How can we be given grace without repentance?

Answer:

"For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins." Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all" (Romans 11:25-32).

The gift being discussed by Paul is the offer of salvation and the actual granting of salvation to those who accept the offer.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8).

"But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:15-17).

Salvation was granted to the Gentiles in the new covenant with Christ, a covenant that many Jews had rejected. Paul wanted the Gentiles to understand that this does not mean that God has withdrawn His offer of salvation from the Jews. "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men" (Titus 2:8). That is why Paul points out that God's gifts and calling are irrevocable -- God is not fickle.

The King James Version says, "without repentance." Repentance means a changing of mind and in this passage it is not referring to man's repentance from sin, but that God will not change His mind about offering salvation. "God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" (Numbers 23:19). Or as James stated, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures" (James 1:17-18).

Paul's point is that God offered the Jews salvation and He is not going to withdraw that offer even though they had rejected His Son initially. The Jews will still have to meet His terms, but God is not going to reject a nation just because of birth.

The offer of salvation does not mean everyone is saved. It appears to all men (Titus 2:8), but not all will be saved (Matthew 7:13-14). "But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:15-17). People need to receive the gift by accepting God's terms.

But none of this says how the Gentiles and the Jews are saved. The only point Paul makes is that the Jews are offered the same mercy shown to the Gentiles. Their salvation is by the same means as the salvation of the Gentiles. As Peter said to his fellow Jews about the Gentiles, "But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they" (Acts 15:11). See What Saves a Person? for more details.