Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.
But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,
“Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.
Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com.