As the cover design suggests, the "old man" and the "new man" are identical. Furthermore, both of these images make sense only in our relationship to God by grace. This concept of Paul's marks the focal point of three essays by Rudolf Bultmann, studies that reveal a lesser known side of Bultmann's scholarly work.

In the first article, Bultmann deals with the problem of ethics in Paul's writings. He examines the relationship between the indicative and the imperative for Paul-like the paradox of Galatians 5:25: "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." In the second essay, Bultmann claims that the common understanding of Paul's view of man in Romans 7 is in fact not Paul's view at all. In the last study, Bultmann clashes with Karl Barth over the interpretation of the Adam and Christ parallels in the fifth chapter of Romans.