At various times in Jesus’ ministry, He made the following statement:
For many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew 20:16; 22:14).
This text is a tricky passage for Calvinists to explain because on the one hand, Calvinism often equates “calling” with “election,” and here Jesus seems to indicate that not all who are “called” end up being “chosen.” So for this reason, Calvinists often talk about a “general” universal call to all people and an “effectual” call to some.
John MacArthur, for example, in his commentary on the Bible, explains Matthew 22:14 by saying this:
The call spoken of here is sometimes referred to as the “general call” (or the “external call”), a summons to repentance and faith that is inherent in the gospel message. This call extends to all who hear the gospel. “Many” hear it; “few” respond. Those who respond are the “chosen,” the elect. In the Pauline writings, the word call usually refers to God’s irresistible calling extended to the elect alone (Rom 8:30), known as the “effectual call” (or the “internal call”) (MacArthur Bible Commentary).
Due the Calvinistic understanding of Total Depravity, the general call to all people cannot be heard or heeded by any person, which is why God must then issue an “effectual” call, which is really just God specifically choosing to unilaterally redeem some people through Irresistible Grace.
Only those who are called with the effectual call of God are thus understood to be God’s elect. Given the Calvinistic system, there is no other way to understand Jesus’ words in Matthew 20:16 and 22:14.
Matthew 20:16 in Context
But once Calvinism is set aside, and the words of Jesus are reexamined in their contexts, we see that Jesus is not referring at all to the calling or election of some to eternal life. Instead, Jesus is teaching the consistent biblical message about the call and choice of God, namely, that while God desires that all people will serve Him, not all do, and so God chooses to work with those who participate with Him in what He is doing in the world.
The calling and choosing of God is not to eternal life, but to service in this world.
This explanation makes much more sense of the surrounding context of Matthew 20:16 and 22:14 than does the contrived theological distinction between a general call and an effectual call.
So what is Jesus teaching when He says that many are called but few are chosen?
To understand Jesus’ words we must begin by seeking to understand His immediately preceding statement (in Matthew 20:16), that “the last will be first, and the first last.” And this statement, of course, can only be understood in light of the parable of the workers in the vineyard that precedes it (Matthew 20:1-15).
In this parable, the owner of a vineyard must harvest his grapes. So early in the morning he goes to the marketplace where day laborers waited to get hired, and hired those he found there. He offered them a denarius for one day’s work.
It soon became obvious that those he hired would not be enough to bring in the full harvest, so he went back to see if any others had shown up for work. Indeed, there more, and so he hired these as well. He did this throughout the day until the last group hired had only one hour of work left to do before dark.
When the work was complete, the workers lined up to get paid, and the owner paid first those who had been hired last. He gave each a denarius. Seeing this, those who had worked the entire day thought that when they were paid, they would receive more. But they too received a denarius. When they complained that they had worked all day and received only one denarius when those who worked only one hour had also received a denarius, the owner told them that they were paid what they had agreed to, and it should not matter to them if he was generous with those who worked less.
Following this, Jesus makes His two statements, that the first shall be the last and the last shall be first, and that many are called but few are chosen.
What do either of these statements have to do with the point of the parable?
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard is not about Eternal Life
First of all, it is important to realize that this parable is not about how God makes a general call to everyone to receive eternal life, but then specially selects and chooses some to actually receive it. Such an idea is found nowhere in the parable of the workers in the vineyard and cannot be taught in any way, shape, or form from this story.
In fact, the story teaches the exact opposite. When the landowner goes to the marketplace to hire workers, He hires everyone who is there. He does this all day long, going back at the third, sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours to see if any more workers have shown up. He hires all who are there. We do not see the owner making a general calling to see if anyone wants to work, and when nobody does, he goes around specially selecting some.
No, the text pretty clearly indicates that every time the owner goes out to hire workers, he hires all the workers that he finds. The point of the parable is not that the owner calls all but selects only some; the point is the exact opposite: that he treats all equally.
But if the equal treatment of all by God is the point of this parable, why doesn’t Jesus say something to that effect in Mathew 20:16?
The reason is because Jesus is not exactly summarizing the parable, but is instead responding to the unspoken objection that most people have to this parable.
Matthew 20:16 is Jesus’ response to Objections
And what is that objection? When the vineyard owner pays those who worked only one hour the same amount that he paid those who worked all day, the natural human response is, “But that’s not fair!”
While we agree that it’s fine for the owner to be generous with those who worked only an hour, we think that if he was going to be both genera and fair, then he should also be generous to those who worked all day. Sure, they got paid what they agreed to, but if the owner is going to be generous, he should be generous to all. It’s only fair.
