“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:”
— Romans 3:23–24
Romans 3:23 is one of those verses we know so well that we may no longer stop to ask what it actually says.
Most of us have probably heard “come short of the glory of God” explained with some version of the same illustration. God’s perfect righteousness is the standard. We try to reach it, but everyone falls short. Some may come closer than others, but nobody reaches the mark.
There is certainly biblical truth in the idea that none of us measures up to God’s righteousness. But I am not sure that is what Paul is saying here.
The word translated “come short” is ὑστεροῦνται (hysterountai), from the Greek verb ὑστερέω (hystereō). It can describe falling behind or failing to attain something, but it also has the very ordinary meaning of lacking something, being deficient, or being in need.
We can see that clearly elsewhere in the New Testament.
When the prodigal son had spent everything and famine struck the land, Jesus says that “he began to be in want” (Luke 15:14). The word is hystereō. The prodigal had not failed to reach a standard. He lacked what he needed.
Paul tells the Corinthians that they “come behind in no gift” (1 Corinthians 1:7). Again, the same word. They were not lacking any spiritual gift.
That gives us another perfectly natural way of hearing Romans 3:23:
“For all have sinned, and lack the glory of God.”
And that is not quite the same thing as saying that we tried to reach God’s standard and failed.
There is another detail in Paul’s sentence worth noticing. “All have sinned” translates ἥμαρτον (hēmarton), an aorist verb. Paul states the reality of human sin. But “come short,” ὑστεροῦνται (hysterountai), is present tense. All sinned, and all now lack.
The second statement describes our condition.
The question, then, is what we lack.
The Glory We Exchanged
Fortunately, Romans 3 is not the first time Paul has mentioned the glory of God.
In Romans 1, he describes humanity’s rebellion:
“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful…”
— Romans 1:21
Two verses later, Paul tells us what humanity did instead:
“And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man…”
— Romans 1:23
Humanity knew God and refused to glorify Him as God. We exchanged His glory for the creature.
Then, after tracing the consequences of that rebellion through the rest of Romans 1 and bringing both Jew and Gentile under sin in Romans 2 and 3, Paul arrives at his conclusion:
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
The verb hystereō does not itself mean that something once possessed has been lost. We should not ask a Greek word to say more than it says. But Paul has already supplied the history.
Humanity rejected the glory of God in Romans 1.
Humanity lacks the glory of God in Romans 3.
And Paul is not finished talking about glory.
The Glory We Hope For
Only two chapters later, Paul describes those who have been justified by faith:
“…we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
— Romans 5:2
The thing humanity lacks in Romans 3 has now become the hope of the justified.
By Romans 8, Paul is looking forward to “the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). Creation itself waits for “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). Finally, Paul describes the purpose of God for those He has called:
“and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
— Romans 8:30
Read together, these passages trace a remarkable movement through Romans:
Glory rejected. Glory lacking. Glory hoped for. Glory restored.
That is why I think the word “come short” matters.
If we picture the glory of God primarily as a standard we are trying to reach, Romans 3:23 becomes principally a statement about our performance. God sets the mark, we try to reach it, and every one of us fails.
But if Paul is saying that humanity lacks the glory of God, he is describing something more fundamental than poor performance. He is describing what sin has done to us.
Man was made to live in relation to the glory of his Creator. Instead, man refused to glorify God and exchanged His glory for the creature. By Romans 3, Paul looks at the whole human race and says that we have sinned and now lack that glory.
This does not make the familiar illustration entirely wrong. Scripture certainly teaches that none of us can establish our own righteousness before God. But the illustration may be too small for what Paul is saying.
Romans 3:23 is not merely about failing to jump high enough.
Something is missing.
And that makes the next words all the more important:
“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
The answer to our condition is not that God teaches us to jump higher. God acts. He justifies freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Then Romans carries the story forward. Those who have been justified hope for glory. The glory will be revealed in us. And those whom God justified, He also glorified.
We sinned, and we lack the glory of God.
But that is not where Paul’s story ends.
The glory humanity rejected became the glory humanity lacked. In Christ, it becomes the glory for which we hope.