in larger pericopes and major proofs, supported by stylistic and rhetorical analyses, one can develop a counterweight against the traditional views of the theology of words, phrases, and verses. The bewildering array of exegetical options developed by generations of theological and historical-critical research on Romans can thus be sorted out on the basis of which alternative fits most smoothly into the larger argument of the proof and the letter as a whole. Third, the reconstructed audience situation