You see, in human ways of thinking, fairness trumps generosity. It’s okay to be generous, if you are generous equally to all.
But in God’s way of living, the values are reversed. God values both fairness and generosity, but in the Kingdom of God, generosity trumps fairness.
God’s way of acting toward others seems terribly unfair at times because He decides to be generous, loving, forgiving, gracious, and merciful to those who didn’t earn it, work for it, or deserve it.
When we cry out for justice, God cries out for forgiveness. When we remind people of their duty, God seeks to show them love. When we demand that people be held responsible, God extends more grace.
If any human business operated the way God runs His business, it would be bankrupt within a month. God hires those He shouldn’t, pays more than He can afford, and gives away all His merchandise for free.
This is what Jesus means in the first part of Matthew 20:16.
When He says “the last will be first, and the first last,” He is saying that those who are winners in the worlds eyes, turn out to be losers in God’s. Those who have it all figured out about getting ahead in this life, are way behind in God’s life. From the world’s perspective, God’s way of doing things is upside down and backwards. But Jesus is saying that once we step back and see things the way they really are, we discover that God has been right-side-up all the time, and it is we who are all turned around.
The First Shall be Last and the Last Shall be First
Jesus’ first statement in Matthew 20:16 is a statement about reversals. God does not work the way the world works. The Kingdom of God is upside down when compared to the rules and ways of men.
It is not “fair” according to worldly standards that those who enter last end up on equal footing of those who entered first. But that is how it works in God’s world. Yes, this is not “fair,” but it is generous. And in God’s world, generosity comes before fairness.
There are a wide variety of applications that this sort of truth might take in the life of the believer. Some among them include how we view those with money, position, power, prestige, and popularity. Though these may be “first” in the eyes of most, God’s eyes cannot look away from the underpaid but humble janitor in the back of the room. When all is said and done, and we stand in line to receive our “denarius” in heaven, many will be shocked to discover that we all stand equally before God.
I appreciate that it may be hard for some to come to terms with this, but in the light of the most basic and central Christian gospel, the message and achievement of Jesus and the preaching of Paul and the others, there is no reason whatever to say, for instance, that Peter or Paul, James or John, or even, dare I say, the mother of Jesus herself, is more advanced, closer to God, or has achieved more spiritual ‘growth’, than the Christians who were killed for their faith last week or last year. Remember the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). Those who worked all day thought they would be paid more, but those who came at the last hour were paid just the same. Is the vineyard owner not allowed to do what he likes with his own? Are we going to grumble because he is so wonderfully generous? (Wright, For All the Saints?, 27).
But the parable of the workers in the vineyard does not speak only to the equality we all share before God in the afterlife. The parable also speaks to the way we participate with God in this life.
Yes, all are on equal footing before God. And yet, inexplicably, some seem to have a greater role and purpose than others in God’s plan for this world. If the unspoken objection to the parable was “But that’s not fair!” then the unspoken objection to this statement is, “But that’s not how God works!”
God isn’t equal to all, even in His own Kingdom. Some are given greater blessings and honors than others. To this second objection, Jesus says, “Many are called, but few are chosen.”
Many are Called, but Few are Chosen
This second statement is not a contradiction of the first, but a qualification.
It explains why God, who values generosity over fairness, appears to be more generous to some than others. And this too, relies upon the reversals that become evident when comparing the Kingdom of God with the kingdoms of men. In the human world, bigger is better; more is best.
In God’s world, it is the opposite: smaller is better; less is best.
God calls and invites everyone to participate with Him in what is going on in the world, and in some ways, every person does play a part.
But in God’s way of working, He often selects and chooses a few individuals for special purposes and tasks.
And what are these special purposes and tasks for which God chooses some? To serve, suffer, and die.
God’s “choosing” is not a choice to honor, position, and power, but to suffering and service. There is no teaching here about an election until eternal life of some. Instead, Jesus is teaching that God is generous to all, and while all are called to serve Him, true service to God is not an easy thing to bear, which is why most don’t want it. Yet God does choose some to serve Him in these difficult ways.
God’s Choosing is to Service
That this is exactly what Jesus means is indicated by the following sections of Matthew 20.
First, in Matthew 20:17-19, Jesus shows what it means to be chosen by God, for Jesus Himself has been chosen. What for? To be betrayed and condemned to death. He will be given over to the Gentiles to be mocked, beaten, and crucified. This is not usually what people think of when they speak of being “chosen” by God, and yet this is the sort of thing that happens to those who are “chosen” in God’s economy.
