이 논문은 성경의 일부 혹은 전부가 문학적 해석의 여지를 가지고 있다는 관점에서 로마서에 기록된 사도바울의 자기 고백을 수사학적인 도구로 본다. 로마서 해석의 역사에서 바울의 개인적 고백이 담긴 7장 7-25절은 율법을 논하는 다른 부분의 내용과 문체적 차이를 보인다는 이유로 여담, 삽입, 낯선 내용으로 여기거나 혹은 바울이 저자가 아니라는 시각이 존재해왔다. 사도의 권위로 어렵고 중대한 율법을 다루는 담론에 지극히 사적인 고백이 들어간 것은 바울적이지 않다는 해석이다. 그러나 이 논문은 그것을 본문에서 벗어난 내용으로 보지 않고, 오히려 난해하고 논란이 많은 율법이란 이슈를 1세대 크리스천 커뮤니티가 이해하도록 생생한 일인칭 내러티브로 설명한 문학적 도구로서 필수 불가결한 본질로 본다. 다시 말해서 바울은 우리가 이제는 율법에서 벗어났다는 주장을 보강하려고 사적인 고백을 사용한 것이다. 바울의 문학적 전략은 유대인과 이방인을 같은 믿음 안에 들어오게 하여 그들이 교회 안에서 서로 포용하도록 도와주는 데 있었다. “율법이 죄냐?”는 그의 물음은 율법을 지켜야 하느냐 마느냐로 대립하고 있던 교회 안의 두 그룹 모두에게 던진 질문이다. 따라서 바울의 자기 고백은 유대인에게나 이방인에게나 그리스도의 은혜 외에 율법으로는 죄의 문제를 해결할 수 없다는 것을 실증적으로 보여준 문학적 도구로 사용됐음을 알 수 있다.

The Apostle Paul was a great theologian and an excellent missionary. His theology is missional and his missions were theological. Paul focused on communicating the Gospel message cross-culturally while planting churches all over the Roman empire in order to extend the kingdom of God. He devoted his total life to this crucial work. The Gospel which Paul communicated to many people groups was that Jesus Christ had died on the cross and rose from the dead according to the prophecies of the Scriptures to redeem the humankind in the world. This redemption is not possible by human work or by keeping the Law, but through believing in Jesus Christ who is the only Saviour and Lord. The primary purpose of Paul's life since he had been called by the Lord was to become an apostle for the Gentiles who were yet to be Christians. He made three cross-cultural mission trips after he had been sent by the Church in Antioch. He made a final mission trip to the city of Rome after he had been arrested at Jerusalem, and preached the Gospel to the people in Rome. Paul's ministry was centered on cross-cultural evangelism and church planting work. He committed himself wholly to boldly proclaim the Gospel and plant healthy churches throughout the world by crossing racial, linguistic, and religious barriers. He employed multiple methods of evangelism at different areas and times. Paul stressed urban evangelism by choosing cities as strategic points to evangelize the people in remote surrounding areas. Further, he carried out his evangelistic work with good team workers like Timothy and Titus. He usually began his ministry at homes so that he could plant house churches which became large churches. Paul's missions were based on the solid practical theology which tried to contextualize the Gospel in different cultures so that the Gospel could be meaningfully communicated to the people whom he was called to serve. He was always guided by the Holy Spirit when he attempted to move to another area to share the Gospel. According to Paul, Church needs to be a missional church which maintains the balance between evangelism and social service. He was a model for a witness-martyr community. He was concerned with not only preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles, but also having a compassion ministry to the Church in Jerusalem. He preached the unchangeable message of the Gospel to people across changeable cultures.