What Does Romans 3:23 Mean?
For all have missed the mark, and fall short of the weight of God.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;THE KEY
The verse names one shared human condition twice: a miss and an ongoing lack before the weight of God.
THE MEANING
You are included in “all”: this verse names the human condition as both missing and lacking before the weight of God. It holds the act of missing beside a present shortfall, with God’s weight as the measure named in the sentence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that missing God’s mark belongs only to someone else; “all” includes the reader in the same human condition.
THE ROOT
ἥμαρτον
hēmarton
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτ-
hamart-
To miss, fail, or go wrong.
“missed the mark” in this verse is hēmarton. The Greek names a miss, opening the word beyond a fixed label for wrongdoing. The verse says all have missed; the shared condition is stated plainly, without singling out a special class of people.
ALSO GROWS
hamartía: Missing, failure, wrongdoing.
ἁμαρτία
This noun comes from the same word-family and keeps the sense of missing present in the familiar English word “sin.”
hamártēma: A fault or act of missing.
ἁμάρτημα
It names a particular expression of the same underlying miss.
hamartōlós: One marked by wrongdoing; a sinner.
ἁμαρτωλός
This branch shows how a missed way can become an identity people carry.
ὑστεροῦνται
hysterountai
GROWS FROM
ὑστερ-
hyster-
To lag behind, lack, or be deficient.
“fall short” in this verse is hysterountai. The verse pairs the act of missing with a present state of lack. English can make the phrase sound like a completed distance; the Greek also holds the shortfall as a present condition in relation to God’s weight.
ALSO GROWS
hystérēma: A lack or deficiency.
ὑστέρημα
This noun gives a name to what is missing, echoing the verse’s present shortfall.
hysteréō: To lack or come behind.
ὑστερέω
The verb appears in other contexts for having need, showing that this root describes insufficiency as a lived condition.
δόξης
dóxēs
GROWS FROM
δοκ-
dok-
The word-family carries senses of thinking, seeming, and what is esteemed or honored; dóxa means honor, reputation, or splendor.
“Glory” can sound like a display; the established sense of “weight” makes God’s gravity and worth concrete. The verse names that weight as the measure before which humanity is found lacking.
ALSO GROWS
doxázō: To honor or glorify.
δοξάζω
This verb shows the same word-family in the act of giving honor.
éndoxos: Honored, esteemed, glorious.
ἔνδοξος
This adjective makes the sense of recognized worth visible in the same family.
THE PATTERN
Scripture names the human shortfall as shared across people, not confined to a few conspicuous failures.
For there is no aligned human upon the earth who does good and does not miss the mark.As it is written, There is none aligned, not even one.If we say that we have no falling short, we lead ourselves off the path, and the truth is not in us.THE THREAD
If we say that we have no falling short, we lead ourselves off the path, and the truth is not in us.The word for “sin,” ἁμαρτία (hamartía, missing), belongs to the same Greek word-family as “sinned” in Romans 3:23. Romans names the miss as shared; John shows how denying it can obscure the truth.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us