Romans 3:23 - Do you really understand what it means?

A few years ago, I came across an explanation of Romans 3:23 in a friend's dissertation. I grew up hearing this verse. It was always to be the first verse mentioned in a "Roman's Road" approach to sharing the gospel. Yet, I think we're missing something if we only think this verse applies to non-believers.

This is what my friend wrote:

Christians often use Romans 3:23 to speak of the universal sinfulness of humanity. This, however, is not the point of the verse. The all in verse 23 governs the participle . . . (and all are justified). If the all in verse 23 spoke of all humanity universally, then this passage would teach universal justification. Instead, it is better to understand the all in verse 23 as a reference to and an abbreviation of the phrase all who believe . . . in the preceding verse.

Confused? Let me re-state. The "all" in verse 23 refers back to the "all who believe" in verse 22. So, this is the understanding of Romans 3:23, "For all [who believe] have sinned and [continually, present tense] fall short of the glory of God,"

This verse offers humility to us believers and it also provides great encouragement. Even as believers we fail in our attempts to glorify God. Hence, we continually need a Savior. And, the encouragement from this verse is that we have a Savior! Verse 24 says that we, who have sinned, and sin continually, are justified. We have been declared righteous as a gift of God's grace. He delighted in giving us this gift so that we could forever be seen as righteous in His sight, and so that we could forever praise Him for His justice in passing over sins.

Go ahead, read Romans 3:21-26 again. Find hope, encouragement and joy. Let it bring you closer to your Savior, and then share it with others!