Gordo,
I don't follow this media dustups at all, but I think Mark Shea makes a good point, because I think St. Paul probably had an excellent sense of humor:
Here's the deal, Ann. The whole point of the Epistle to the Romans is that law and order -- though an important part of the Republican platform and a very good thing -- cannot save us. It can only point to our need to be saved. For this reason, Paul never encourages the believer to consider himself a perfected Christian or a perfected Jew (which is probably what the now-flustered pundit meant to say). The whole question "Who's more perfect?" would have sent Paul into gales of laughter. For Paul, the thought of fallen human beings fighting over who is more perfect would be like the patients of a cancer ward squabbling about who is the least terminal.
That is why he quotes the Jewish Bible to remind his readers that "none is righteous, no, not one."
God bless,
Michael
