<p>3:23&nbsp;<i>For all have sinned</i>- the context suggests that the enormity of our condemned position before God should mean that we do not uphold any human distinctions between us, e.g. on ethnic grounds. Perceiving the enormity of our sin, how we are all in this together, and the wonder of God&rsquo;s saving grace, ought to be the most powerful inspiration to unity known to humanity. The &ldquo;all&rdquo; who have sinned could refer to &lsquo;all believers in Christ&rsquo; which is the subject of the preceding verse 3:22; and 3:24 suggests that this same &ldquo;all&rdquo; are those who are justified freely by His grace.</p><p><i>And all fall short of the glory of God</i>- We have all already sinned aorist past tense and we do now present tense fall short of God&rsquo;s glory, i.e. the complete perfection, the glory of God which was seen in the person of His Son (2 Cor. 4:6). God declared His glory to Moses in terms of His character (Ex. 33:18 cp. Ex. 34:4-6). We fall short of that perfection of the Father&rsquo;s character which was revealed in its fullness in His Son. Heb. 12:15 uses the same Greek word for &ldquo;come / fall short&rdquo; in warning lest any man &ldquo;fail / fall short of the grace of God&rdquo;. We come far short of God&rsquo;s glory, but we are not to fall short of His grace whereby the righteousness of His Son, His glory, is counted to us and we are thereby declared right with Him. Jewish writings such as the Apocalypse of Moses 20.2 and 21.6 claimed that Adam &ldquo;came short of the glory of God&rdquo; by his sin in Eden; Paul is clearly alluding to this and is saying that Adam is everyman, we each are as Adam in Eden, with the tidal wave of realization breaking upon us as to the seriousness and eternal consequence of our so easily committed sin. It must be remembered that the Jewish writings frequently paralleled Adam with Israel N.T. Wright,&nbsp;<i>The Climax of the Covenant&nbsp;</i>(Edinburgh: T. &amp; T. Clark, 1991) pp. 18-40 for documentation. But Paul is arguing that Adam is every single human being, not just Israel.&nbsp; For Adam was created well before Israel, and all humanity are his offspring, not just Israel. The universal experience of sinfulness therefore leads to the offer of God&rsquo;s grace to all types of human being, not just Israel; and there will be an ensuing unity between those who believe in this grace, regardless of their ethnic background.</p><p>The Bible itself continually reflects a distinction in the mind of God between the person and the behaviour, the sin and the sinner. When we allow ourselves to be offended and to offend others, we have ceased to make that differentiation. We so easily equate the person and their behaviour, and thus they offend us. Consider how we are in the habit of saying: &ldquo;We&rsquo;re all sinners&rdquo;. You may think I&rsquo;m being pedantic, but Rom. 3:23 says otherwise- that &ldquo;all have sinned&rdquo;. And there&rsquo;s a slight and subtle difference. We have committed sin, and therefore we can be called sinners. But the Biblical focus is on the action committed rather than the branding of the person with a label.</p>