“But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 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: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory God” (Romans 3: 21-23 KJV).
Have you ever come up short? Short on money? Short of the ingredients to make a cake or pie? Are you too short in stature to get on a ride? Have you ever been short-handed for a job? You were just short of the standard or requirement and were rejected and turned away. In most cases, we will find a way to make up for our shortcomings.
But according to our text, we have all come up short when it comes to the righteousness required by God to be saved and enter Heaven. Not one is closer to hitting the mark than another. Though one may appear more righteous than another, their self-righteousness is as “filthy rags” (Is. 64: 6).
The mark or standard we all come short of is “the glory of God” and that standard is Jesus Christ (John 1: 14; Acts 7: 55; 2 Cor. 4: 6). Jesus is sinless, and we are sinful and therefore miss the mark and fail to meet the standard.
In this case, there is nothing we can do to make up for our shortage. Neither good works nor baptism nor church membership will take up the slack. All the religions in the world will not fill the void between us and God and get us into Heaven.
But our shortages have been overcome by Jesus Christ. He took responsibility for our failures, faults, and sinfulness and suffered the consequences for our shortcomings through His death on Calvary. Now through faith in Jesus Christ we are saved from our sin and are fully accepted by God because we have Christ’s righteousness imputed to us and are just as near and dear to the Father as Jesus is.
On Judgment Day, the lost who did not accept Christ as their Savior will realize the penalty for coming short of the glory of God. The saved in Heaven will realize they are there because Jesus met their shortcomings and bridged the gap between them and God.