It is being chosen to service, suffering, and death (1 Peter 2:21).
The disciples don’t quite get the connection, for they, like all of us, still look at things from the world’s perspective, and so think that being “chosen” by God refers to receiving special blessings, honor, privilege, and power.
So, in Matthew 20:20-24, two of the disciples get their mother to go ask Jesus if He will choose them to sit on His right and His left when He enters into His Kingdom. The other disciples are indignant when they hear about this, for they themselves wanted to be chosen for this special honor. Jesus, however, rebukes them all and says that this is not what it means to be given positions of greatness in God’s Kingdom. Those who are great will be last, will serve others, and will give their life for others (Matthew 20:26-28).
Though lots of people interpret Jesus’ words to mean that if someone wants to be great they must begin by serving others and then God will raise them up and make them great, this is not what Jesus is saying at all. That’s how “greatness” works in the human world. Those who are respected and revered started at the bottom and worked their way to the top. But in God’s economy, those who are great either go in the opposite direction, or simply stay at the bottom their entire lives.
Those who are “first” in God’s economy work are found at the bottom of the pecking order. The winners of “the race set before us” are last in the rat race.
Summary of the truth in Matthew 20:16
So Matthew 20:16 contains two general principles about how the Kingdom of God works. Both principles emphasize the reversals that are inherent within the Kingdom of God.
These two general principles of the Kingdom of God are that God values generosity more than fairness, and that those who are chosen for “greatness” in God’s Kingdom are chosen for service, suffering, and death, which is why not all are chosen.
From our human perspective, these principles seem backwards and upside down. In human society, we boast about equality and fairness while living lives of extreme inequality, thinking that those who are at the top deserve to be there. In Jesus’ economy, those who are at the top of the human world may actually be at the bottom in His, and those at the bottom may actually be at the top.
Furthermore, though God calls all to serve Him in His Kingdom, it is not the sort of service that has us all jumping up and down and waving our arms while we cry out “Pick me! Pick me!” No, God’s choosing is to a life of service, suffering, and death. God chooses only those who are willing to walk that hard road.
In Matthew 20:16, Jesus is saying that it is we who are upside down and backwards, and if we let Him, He will turn our world right way around for us so that we can see the truth and beauty that is God’s Kingdom.
But it will not come without pain and hardship, as well as a complete reversal of our worldly value system.
If you want to read more about Calvinism, check out other posts in this blog series: Words of Calvinism and the Word of God.
Tears of joy as I read this. Helped me a bit today. Thanks.
Wow. Thanks Steven. Glad it was helpful.
Excellent Jeremy! It’s wonderful to allow the Scripture to speak for itself rather foisting a system of theology like Calvinism, etc., on it. This passage has so many “applications” to the believers who are boots on the ground and grinding it out as they live by faith on a daily basis.
Thanks Dwight! You are right about the applications of this text.
Oh this should be a “popular” one Jeremy!
As all of Jesus’ “hard sayings” are, eh?
You have so well put into words what I have felt is the Truth of His kingdom for decades now… very rarely lived according to this “feeling” probably, but “it never hurts to try”… actually, it probably will, eh? Isn’t that the point?
Treasures in heaven perhaps. Even that sounds selfishly motivated to me though!
“The winners of “the race set before us” are last in the rat race.”
Good one bro., I like your “style”.
Well, I’m off to clean a toilet or something!
Peace… “within you”,
Mark B.
Clean a toilet?
Yes, all of Jesus’ saying are “hard sayings” which is one reason they will forever capture our attention. We can never get bored with Jesus.
The best commentary I’ve ever read on this passage; excellent!
High praise! Thank you. Glad you found it helpful.
I like this explanation, Jeremy. But I’m confused on one point. You said, “No, the text pretty clearly indicates that every time the owner goes out to hire workers, he hires all the workers that he finds.”
Where does the text indicate this? By my reading, verse 6 contradicts it: “Why are you standing here the whole day unemployed?” (LEB). If they were standing there the whole day, then they were there every time the owner went to hire workers, but he chose not to hire them until later in the day.
But maybe I’ve missed something else you saw? Or maybe the translation you read offers a different insight? (The few I checked all said the same thing.)
Either way, I think the thrust of your article still works. Great thoughts!
Great point, Chuck. I might have missed that in my study, and will need to revise it. Thanks for paying attention to detail!
