Paul is not primarily talking here about the salvation of "the Jew."

He says it all sincerely. This is God's single plan, through Torah-equipped Israel, for the world.

At least, however, Piper does not go in the far more frequent wrong direction, that of deducing, from the fact that "righteousness" in the Bible is a relational term, that it refers to the relationship between Godand humans, making "justification" mean "the establishment of a relationship between me and God."

a "low" ecclesiology, a mere individualism with saved individuals getting together from time to time for mutual benefit, were to turn out to be a denial of some of the key elements of Paul's missionary theology?

5:21 forms the climax of a three-chapter build-up of sustained exposition of the nature of apostleship as the embodiment of the gospel, the gospel of God's faithfulness in the Messiah, and also the climax of a thrice-repeated sequence of just such a double statement about the Messiah's death on the one hand and the apostolic ministry on the other.

The whole point of Abraham in Romans 4, as I have said before in relation to Galatians 3, is not that he is an "illustration" or an "example," as though the saving plan consisted of the simplistic narrative, "Humans sin; God rescues; all is well (and, by the way, God has done this here and there in the past as well)."

That is not only what the Old Testament usage would demand;27 it is not only what is indicated by the post-biblical second-temple literature of which John Piper is so cautious. It is massively indicated by the argument of Romans itself to this point, provided we actually read what Paul says, particularly in 2:17-3:8, rather than merely assuming tha

Romans 2:1-16 must take its place, not as an odd aside which doesn't fit with what Paul says everywhere else, but as a central statement of something he normally took for granted.

And here, in the middle of the passage, Paul quotes a line whose immediate sequel, if I am right, simply repeats the exact meaning of 2 Corinthians 5:21b: I have given you as a covenant to the people. Or, in Paul's language, "That we might, in him, become the righteousness of God."