between Jews and Gentiles occupies a significant portion of Paul’s epistle to the church at Rome.25 Paul was sensitive to people’s backgrounds. In Rom 1:16, when the apostle speaks to the “Jew first and also to the Greek,” he recognizes the unique cultural and ethnic heritages of two distinct peoples. The crucial issue for the congregation at Rome revolved around the fellowship of Jew and non-Jew in a culturally biased society. Too often Paul has been read to exclude the Jewish people. A more careful