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This article proposes that Paul worked on two cultural fronts in describing the reign of grace (Rom. 5:12-21) and the new creation (Rom. 8:18-39). Paul’s references to the ‘two ages’, the fall of Adam and the new creation, were fundamental to Jewish apocalyptic eschatology. However, Paul’s language of grace in Romans 5, with its emphasis on excess and abundance, would have evoked imperial associations. In the first century, the eschatological age of Augustus marked a watershed in beneficence. Paul’s point to the Roman Christians was plain: Christ’s grace surpassed the very best the Caesars had to offer.