God's Mercy: The Key Thematic Undercurrent of Paul's Letter to the Romans

In this essay, I propose that divine mercy is the key thematic "undercurrent" of Paul's Letter to the Romans. In the undisputed Pauline letters, thirteen of the nineteen instances of the word "mercy" and its derivatives occur in Romans. Furthermore, nine of the thirteen instances of "mercy" terminology are found in chaps. 9–11. In the light of the intertextual approach, the unusually high frequency of "mercy" words in these climactic chapters, as well as references to mercy in the preceding and following chapters, suggests that the concept of mercy permeates the whole letter and has greater significance than is commonly thought.