Gratitude and Justice in Romans 1:16–32

God is just, but God is also gracious and merciful. One of the tasks of Paul in Romans and in contemporary Pauline theology is to attempt to reconcile these seemingly contradictory claims. John Barclay argues that God's χάρις (grace/gift/ gratitude) is initially incongruous but finally congruous . He attempts to do this by situating χάρις in the context of Roman benefaction. However, it is still unclear exactly how χάρις/ gratia can be incongruous and congruous in a benefaction model. In this article, I explore χάρις/gift through the lens of gratitude, against the background of Roman benefaction. I argue that, if χάρις is understood as gratitude, it explains how χάρις can be incongruous and congruous , but it also elucidates how χάρις is a transformative power to create a congruous result. I do this by bringing Seneca and Epictetus into conversation with similar themes that Paul discusses in Rom 1:16–32.