“But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Romans 3:22-23

We know the words well, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). They keep us humble, and they should, but they should do much more than merely foster humility. Contextually, these words are liberating. Take a moment and read them in their context.

Humanity has seemingly always struggled to work “with” God, as it strove to “work out” its salvation (Phil. 2:12). It strives to find ways around confession, surrender, and submission, leaving them as a last resort. That “all have sinned,” save Jesus, is obvious. But Jesus sets us free from thinking we must craft our own senses of righteousness. God’s righteousness is by faith in grace through Christ (Rom. 3:22, 24). God declares us righteous because of the confidence we have in him. When this is the groundwork, God is able to “work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).

The other day an acquaintance approached me saying, “Doug, I’ve been reading my bible more lately but it’s not making much sense to me.” This is not an uncommon frustration. More than a few have shared it. After all, scripture can be intimidating.

A root problem lies in how we read scripture. Scripture is unique among literature. It warrants its own approach in reading. You don’t read Scripture as you would The Dallas Morning News or H.G. Well’s “The Outline of History” or the works of Shakespeare.

In Eat This Book, Eugene Peterson contends,

There is only one way of reading that is congruent with our holy scriptures, writing that trusts in the power of words to penetrate our lives and create truth and beauty and goodness, writing that requires a reader who, in the words of Rainer Maria Wilke, “Does not always remain bent over his pages; he often leans back and closes his eyes over a line he has been reading again, and its meaning spreads through his blood.”

He would go on to suggest that this particular kind of reading is one “that enters our souls as food enters our stomachs, spreads through the blood, and becomes holiness and love and wisdom.”

Fundamentally, there is a difference between reading for information and transformation. Atheists frequently read the bible for information, but people of God read it for transformation. Through truth God shapes, forms, and molds us “into his workmanship” (Eph. 2:10). But this only happens when we are receptive to the truth (Jam. 1:21) and willing to be clay in the potter’s hands (Jer. 18:6).