traditions were known by Paul himself or mediated to him through Jesus and the early church. The themes of the righteousness of God and the corresponding justification of both Jews and Gentiles are viewed as the center of Romans. Finally, Stuhlmacher seeks to place the apostle's theology within its historical context. He overcomes the false dichotomy that has often characterized the study of Romans, mediating between the view that it is a general theological treatise that functions as Paul's last testament to his Christian faith, on the one hand, and the view that it is one particular and occasion-bound expression of Paul's thinking.

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