elsewhere in Paul apart from the Pastorals), to suggest that Paul is thinking only, or, at any rate, specially, of chapters 9 to 11. But, while it is certainly true that chapters 9 to 11 are specially set under the sign of the mercy of God, it is also true that the whole of 1:18–11:36 is concerned with the action of the merciful God. The words οἰκτίρειν, ἔλεος and ἐλεεῖν may indeed be absent from the first eight chapters; but such words as χρηστότης, μακροθυμία, ἀγάπη and χάρις are used,