Insiders and outsiders

Having ascertained the location of Paul and the Roman community on the matrix, an attempt will now be made to read Romans 1–8, understanding the power of sin within the context of the high group/low grid preoccupation with boundaries. It will be argued that Paul is concerned with demolishing the ethnic boundary of the law in Romans 1:18–4:25, and replacing it with the eschatological boundary of baptism and Spirit reception in 5:1–8:39.

Paul first makes mention of the power of sin in this letter in 3:9, where he claims to have demonstrated that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin's power. This negative claim is the necessary precursor to his ensuing positive statement in 3:21–31, that all alike are equally justified through faith in Christ. This statement takes up Paul's summary of the theme of the letter in 1:16–17, where he proclaims that the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe, the Jew first and also the Greek. In order to show that both Jews and Greeks alike are justified on the same basis, Paul has to show that both groups alike stand in the same need of that justification. He therefore argues that the Jews have no advantage over the Gentiles by virtue of their possession of the Torah; on the contrary, Paul asserts in 3:9 that all alike are under the power of sin.

Paul's claim at this point in the letter seems, however, problematic for two reasons.