Here is an extract from the Letter to the Romans:
'For the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of those who suppress the truth by their wickedness . . .'.
But how does Paul go on from there?
'Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world held accountable to God . . . But now the love of God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This love of God comes to all through Jesus Christ. For there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are accepted freely by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice as a sign of his love, to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his love and his divine forbearance. He did it to demonstrate his love to all at the present time' (Romans 1.18; 3.19, 21-26).
Anyone who knows their Romans will immediately spot that that is not what Paul wrote. But, if Paul had truly listened to the message of Jesus, should he not have written that? After all, look at the inner logic of Romans. In the opening verse of the above quotation Paul speaks of the wrath of God on everyone. That is where he begins to expound the 'gospel that is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes'. He proceeds to expound that theme of God's wrath, and the allied one of human sinfulness and guilt, in 1.18-3.20.
