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However, even at this point the story of God presiding over salvation history is not over. In the divine plan of redemption, God will again choose Israel in a final master stroke of grace - to bring in a last harvest of Gentiles and then redeem both Jews and Gentiles forever: "For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?" (v.15) The glorious resurrection of the entire church is actually contingent on none other than the conversion of the Jews. This perspective of Israel's role in the redemption of the nations serves as an antidote for the arrogance of the Gentiles, who might otherwise be tempted to think of themselves as God's permanent chosen replacements for the Jews. As is turns out, God is now using us (Gentiles) to save Israel, in the same way that he used Israel to save us. There is simply no grounds for Gentiles, a "wild olive tree," to boast against the cultivated tree to which they have been grafted strictly by grace. After all, the Gentiles have been brought in "so all Israel will be saved" (v.26). Paul's astounding conclusion of the entire matter is that God is able to use even disobedience - whether that of Jews or Gentiles - to fulfill his sovereign plan. "For God has committed them all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all" (v.32). In his great love and mercy, God has determined to save his people. Not even rebellion can stop him! To follow Paul's argument from beginning to conclusion is to follow him right into his spontaneous worship of God expressed in v.33: "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!" Paul's argument is much more than a "theological treatise." It is like Stephen Hawking's examination of the physical universe, a testimony to the mind-boggling wisdom and majesty of God. Hawking asks, "Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?" For believers the answer should be obvious. In the same way, the soteriology of Romans is not merely a set of abstract doctrines and principles. It points the way to the living God, who breathes fire into our theology by actively working in the course of history, down to the details of our very individual lives, saving for himself a people called by his name. As Paul continues into the opening verse of chapter 12, such a God is worthy of unreserved praise, worship and obedience: "I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service...."
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