Romans 4:4

James Moffatt - New Testament

Now a worker has his wage counted to him as a due, not as a favour;

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Selected by grace, and therefore not for anything they have done; otherwise grace would cease to be grace.

And why? Simply because Israel has relied not on faith but on what they could do. They have stumbled over the stone that makes men stumble —

Who has first given to him and has to be repaid?

but they are justified for nothing by his grace through the ransom provided in Christ Jesus,