at some point along the way so that he actually ends up contradicting himself by teaching that justification is apart from works and also by works? That Paul trips over his own feet here is unlikely. It is implausible that he was unaware of what he was doing in writing his letters. The so-called “contradictory” statements stand close to each other (cf. Rom. 2:1–3:20!), and even the most biting critic has to admit that the structure and rhetoric of the Pauline epistles are impressive. When we add