When a person works, their pay isn’t considered a gift. It’s something that’s owed to them.
And if they are chosen by grace, then it’s not based on anything they’ve done. If it were, then grace wouldn’t be grace anymore.
Why not? Because they tried to do it themselves, instead of relying on faith in God. They tripped over the stone that causes people to trip and fall.
“Has anyone ever given anything to God, so that God has to pay them back?”
but the free gift of God’s grace makes us right with him. Christ Jesus paid the price to set us free.