We are sinners

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Romans 3:23

This verse comes from the book of Romans, which was written by the Apostle Paul. He has an amazing story of how he came to be a Christ-follower, but we will save those details for another time. What is helpful to know now is that Paul was an enemy to Christianity in the beginning. He held a position of authority in the Jewish religious system, and he used his power to punish those who spoke about the Gospel of Jesus. However, he had a profound encounter with Jesus that changed the entire trajectory of his life, transforming him into one of the most passionate and sacrificial missionaries of the first church. In fact, the letters he wrote to those first churches have been included in the Bible and make up much of the entire New Testament. When you see a book in the New Testament donning the title of a people group, like “Galatians” or “Corinthians,” these are letters Paul wrote to churches/believers in those geographical locations.

The book of Romans is one such letter. Paul wrote it to the group of new Christians in Rome which included both Gentiles and Jews combined. Gentiles were those who had no previous ties to the Jewish religion or traditions. They came to Christ from a worldly position rooted in cultural influence, having either no previous religion at all or a false religion. Most of us today likely identify with the Gentiles…coming to Christ having no previous religious affiliation. The Jews, however, came from a highly structured and deeply rooted religion (Judaism), and had always been identified as God’s chosen people. The Jewish faith was primarily based on birthright (being born into a Jewish family), but it allowed foreigners to join the religion if they declared God as Lord and agreed to adhere to the covenants and laws that God had put forth for them in the Old Testament.

Although these two people groups were a contrasting mix for the first Christian church in Rome, they had two things in common – they both had placed their faith in Jesus for salvation, and they both had to fight off the lie that they must be doing something beyond faith in order to earn their salvation. The Gentiles would have known about the strict requirements necessary for them to have followed Jewish law in order to be accepted into the highly exclusive religion of Judaism. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, however, they received a new freedom that had no ethnic boundaries and no demands for practices. The Christian faith only required them to place their faith in Jesus in order to be fully justified by God and cleansed of all sin. They had to fight off the intrusive thoughts that they were still required to follow the Jewish law in order to be “good enough” to enter the Kingdom of God. Similarly, the Jews had been so hardwired by their deep-seeded religious practices, that it was difficult for them to let go of the need to DO something to be in a right standing with God. Within this letter to the Romans, Paul is teaching both groups of these recently converted believers that nothing they can “do” will justify, or cover, their sin. He wants them to cling to the truth that only faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection will save them from the fate of their sinful status.

Today’s verse states, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Here, Paul is addressing the tendency for the believers to fall back into placing their hope in their own ability to keep the law or earn their salvation. Paul reminded them that it is impossible to perfectly keep all of the commandments in the law; furthermore, it is arrogant for them to assume so. He is making the sobering point in this verse that, regardless of our religious ties or social status, we are all sinners…and that God alone is perfectly holy. This distinction draws a clear line in the sand, demanding that we see ourselves as completely different from God. We can visualize that all humans are on one mountain cliff; yet God, in his holiness, is on the opposite cliff, not even near the “sin” camp. We cannot deny the massive chasm that lies between us and God. With this visual in mind, it becomes clear that what Paul said is true, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). This is how sin “separates” every human from God.

It isn’t just what we do…

We must recognize that, according to the Bible, we are not mostly “good people” who are simply guilty of committing sins. No, we are born with a sinful nature. It is part of our human DNA. (No one has to teach a toddler to lie. It is an inherent part of our sinful nature.) This way of thinking of ourselves goes against what the world rhetoric has told us all our lives. For example:

The world would say that you are a good person – perfect just the way you are.

The world would say that you need to figure out who you are (not who God made you to be), based on your desires and your ambitions, then go after that with all your heart.

The world loves to say, “You do you!” It is a common phrase used to encourage us to live out our individualism and ignore God’s authority in our lives.

As cozy as some of these phrases may feel to us, they are completely false. The world doesn’t recognize God or the Bible as a standard for living, so from a worldly perspective, there are very few boundaries for what is right or wrong (as implied in these secular ideas mentioned above); therefore, in this way, we each seem like a pretty good person if we just take care of ourselves, pursue what makes us happy, and avoid hurting anyone else. Does any of this seem like a familiar perspective you may have had? You’re not alone…this is a universal tendency, and this is why the truths of the Bible are so hard to hear at first. It goes against all worldly thinking that has essentially shaped us and continues to tempt us, even after coming to Christ.

When I first came to Christ, my only moral compass had ever been the rules/expectations set forth by the civil law and my parents. I had been bragged upon for years by my grandmother because I was one of her only grandchildren who got straight A’s in school. When I reached high school, my straight A streak ended, and I struggled to figure out my value without having a flawless report card to serve as evidence. I was constantly comparing myself to others…leaving me to feel “good” when I was surrounded by people who seemed as smart or talented as I perceived myself to be. Conversely, I found myself in angst and discontentment when I was surrounded by people I perceived to be “better” than me in some way. It was truly a miserable and self-centered way to live, but I didn’t have any other standard at that time for what identified me as worthy or unworthy.

