In Chapter 5, it was argued that exegesis of Rom. 14:1–15:13 provides the key to the purpose of Paul's letter to the Romans. There were two congregations in Rome: one was Jewish Christian, the other Gentile Christian. The former represented the remnant of the original Roman Christian congregation, whereas the latter was composed mainly of converts and associates of Paul. Paul's purpose in writing Romans was to bring the two together. This would involve persuading the Jewish congregation to separate themselves finally from the non-Christian Jewish community, and to recognize the legitimacy of the Pauline congregation, which based itself on the premises of freedom from the law and separation from the synagogue. In Chapter 6, this hypothesis was applied to Rom. 2, in which Paul denounces the leaders of the Jewish community and so tacitly encourages the Jewish Christians to distance themselves from that community, and commends the obedience of uncircumcised Gentile Christians, with whom the Jewish Christians should now identify themselves. Nowhere in Rom. 2 is this social function made explicit, but the view that it was intended to have such a function has resolved problems of exegesis which have proved intractable for other views.

In the present chapter, the hypothesis about the social function of Romans will be applied to Rom. 3 and 4. Paul's attempt to legitimate separation from the synagogue in these chapters will be considered under the headings of antithesis and reinterpretation respectively.