It's all about GRACE. God owes man nothing and if He chooses to bestow His Grace on man, then: how, when, where, and why: are completely at His discretion.
Rom 12:1 Consecration of the Believer's Life
Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters,1 by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice — alive, holy, and pleasing to God2 — which is your reasonable service.
THEREFORE is a big word, isn't it? When Paul says 'therefore' he is really saying that all those things he just got through talking about are not just theological abstracts.
Not at all.
They are the basis for something practical. But first...
I would say that Paul is not simply drawing a conclusion from 11:36 or 11:33-36 nor from chapter 11 but rather the first 11 chapters of the letter!
BECAUSE God has consigned all to disobedience to have mercy on all...
BECAUSE God grafts and cuts out branches from His Root as He has seen fit to do...
BECAUSE God has reserved for Himself a remnant...
BECAUSE God has not cast off the Jews...
BECAUSE everyone, even the stubborn Jews, who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved...
BECAUSE the Righteousness that comes from God is better than the righteousness the Jews [and man] seeks to make...
BECAUSE the Jews are responsible for their own situation...
BECAUSE in order to save the Gentiles God has made the Jews vessels of wrath and they therefore rejected Christ...
BECAUSE the Potter has the right to make objects as He sees fit...
BECAUSE Mose was chosen and Pharoah hardened...
BECAUSE Jacob was chosen over Esau...
BECAUSE Isaac was chosen over Ishmael...
BECAUSE being a part of True Israel is not conditioned on one's physical descent but of God's mercy
BECAUSE Paul is heartbroken over the Jews rejection of Christ...
BECAUSE Nothing can separate us from the Love of God...
BECAUSE those He predestines He calls and those He calls He justifies and those He justifies He glorifies...
BECAUSE we have hope through the life of the Spirit....
BECAUSE we are adopted Sons of God...
BECAUSE there is now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus...
Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters,1 by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice — alive, holy, and pleasing to God2 — which is your reasonable service.
Well, I think you get the picture...I only went back to Romans 8, but the chain reaches all the way back to 1:1.
Chris
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