Now to him who works, the reward is not accounted according to grace but according to debt.
"Or who has first given to Him, and it shall be repaid to him?"
And if by grace, it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stone of stumbling.