Is Romans 3:23 About Universal Guilt?

Romans 3:23 NKJV for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 3:23 is traditionally interpreted by Christians as teaching universal guilt: “Every individual person has done something wrong and not lived up to God’s perfect moral standard.” That is certainly a true statement, and the Apostle Paul makes that very clear in Romans 1:18–3:20. However, that is not the point of Romans 3:23. Unfortunately, because of this misunderstanding, many Christians miss out on the awesome truth conveyed here in this passage.

This misunderstanding results from the assumption that the “all” in Romans 3:23 refers to all men; i.e., every single human being who has ever lived. However, this cannot be the case, since this “all” who “have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” are the same people who are “being justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” in the very next verse (v. 24)! Reading these two verses without the distraction of verse divisions would make this clear:

Romans 3:23–24 because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,

The underlying misconception that we have to correct is that “ ‘all’ always means all, and that is all that ‘all’ means.” However, the truth is that the scope of the word “all” is always limited, and that limitation must be determined by the context of its use. So then, whom are the “all” in Romans 3:23 referring to in its context? In order to answer that question, we must read the passage more completely, and not let verse divisions blind us from the thought flow the passage. Romans 3:23 begins with a “for” or “because”, which indicates that it is giving an explanation for what came before.

Verse 21 says: “The righteousness of God has been manifested... unto all those who believe.”

Why?

Verse 22 explains: “Because there is no difference”—no difference among whom? Among the “all those who believe” from verse 21.

Why?

Verse 23 explains: “Because all have sinned...”—all of whom? Again, it is the same “all those who believe” from verse 21; the referent has not changed here. Thus, by observing the thought flow of the passage, we see that in context, the “all” in Romans 3:23 refers to believers; i.e., the “all those who believe” in verse 21.

So, what really is the point of this passage? Let us look back at verse 23: “Because all [the ones who believe] have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God...” The Greek word for “fall short” here is hysterountai, which is a verb in the present tense, which denotes a continual, on-going action. Even after believing in Jesus Christ for salvation, true believers still continue being undeserving of the glory of God because they still continue to sin.

This is where the good news comes in: the very next word in the Greek text is the word dikaioumenoi, “[they are] being justified”, which is a present tense participle. This indicates that while believers are continually sinning and hence continually falling short of the glory of God, they are—simultaneously; at the same time—“being continually justified freely, by his grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” That is the message of this passage.