Once again Paul foresees that what he has just said might stir a misunderstanding in his readers. Does it follow from the last two chapters that God has rejected all of Israel? "By no means!" (vs 1), for Paul himself is an Israelite. And just as in the time of Elijah, God has kept for himself "a remnant, chosen be grace" (vs 5).
So why did only some of God's people obtain salvation? The rest of this chapter has been understood in different ways in order to answer that question. In this space though, let's just get the main point and see what that means for us.
Paul makes it clear that God, in his sovereignty, has made a way for the Gentiles (that includes us) to receive salvation by grace just has the Jews did. It is a good thing for us to dig in and seek to understand this mystery. But we must also finally come to rest where Paul does when he exclaims, "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and inscrutable his ways!" (vs 33).
To put it more simply, God is God, and we are not. We spend our lifetimes getting to know God, just as we do with a best friend here on earth. But if you cannot get to know everything about a best friend in this lifetime, how much more ridiculous is it to think we can do that with God?! We take our reason and understanding as far as we can, but a finite human cannot reason their way to a God who inhabits eternity. At last, with Paul, we must humble ourselves before the almighty God, and give praise to his infinite greatness.
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