Paul at last turns to the problem of the place of the law in salvation, a problem he has mentioned in passing but has not discussed in depth. Like all Jews, Paul made certain affirmations of the law. The law was given by God and was thus “holy, righteous, and good” (7:12). It was the definitive expression of God’s will for the ordering of human life (2:1ff.), and as such it was worthy of endorsement (3:31). But in the wake of his conversion, and unlike most of his Jewish contemporaries and even many of his Christian contemporaries, Paul saw also a negative side of the law. The law makes us aware of sin (3:20), it reveals transgressions and thus brings God’s wrath (4:15), and, most disturbingly, the law has a dangerous liaison with sin. Apart from the law, sin was not even reckoned as sin (…