And if it is by grace, then it is no longer by works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.
Parallel translations
- WEB And if by grace, then 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.
- KJV And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
- NKJV And if by grace, then 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.
- NASB But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, since otherwise grace is no longer grace.
- NLT And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Salvation by grace and salvation by works are mutually exclusive; grace would cease to be grace if mixed with merit.
Overview
Paul presses the logic of grace: if the remnant is chosen by grace, it cannot also rest on works, for the two principles cancel each other. This protects the gospel's foundation that justification is God's free gift received by faith, not a wage earned (cf. Romans 4:4-5). It underscores that all standing before God depends wholly on Christ's finished work, not human achievement.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Gal 2:21I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, Christ died for nothing.
- 2 Tim 1:9He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time began.
- Rom 4:4–5Now the wages of the worker are not credited as a gift, but as an obligation.
- Rom 3:27–28Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of works? No, but on that of faith.
- Titus 3:5He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
- Eph 2:4–9But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
- Gal 5:4You who are trying to be justified by the law have been severed from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.
- 1 Cor 15:10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not in vain. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
- Deut 9:4–6When the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say in your heart, “Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land.” Rather, the LORD is driving out these nations before you because of their wickedness.
- Rom 5:20–21The law came in so that the trespass would increase; but where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 11:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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