This study is a fresh approach to Paul's Epistle to the Romans. Taking Paul's Jewish background seriously, it challenges the prevailing consensus that Paul's object in the first three chapters is to conclude that everyone is under the power of sin. Davies shows that in Paul's thinking there has always been a category of the righteous, those who live by faith and express their faith in obedience. Paul's indictment of Jews and Gentiles, therefore, is an indictment of only the wicked among Jews and Gentiles, not of the righteous.