Considering Pauls letter to the Romans, N.T Wright writes in his book The New Testament In Its World,
“Romans gives us a vision of what Paul thought he was trying to achieve by his apostolic labours. He was not an itinerant philosopher out to make a quick profit. Nor was he selling a kind of messianic faith as a “Judaism-lite” option for gentiles looking for a new religious path. He certainly not trying to add one more deiry to the already overcrowded pantheon of Roman gods and goddesses. No, Paul believed that it was his vocation, a very Jewish vocation, rooted in Israel’s scriptures, to announce that the promises and purposes of Israel’s God had been fulfilled, overcoming the dark powers of evil (elsewhere named the Powers of Sin and Death) and thus enabling idol-worshopping, sexually immoral, and ritually impure gentiles to come into the transformative obedience of faith. Thus by fulfilling Israel’s scriptures, the gentiles might glorify God for his mercy, while Jews like Paul himself could celebrate the world changing achievements of Israel’s true Messiah.”
He then goes on to articulate where the Jews, or Israel, sits in this letters concern.
“Was not Israel called to be the means of putting the world right (2:17-20)? Yes, indeed, but the prophets themselves declared (and virtually all second temple Jews would have agreed) that Israel had failed in this vocation, suffering the ongoing exile spoken of in Daniel 9 and referred to by many writers in the period (2:21-24l)… if God were to create a new covenant people whose hearts had been softened so that they were able to do do the Law (Deuternonmy 30) in a whole new way- then that would fulfill scripture (the covenant promise of Gods faithfulness) in a whole new way, even redifing the word Jew in the process (2:15-29)..This however, might seem to call into question Gods faithfulness.”
This question is what Romans is concerned about. The idea that “God has done what he promised” within Israel’s covenental failure and according to Israel’s story by fulfilling that story is what makes God faithful and thus trustworthy.
Wright goes on.
“This leaves Paul in a situation no Jew had faced before: what happens when God fulfills his promises, sending his Messiah to fulfill the ancient promises, and Israel as a whole looks the other way? This is where the incipient Roman anti-Jewish sentiment might kick in: supposing God has changed his mind… No Paul says.”
He goes on to explain how and why the gentile story is good news for Israel. But this point is crucial for understanding Romans. It is a letter dealing with a divided community, and addessing both sides of the divide through the faithful articulation of the Jewish story and its fulfillment in the Messiah.
The Stories of my Life 