All Means All, Including You

"This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God ..." Romans 3:22-23

According to the dictionary, a stereotype is "a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing." Have you ever noticed that when a person uses a stereotype that is deemed negative, it is considered to be judgmental? However, when the stereotype is positive, it is considered a compliment. Although, it is also making a judgment. There are stereotypes about gender, race, and culture, etc. For example, regarding gender, you may have heard some of these listed in an article from the website Your Dictionary: "Men are strong and do all the work. Men are the "backbone." Women aren't as smart as a man. Women can't do as good of a job as a man. Girls are not good at sports. Guys are messy and unclean. Men who spend too much time on the computer or read are geeks." That same article lists the following cultural stereotypes: "All white Americans are obese, lazy, and dim-witted. Homer Simpson of the TV series The Simpsons is the personification of this stereotype. Mexican stereotypes suggest that all Mexicans are lazy and came into America illegally.  All Arabs and Muslims are terrorists. All people who live in England have bad teeth. Italian or French people are the best lovers. All Blacks outside of the United States are poor. All Jews are greedy. All Asians are good at math. All Asians like to eat rice and drive slow. All Irish people are drunks and eat potatoes. All Americans are generally considered to be friendly, generous, and tolerant, but also arrogant, impatient, and domineering." Finally, the article lists the stereotypes of individuals: "Goths wear black clothes, black makeup, are depressed and hated by society. Punks wear mohawks, spikes, chains, are a menace to society, and are always getting in trouble. All politicians are philanders and think only of personal gain and benefit. Girls are only concerned about physical appearance. All blonds are unintelligent. All librarians are women who are old, wear glasses, tie a high bun and have a perpetual frown on their faces. All teenagers are rebels. All children don't enjoy healthy food. Only anorexic women can become models. The elderly have health issues and behave like children." You get the point. The list is endless and we all are stereotyped and have stereotyped others. But, when we say that "All __________ (you fill in the blank)" then you have already diminished your statement because while every stereotype may have its basis in truth, no stereotype is true for all those people contained in it.

However, there is a stereotype that is true. And it is true because the one making it is the only one who has complete knowledge of all of us in which to make the statement. In Romans 3:22-23, the Apostle Paul says that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." God, speaking through Paul, knows the heart of man. Therefore, when He says that all have sinned and fallen short of His glory, we can rest assured that He is not making a broad, sweeping generalization that may be true for most or some, but not all people. While we as individuals do not know every person on earth, we know we have never run into someone truly perfect and who was without sin. In fact, from the point of view of the Gospel, we all entered the world spiritually dead to God in sin. We didn't even have the chance to mess up, we were messed up from the beginning. Another way we know that man has fallen short of the glory of God are all the religions in the world trying to get us to clean ourselves up and improve ourselves. Even in the secular world, you see it. How many people purchase self-improvement materials trying to be a "better version of themselves?" This is proof that they are "worse versions of themselves" and are trying to get better. The fact is that we use stereotypes as compensation for not having to do critical thinking or because we are trying to get along with people who we know will agree with the stereotypical statement being made. Thus, we will gain favor in their eyes and acceptance for our perceived agreement about a group of people or things. The unfortunate side-effect of engaging in all of this stereotyping is that it takes the focus off of ourselves. While we are consumed with labeling others in order to make ourselves feel better about ourselves, we are blind to the fact that from God's perspective we are no different than those we are stereotyping. No matter where we place ourselves on the proverbial stereotyping measuring stick when we match ourselves up against the perfection of God we fall woefully short of His expectation. The only way to correct this is by believing God about your condition of falling short of His glory and accept His provision found only in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Then, and only then, will you discover that racial, cultural, and individual stereotypes do not matter, but that "all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24)."