Romans

Chapters

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4
5. 5
6. 6
7. 7
8. 8
9. 9
10. 10
11. 11
12. 12
13. 13
14. 14
15. 15
16. 16

In the maps

• Romans 3:23

  Paul's statement that all have sinned is the standard objection to Mary's sinlessness. Pitre grants its force and then notes that 'all' in such statements is a generalisation with recognised exceptions — Jesus himself, infants, and, on the Fathers' typological reading, the New Eve whom God preserved from sin for her role. Mary is saved by Christ like everyone else, but in advance, by prevention rather than cure.

• Romans 5:18

  Paul pairs Adam and Christ: one man's trespass brought condemnation, one man's righteous act brings life. Pitre points out that the Fathers, beginning with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus in the second century, extended Paul's typology to the two women: as death came through the virgin Eve, life came through the Virgin Mary. The New Eve stands beside the New Adam in the undoing of the fall.

• Romans 5:19

  Through one man's disobedience many were made sinners; through one man's obedience many are made righteous. Pitre cites Irenaeus' extension of this verse to Eve and Mary: 'the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary.' Eve's 'no' at the tree is answered by Mary's 'yes' to Gabriel, and this obedience is why the Fathers held the New Eve to be preserved from sin.

• Romans 8:29

  Christ is the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Pitre closes chapter 6 with this verse (p 137, where the book cites it as Romans 8:28): if the resurrection is a kind of birth and Jesus is the firstborn of many, then his mother is not only his mother but ours. That question carries the reader into the New Rachel chapter.