My first nudge toward Christianity was an effort to look for something more than the weighty comparisons and empty outcomes the world was offering me. I had just stepped into adulthood and out from under the umbrella of rules and expectations that had been placed upon me by my parents, meaning that, for the first time, they had little to no control over me. I wondered, “So…what now?” As I was introduced to the Bible, God, and the role of Jesus in the Christian faith, I was faced with a dilemma – I had not really seen myself as a sinner, but the Bible clearly says I am. I know that probably seems incredibly self-righteous, and it absolutely is. However, at that time in my journey, it was actually a statement rooted just as much in ignorance as it was pride. I had no idea what the standard was because I had no knowledge of what God deems as sin. I knew I was a law-abiding citizen who followed rules quite strictly (I am, after all, a first-born people pleaser). I didn’t “feel” like I was a sinner in the way that I perceived sin. It took some time for me to understand what God’s standard for sin is before I could feel the full weight of what I was truly guilty of and what Christ had done for me on the cross.

Jesus defines sin

The reason we must address our status as sinners so thoroughly is because a right understanding of sin is foundational for an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ as your Lord. You do not need a full-on seminary degree in order to trust what God says is sin, but we do need to address a few foundational truths here. In Exodus 20, Moses was given the original “law” by God Himself. These were 10 commandments that laid out what God expects of his people. We won’t list them all here now, but you are likely familiar with some of the more frequently quoted ones like honoring your father and mother (verse 12), do not murder (v. 13), and do not steal (v. 15). For thousands of years, this was the foundation for the law of the Jews. They believed that if they outwardly upheld these laws, they were standing in righteousness and, therefore, avoiding judgement from God. When Jesus came, however, he preached a deeper application of these same commandments that convicted even our thoughts, not just our outward actions. In his well-known Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, and 7), Jesus delivered some compelling teaching to the crowd about the reality of our place in this world. Here’s what he had to say about the commandment to not murder:

               “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder,’ and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.” Matthew 5:21-22

What Jesus is saying here is that many people perceived themselves to be free of sin because they abstained from murder, but Jesus is clarifying (not changing) what God deems as holy and righteous. Jesus identified that even if you have been angry toward a brother or sister, you will still receive judgment, just as the murderer does. Wow…that changes the standard a bit for sin, doesn’t it? Jesus goes on to teach something similar about another one of the ten commandments – adultery.

               “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matthew 5:27-28

Again, Jesus is identifying that we cannot inventory our sin by outward actions only. Sure…you may have had enough self-control to abstain from having a physical affair outside of marriage, but Jesus says that even looking lustfully at a person other than your spouse is sin within your heart and therefore deserves judgment.

Now, on the surface, it may seem that Jesus is just “upping the ante” here, as if it is a cruel game to set us up for failure and thrust us into a pit of internal shame and external judgement. You may be squirming a bit while reading his words because it feels like he just made it impossible for you to not be guilty of sin. Actually…that is precisely what He is doing. He is desperately trying to prove to us that it is impossible for us to be completely free from sin – but he never desires for us to be doomed by that reality. Jesus is not setting us up to fail. In fact, He so desperately wants us to win the battle over sin that he gave his life for anyone who believes upon his sacrifice as the payment for their sin. What Jesus was doing here is shifting how we identify what sin is. He was moving our thinking from a position of sin being just an act that we do from time to time to the reality that sin exists at the heart level and therefore is a part of who we are as humans. Ever since the infamous Garden of Eden moment when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of the forbidden fruit, we have been awakened to and cursed by sin…every single person ever born, from Adam to you. It separates us from God; it damages our relationships with one another; it marks this world as distinctly different than heaven – where God reigns on his throne.

Jesus’ message about sin in the sermon on the mount may seem at the surface to be quite depressing. Acknowledging that we are terminally ill with a sin problem that we can’t escape seems like a real downer of a sermon theme, right? If his message stopped there, we would be eternally hopeless. But, Jesus’ goal was the same then that it is now. He desperately wants you to understand that each of us possess a sin nature that we cannot escape on our own, just so we will recognize Him as being the only remedy for this. If we never get real with our sin, we will never see the need for a Savior. If we don’t face our sin or depravity, then Jesus just becomes some good guy who gave us an example to live by. But, oh, He is so much more than that!

The first and most important step in coming to Christ with an authentic faith is to recognize that what Paul said in this key verse for us today is absolutely true to its sobering core – “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). You, me, and everyone you have ever known are all incapable of even coming close to the holiness of God, but we are not left hopeless.

*Note from the author: This post is the second installment in a series of six posts explaining the process of salvation through Jesus Christ. If you have questions concerning the Christian faith, I invite you to read through the first six posts on this blog site in the order they were published. I am praying for you!