Paul had been preaching the gospel for over two decades by the time he wrote this letter to the Christians in Rome. He knows that his teaching on certain topics will inevitably raise certain questions or even spark certain conclusions among his hearers and readers.
As he sets his gospel before the Roman Christians, we find him repeatedly pausing to deal with questions he anticipates his readers may be asking, getting ahead of false conclusions they may be drawing, or confronting the accusations of his opponents. Nowhere in Romans is this more evident than 3:1–8.
