Romans 9:32
9:32 Why not? Because they pursued
it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works.
They stumbled over the stumbling stone,
Romans 11:6
11:6 And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
Romans 11:35
11:35 Or who has first given to God,
that God needs to repay him?
Matthew 20:1-16
Workers in the Vineyard
20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.
20:2 And after agreeing with the workers for the standard wage, he sent them into his vineyard.
20:3 When it was about nine o’clock in the morning, he went out again and saw others standing around in the marketplace without work.
20:4 He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and I will give you whatever is right.’
20:5 So they went. When he went out again about noon and three o’clock that afternoon, he did the same thing.
20:6 And about five o’clock that afternoon he went out and found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why are you standing here all day without work?’
20:7 They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go and work in the vineyard too.’
20:8 When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and give the pay starting with the last hired until the first.’
20:9 When those hired about five o’clock came, each received a full day’s pay.
20:10 And when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But each one also received the standard wage.
20:11 When they received it, they began to complain against the landowner,
20:12 saying, ‘These last fellows worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us who bore the hardship and burning heat of the day.’
20:13 And the landowner replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am not treating you unfairly. Didn’t you agree with me to work for the standard wage?
20:14 Take what is yours and go. I want to give to this last man the same as I gave to you.
20:15 Am I not permitted to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
20:16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”