March 3, 2002

March 17, 2002

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. This Week's International Sunday School Lesson Romans 3:1-4, 19-31

Getting Back Our Divine Nature "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." - Romans 3:23 - Every human being is created in the image of God. - We all continue to to be a less than glorious reflection. - Christ Himself offers to completely restore each of us. Thanks for Spreading the Word!

Romans 3:1-4, 19-31 1   What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? 2   Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. 3   For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? 4   God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. 19   Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20   Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21   But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22   Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23   For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24   Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25   Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26   To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 27   Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28   Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. 29   Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: 30   Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. 31   Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. For more translations, versions, and languages, click here to view this passage at the Bible Gateway

• For all have sinned- In Adam, and in their own persons; by a sinful nature, sinful tempers, and sinful actions.

And are fallen short of the glory of God- The supreme end of man; short of his image on earth, and the enjoyment of him in heaven.
- Wesley, John, Notes Upon the New Testament, Vol. 2, on Romans 3:23
• "Fall short of the glory" presupposes Jewish reflection on the creation of man in the image of God (Genesis 1:26) and the admission that the divine glory which should show in the way man bears himself in fact is lacking. But it was expected to be restored in the age to come.

- Edwin Cyril Blackman, Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary: Romans, p. 775
• Have sinned, is in the Greek, an instance of the apostle's aoristic tenses in which past, present, and future are comprehended.  The tense is equivalent to a perpetual present, "an eternal now," and so the phrase is tantamount to all men sin.

- D.D. Whedon, Commentary on the New Testament, Vol. IIII:Acts-Romans, p. 315
• Glory of God (Greek doxa) is the visible brightness and splendour which emanates from the perfect character of God.  This is the Shekinah glory of the Old Testament and in the New Testament is expressed in the incarnate life of Jesus, the Word or expression of the Father...  This universal deficiency is one view of sin.  Both in reality and consciousness all are far removed from the blazing light of the divine Perfection.

- G.T. Thomson and F. Davidson, New Bible Commentary (1954):  Romans, p.946
• Disfigured by sin and death, man remains "in the image of God," in the image of the Son, but is deprived "of the glory of God," of his "likeness."  The promise made to Abraham inaugurates the economy of salvation, at the culmination of which the Son himself will assume that "image" and restore it in the Father's "likeness" by giving it again its Glory, the Spirit who is the "giver of life."

-  Catechism of the Catholic Church, (Missouri: Liguori, 1994)  ¶705
• The holiness of God is the inaccessible center of his eternal mystery.  What is revealed of it in creation and history, Scripture calls "glory," the radiance of his majesty.  In making man in his image and likeness, God "crowned him with glory and honor,"  but by sinning, man fell "short of the glory of God."  From that time on, God was to manifest his holiness by revealing and giving his name, in order to restore man to the image of his Creator..

-  Catechism of the Catholic Church, (Missouri: Liguori, 1994)  ¶2809
• In Romans 1:18-3:20 Paul has established that "all," whether Jew or Grek, godly or ungodly, "have sinned."  Now, however, the situation has been dramatically changed by God's intervention in Christ.  First, Paul repeats the same terms as in Romans 1:16 his definition of the gospel as the revelation of God's righteousness, and into this he weaves his conclusion, drawn from the preceding analysis of the human situation before God, namely, that all, whether Jew or Gentiles, have sinned.

- Reginald H. Fuller, Preaching the Lectionary, p. 128-129
• We may throw our accusations into the perfect and the pluperfect, any way to get rid of them, by depositing them in some grammatical hole, but the Apostle's verb is a verb of continuance.

- Joseph Parker, People's Bible, Vol. 26, p.25
• By the "glory of God" is meant that mark which we all aim for, that is, everlasting life, which consists in our being made partakers of the glory of God.

- Geneva Study Bible of 1599, Romans 3:23
•  For all have sinned:  And consequently are equally helpless and guilty; and, as God is no respecter of persons, all human creatures being equally his offspring, and there being no reason why one should be preferred before another, therefore his endless mercy has embraced ALL.

 And come short of the glory of God:  These words have been variously translated.  Failed of attaining the glory of God: Have not been able to bring glory to God: Stand in need of the glory, that is, the mercy of God.  The simple meaning seems to be this: that all have sinned, and none can enjoy God's glory but they that are holy; consequently both Jews and Gentiles have failed in their endeavours to attain it, as, by the works of any law, no human being can be justified.
- Clarke, Adam, Adam Clarke's Commentary, Romans 3:23
• For all have sinned. This was the point which he had fully established in the discussion in these chapters.   And come short. Greek, Are deficient in regard to; are wanting, etc. Here it means, that they had failed to obtain, or were destitute of.   The glory of God. The praise or approbation of God. They had sought to be justified, or approved, by God; but all had failed. Their works of the law had not secured his approbation; and they were therefore under condemnation.

- Barnes, Albert, New Testament Commentary, Romans 3:23
• Though men differ greatly in the nature and extent of their sinfulness, there is absolutely no difference between the best and the worst of men, in the fact that "all have sinned," and so underlie the wrath of God.

- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary, Romans 3:23
• Wickliffe says, "Have need of the glory of God." I believe this suggests the idea. Man was made originally in the image of God. He was then sinless. No sinner is in the Divine image. All have sinned, and to have the divine likeness restored, need to have their sins blotted out. Until this is done they come short of the glory of God.

- People's New Testament Commentary, Romans 3:23
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Sermons, Outlines, & Commentaries
See also:
220.7 - Bible Commentaries; 251 - Homiletics;  252 - Sermon Texts;
Lectionary: Proper 4A (June 2, 2002)

•  The Roman Road
•  Justification-- Joint Lutheran and Catholic Declaration
•  Justification by Grace -- Sermon by CH Spurgeon
•  Justification by Faith  -- Sermon by CH Spurgeon
•  Of Justification by Faith, by John Calvin
•  Justification by Faith Alone
•  The Importance of Justification by Faith
•  This We Believe
•  JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH by Charles G. Finney

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