of privilege in possessing the Torah but also their self-esteem. What follows in verse 16, however, puts the concessive introductory clause in a singular light. For whatever the Jews might possess in privileged superiority to the Gentiles, they no more than the Gentiles could, on the basis of their privileged position, achieve a righteousness with God. That is the content of the Christian conviction to which Paul, without fear of contradiction, could and had to appeal over against Peter and over