We return now to the opening theme of the epistle which Paul announced in 1:16–17, righteousness by faith. There it was like a first glimpse of the Himalayas seen from the plains of Nepal, shimmering on the horizon. Then the trek began in earnest as the reader was led up the rugged terrain of argumentation and proof from 1:18–3:20, in which Gentiles and Jews were confronted with a landslide of evidence against them. The inspiring first vision was long since obscured, and more than once the trekker was brought to the brink of discouragement. “But now,” says Paul (3:21). Suddenly a bend is rounded and there is a stunning massif of peaks. The original glimpse had not been a mirage after all, nor had the arduous trek miscarried. The Mount Everest of Scripture looms before us.

Like the Himalay…