Quotes

"The Right Humble Spirit" 
 

• "The householder operates by the standard of grace, not of merit...  The parable is a defense of Jesus' message of God's grace to all against the attacks of the defenders of a religion of meritorious works." Interpreter's One Volume Commentary p. 634
• "The point is that in the kingdom men receive what they need... and this is eternal life... This is given by God, who is continually calling men of different degrees of moral attainment and spiritual privilege to His service, and therefore no one has any claim on Him for more than anyone else... The theme is similar to the story of the elder brother of the prodigal (Lk. 15d:25-32).  New Bible Commentary: Revised, Third Edition
• "Here is the application of the parable, in that observation which occasioned it... There were many that followed Christ now in the regeneration, when the gospel kingdom was first set up, and these Jewish converts seemed to have got the start of others;  but Christ, to obviate and silence their boasting, here tells them,
• 1.  That they might possibly be outstripped by their successors in profession, and, though they were before others in profession, might be found inferior to them in knowledge, grace, and holiness...
• 2.  That they had reason to fear, lest they themselves should be found hypocrites at last..."  Matthew Henry's Commentary
• "The teaching of the parable is this:  no reckoning in numbers, no clever schedule-making in the church, no comparitive statistics -- banish the whole of them, and live in love."  Joseph Parker, The People's Bible, Vol XX p82
• "... we gain an inheritance in heaven not by payment for works done, but by the pure grace of God."  D.D. Whedon, 1860 Commentary
• "... the primary scope is to show that many of the Jews would be rejected, and many of the gentiles accepted;  the secondary, that of the genitles, many who were first converted, would be last and lowest in the kingdom of glory;  and many of those who were last converted, would be first and highest therein." John Wesley's Notes Upon the New Testament
• "Out of pity for the unemployed and their families, the employer generously gives a full day's wages to everyone.  That is what God is doing in Jesus' ministry -- giving the tax collectors and prostitutes an equal share with the righteous in his kingdom."  Reginald H. Fuller, Preaching the Lectionary

• "Either the gentiles, who were called long after the Jews into the vineyard, the church of Christ;  or those in every age who did not hear, or at least understand, the gospel call, till their day of life was drawing to a period."  John Wesley's Notes Upon the New Testament

• "The concluding comment... blunts the point of the parable by drawing attention to the irrelevant fact that those workers who came last are paid first... This conclusion, however, has led some to interpret the parable as though it were a contrast between the Jews, who came to God's vineyard first, and the Gentiles, who came last."   Interpreter's One Volume Commentary p. 634
• "The point of verse 16 is that all Christians receive the same, the reward being everlasting life given on the ground of Christ's death for them... [vs 16] refers back to... 19:23-26, where He speaks of the difficulty that many experience in believing and obeying the gospel because their minds are fixed on what they can get for themselves, whether in this world or the next."    New Bible Commentary: 1954
• "There are but few chosen Christians, in comparison with the many that are only called Christians..."  Matthew Henry's Commentary
• "Called -- to labour for Christ.  Few Chosen -- To the final reward;  because few serve Christ in the right humble spirit." D.D. Whedon, 1860 Commentary
• "For many are called -- All who hear the gospel.  But few chosen -- Only those who obey it."  John Wesley's Notes Upon the New Testament