Romans 3:23

all have sinned Lit. all sinned: the Gr. aorist. Probably the time-reference of the tense is to the original Fall of Man, regarded as involving the individual experience of sinfulness in the case of each person. See however on Romans 1:19.

come short A present tense. The result of the Fall is that they are now"short of the glory of God." The word translated "come short" is translated "to be in want" (Luke 15:14); "to suffer need" (Philippians 4:12); "to be destitute" (Hebrews 11:37). Here the context suggests that modification of its root-meaning given in E. V.: "to suffer from defect," "to fail to attain." "The glory of God" must here be His moral glory, His holiness and its requirements. In many passages the Word "glory" is used with evident reference to the Divine moral attributes mercy, faithfulness, love as well as to Divine power. See Romans 6:4; 2 Corinthians 4:4 ("the gospel of the glory of Christ"); Ephesians 1:12; Ephesians 1:14; 1 Timothy 1:11 ("the gospel of the glory of the blessed God"). Fallen man lies hopelessly below the standard of the spiritual law which is the expression of the essential holiness of God.