“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)
We hear much about sin, but do we really grasp what it is, and what it really means? I often think that all
of us don’t have the understanding of it that we should have. We don’t comprehend how awful it
really is. If we thought about it as we should, it would utterly horrify us that our Savior had to die for our
sins. That ought to sober us, and make us ashamed, yet make us thankful. You see, He who never sinned
had to taste death and hell for us so that we sinners could be saved from God’s judgment and eternal wrath.
Romans 3:23 is not the only verse in the Bible that states how sinful and depraved we are. I will cover
some more here in this article. But first let’s look closely at verse 23. It says all have sinned. In other
words, there is not one man, or woman on the face of the earth who has never sinned. There are seven
billion people on earth right now in 2012, and not one of them can justly claim to have never sinned!
Can you imagine that? Not one out of seven billion! That is truly astounding. Another astounding fact is
that by the end of 2012 there will be approximately seven billion, one hundred million people, all of whom
are sinners. If they live long enough, they too will sin. How do I know this? Because the Bible tells me.
I believe most of you know it also. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God!”
of us don’t have the understanding of it that we should have. We don’t comprehend how awful it
really is. If we thought about it as we should, it would utterly horrify us that our Savior had to die for our
sins. That ought to sober us, and make us ashamed, yet make us thankful. You see, He who never sinned
had to taste death and hell for us so that we sinners could be saved from God’s judgment and eternal wrath.
Romans 3:23 is not the only verse in the Bible that states how sinful and depraved we are. I will cover
some more here in this article. But first let’s look closely at verse 23. It says all have sinned. In other
words, there is not one man, or woman on the face of the earth who has never sinned. There are seven
billion people on earth right now in 2012, and not one of them can justly claim to have never sinned!
Can you imagine that? Not one out of seven billion! That is truly astounding. Another astounding fact is
that by the end of 2012 there will be approximately seven billion, one hundred million people, all of whom
are sinners. If they live long enough, they too will sin. How do I know this? Because the Bible tells me.
I believe most of you know it also. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God!”
We are told “Sin is the transgression of the law.” “Christ died for our sins.” “Let he that is without sin
cast the first stone.” “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life thru Jesus Christ
our lord.” “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned” The Bible tells us much more about sin, throughout the book. It is
clear that sin is a terrible thing in the eyes of God.
What does sin mean? The Greek word in Romans 3:23 isἁμαρτάνω (hamartano). It means “to miss
the mark, to err (especially morally), to offend, to trespass.” Not only that, but the rest of verse 23
tells us that all have not only sinned, but “come short of the glory of God.” Here the Greek word
is ὑστερέω (hustereō), which according to Strong’s Concordance is “to be later, that is,
(by implication) to be inferior; genitively to fall short (be deficient): - come behind (short), be
destitute, fall, lack, suffer need, (be in) want, be the worse.”
cast the first stone.” “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life thru Jesus Christ
our lord.” “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned” The Bible tells us much more about sin, throughout the book. It is
clear that sin is a terrible thing in the eyes of God.
What does sin mean? The Greek word in Romans 3:23 isἁμαρτάνω (hamartano). It means “to miss
the mark, to err (especially morally), to offend, to trespass.” Not only that, but the rest of verse 23
tells us that all have not only sinned, but “come short of the glory of God.” Here the Greek word
is ὑστερέω (hustereō), which according to Strong’s Concordance is “to be later, that is,
(by implication) to be inferior; genitively to fall short (be deficient): - come behind (short), be
destitute, fall, lack, suffer need, (be in) want, be the worse.”
Just looking at these two definitions puts us in a scary position before God. This verse alone is enough to condemn us all, with no hope, never to be in God’s presence. If we are honest, after seeing this truth expressed, we realize we are under God’s wrath, and deserve to be there. Don’t let anybody play with your mind and soul. There is no escape from this judgement for all seven billion of us. We are all condemned to hell. Unless God makes a way, we are all doomed!
We have seen many places in the Bible where God has condemned sin, and numerous times He has judged sin. For example, we are told in Genesis 6: 1,2 “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” We are not told all the details, but the chapter indicates mankind had become corrupted, and sin was like a disease in the world. For this sin, the judgement of God was complete. We see in the verses that man’s sin was far worse than it had been. God brought a flood to the world, and spared only Noah and family. Why only Noah? The scripture tells us “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” (Genesis 6:8) So we see that God saved only Noah and his family from this ungodly situation. This emphasizes how bound in sin mankind was at this time in history. Only Noah’s family was spared judgement.
Then there was the time when man confronted God again. When in the ancient time man was trying to build a tower into heaven in order to ignore God’s rule. Not that it would work, but man thought it would, and bypassed God. Then all men on the earth evidently spoke the same language, and they declared in Genesis 11:3, 4 “And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” In this case God changed the languages of man so they could not communicate and thwarted their plan to build the tower of Babel. Read for yourself the entire 11th chapter of Genesis. God had been provoked again by sin. He is holy, and will always judge sin.
In Genesis 18 and 19, we see again how God dealt with sin in Sodom and Gomorrah. God knew of the horrible sin in these places, and set them under His judgement. But, praying Abraham intervened. He interceded for the places, largely because he was concerned for his nephew Lot, whom he knew was there. So Abraham started by asking God to spare if there were fifty righteous in Sodom. Then he went to forty five. Then he went to forty. Then thirty. Then twenty. Finally Abraham asked God to spare if there were only ten righteous. In Genesis 18:32 we are told that God agreed. If only ten righteous souls had been found in Sodom and Gomorrah, God would have spared them! Oh, how destructive sin is. In those two large towns, not ten who were righteous! Not ten, out of thousands! Sin had taken its toll again.
The three incidents I used were rather major confrontations. All of God’s judging of sin did not involve numerous people. In some instances we see him dealing with one person who had sinned against Him. We see an example in 1 Kings 21:23-24 where He dealt with Ahab and Jezebel. He foretold how they would die under judgement for their sins. God always judges sin in His own choice of time. Remember He is going to deal with yours and mine if we do not repent. He has commanded that we repent and believe the gospel. That is the only way He has made for you and I to escape His wrath. We better have a sober grip on this truth. We have to die and meet God!
He tells us in several scriptures that judgement is coming. In Jude He even reminds us of Sodom and Gomorrah’s judgement. “I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” (Jude 1:5-7)
Can’t we see that life is futile without God? Unless we repent and turn to Jesus Christ, we will die in our sins. Please don’t delay. Turn to Him today before it is too late for you.
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