law; the “strong,” mainly gentile Christians, insist that all such rules are passé and mock the “weak” for insisting on them. A large number of contemporary scholars think that Paul writes Romans to confront this division within the church. The theology in chapters 1–11 is designed to provide the foundation for his general appeal in chapters 12–13 and his direct appeal for unity in 14:1–15:13. Model of first-century Jerusalem (Berthold Werner/Wikimedia Commons) Paul does, indeed, appear to be writing