - doxa](/codex/g1391-doxa/), *doxa* (glory), God's glory as the standard - G5302 - hystereo, *hystereō* (fall short), the verb of failure-to-meet-standard - [G3956 - pas](/codex/g3956-pas/), *pas* (all), the universal scope ## Quoted in **Arguments and defeaters:** - [Anthropology Defeats Christianity Objection Defeater](/codex/anthropology-defeats-christianity-objection-defeater/) - [Argument from Forgiveness](/codex/argument-from-forgiveness/), via [Romans 3.21-26](/codex/romans-3-21-26/) - [Christian God is the Only True God](/codex/christian-god-is-the-only-true-god/) - [Christians Behaving Badly Defeater](/codex/christians-behaving-badly-defeater/) - [Free Will Argument from Love](/codex/free-will-argument-from-love/) - [Necessity of the Incarnation](/codex/necessity-of-the-incarnation/) - [Problem of Evil, Free Will Defense](/codex/problem-of-evil-free-will-defense/) **Concepts:** - [Atonement](/codex/atonement/), via [Romans 3.21-26](/codex/romans-3-21-26/) - [Christianity](/codex/christianity/), via [Romans 3.21-26](/codex/romans-3-21-26/) - [Federal Headship](/codex/romans-5-12-21/) - [Feeling Distant from God](/codex/feeling-distant-from-god/) - [Five Pillars of Islam](/codex/five-pillars-of-islam/), via [Romans 3.20-28](/codex/romans-3-20-28/) - [Genesis Hermeneutics](/codex/genesis-hermeneutics/) - [Gospel](/codex/g2098-euangelion/) - [Inherited Guilt and Visiting Iniquity](/codex/inherited-guilt-and-visiting-iniquity/) - [Justification by Faith](/codex/justification-by-faith/), via [Romans 3.21-26](/codex/romans-3-21-26/) - [Mary Sinless](/codex/mary-sinless/) - [Original Sin](/codex/original-sin/) - [Penal Substitutionary Atonement](/codex/penal-substitutionary-atonement/), via [Romans 3.21-26](/codex/romans-3-21-26/) - [Prayers for Evangelism](/codex/prayers-for-evangelism/) - [Privation](/codex/privation/) - [Sin](/codex/h2403-chattath/) **People:** - [Jesus](/codex/jesus/), via [Romans 3.21-26](/codex/romans-3-21-26/) **Lexicon:** - [G0266 - hamartia](/codex/g0266-hamartia/) - [G1343 - dikaiosyne](/codex/g1343-dikaiosyne/) - [G1344 - dikaioo](/codex/g1344-dikaioo/) - [G1391 - doxa](/codex/g1391-doxa/) - [G2433 - hilaskomai](/codex/g2433-hilaskomai/), via [Romans 3.21-26](/codex/romans-3-21-26/) - [G3670 - homologeo](/codex/g3670-homologeo/) - [H6666 - tzedakah](/codex/h6666-tzedakah/), via [Romans 3.21-26](/codex/romans-3-21-26/) **Passages:** - [Matthew 5.48](/codex/matthew-5-48/) - [Romans 1](/codex/romans-1/) - [Romans 1.18](/codex/romans-1-18/) - [Romans 10.9](/codex/romans-10-9/) --- _Scripture quotations taken from the **New American Standard Bible®** (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by **The Lockman Foundation**. Used by permission. All rights reserved. [www.lockman.org](https://www.lockman.org)_