“Who has ever given God anything?\par God owes nothing to any person.”\par \i (Job 41:11)\i0 \par
Romans 4:4 - Easy To Read Version When a person works, his pay is not given to him as a gift. He earns the pay he gets. Tuilleadh leaganachaKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. Amplified Bible - Classic Edition Now to a laborer, his wages are not counted as a favor or a gift, but as an obligation (something owed to him). American Standard Version (1901) Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. Common English Bible Workers’ salaries aren’t credited to them on the basis of an employer’s grace but rather on the basis of what they deserve. Catholic Public Domain Version But for he who works, wages are not accounted according to grace, but according to debt. Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned according to grace, but according to debt. |
“Who has ever given God anything?\par God owes nothing to any person.”\par \i (Job 41:11)\i0 \par
And if God chose his people by grace, then it is not the things they have done that made them God’s people. If they could be made God’s people by the things they did, then God’s gift of grace would not really be a gift.
People are made right with God by his grace (kindness). This is a free gift. People are made right with God by being made free from sin through Jesus Christ.
Why not? Because they tried to make themselves right by the things they did. They did not trust in God to make them right. They fell over the stone that makes people fall.