Romans 4:4

Revised Standard Version (RSV-CI)

Now to one who works, his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due.

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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 through 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?”

they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,