Stevens invokes a powerful synthesis of recent Pauline studies by insisting the category of Israel is the hermeneutical key to all of Romans. Through Jesus the Messiah and the power of the Spirit, Paul saw fulfilled Isaiah's vision of Israel's destiny to the nations to bring the good news of salvation. Recapturing Isaiah's vision broke the spell for Paul of the Great Assembly's postexilic take on Israel. Paul's apostleship first and foremost was to Israel, not gentiles exclusively. Paul used his expose of the gospel of God in Romans to challenge believers in Rome to embrace their place in the messianic Israel of God.