Hi Jeremy! Just one short statement…WOW! Well, a little more I guess. I haven’t looked at this section of scripture in that way before and this was a real eye opener. Reading your blog and a few others as well has been a big help in my life the last few months. I am looking (by God’s good grace) at things much differently than I use to and I really appreciate what you are doing. God bless!
Thanks, Will! Writing about what I am learning in Scripture, and learning from others who write blogs or leave comments is one of the things I enjoy most. Thanks for the encouragement!
What do you think of the website gotquestions dot org? Why I asked. they seem to be Calvinistic in theology
Yes, they lean pretty heavily toward Calvinism.
I just don’t buy the statement that God’s choosing is to “service.” Sometimes, yes, perhaps, but you try to insist on this most all of my time, as though you cannot stomach the thought that God might actually choose a person to go to heaven. Yet in the parable that you examine, you almost work to disprove your own point by focusing on God’s generosity, rather than fairness. Jesus died because God must be “fair” and punish sin. Jesus died because of God’s “generosity” towards us. Jesus died because He loved us. Sometimes your exegesis is really good, other times you “strain at a gnat” to make certain that your way is the only way.
Brad,
I would take great exception to the idea that Jesus died because God must be fair and punish sin. This is the “retributive justice” view of the atonement, which I do not believe Scripture teaches. I hold to a “restorative justice” view of what God was doing in Jesus on the cross. The word from the cross is not “justice” but “forgiveness.”
This is not “fair” but it is loving and generous.
So much of Reformation theology interprets the Bible in the context of its own time and forgets the context of the Bible. At the time the big issue was how can the individual get to heaven and escape hell. We miss the point time and again if we read the Bible assuming it conforms to this late mediaeval metanarrative. E.g if we impose this metanarrative on Romans we conclude that it is all about how an individual gets to heaven by faith, when in fact Romans speaks more about the need for church unity.
Great points.
I often think that much of own modern theology is often developed as a result of our cultural context as well. If this does not make it wrong (or does is?), then maybe Reformed theology was good for it’s time and place as well. But if it was good for that time and place, then, as you point out, it may not be good for today since our times and cultures have changed.
Great point about Romans as well!
I see the story of the magi as relevant. If we accept that they used astrology and astronomy to find Jesus then we can see that God was using an imperfect thing to help the magi. In the same way if we look at people benighted in mediaeval catholicism then reformation theology was the imperfect thing that God used to help many people. But because it worked we cant say that this theology is right, just as we cant say that astrology is OK because it led the magi to the Messiah. The magi needed to burn their astrological maps when they found Christ and entered into covenantal relationship with God. We too need to interpret the Scriptures from a covenantal viewpoint rather than a magical one.
The Bible says so little about the magi, it’s hard to say what they did or did not do after they brought gifts to Jesus.
As for incorrect theology, someone one said (and I think it is right) that while not all roads lead to Jesus, Jesus walks all roads to lead people to Him.
So I’ve been thinking about this some more and re-reading the verse. I don’t know Greek grammar well enough to verify this, but what if “the whole day” ought to be attached to “unemployed” rather than to “standing here.”
In other words, they could have been unemployed all day but not standing there all day. So maybe it should read as two questions, more like this: “Why are you standing here? Have you been unemployed all day?”
Again, I can’t verify this rendering grammatically, but if it’s accurate, then your original take may still be viable. Thoughts?
That’s a good question. I looked it up. “The whole day” is accusative, which means it accepts the action of the verb, “standing.” So it probably cannot modify “unemployed.” I just now checked Wallace’s grammar, and he in fact says that this is an accusative for extend of time (p. 202).
Here is what I ended up writing in my manuscript:
What do you think?
Makes sense.
I think as the day went on the landowner would hire some from the group, he thought, “Hmmm, I don’t think the quota is going to be met..let me go back to the market place and hire some more guys.” When the landowner went back to the market place he sees these guys there that he had seen earlier in the day. He thought they would have been hired already and thats why he asked them,” why have you been here all day?”. And they said, “No one hired us”, and it very well could have been because they were old, weak, and maybe even hard on the eyes. (Humans!) So, he hired them and he also gave them the same amount BECAUSE he felt bad the men stood their all day and were not hired by anyone.
Your thoughts on God’s special chosen as chosen to suffer was very helpful to me. I’ve always been troubled by “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him”, it helps to understand that “good” means to suffer for Christ.
The rest of what you wrote is giving me more trouble, I find it confusing and hard to follow. It seems Jesus’ parables make a specific point or two and fall apart if made too general. I wonder if you, and John MacAuthur, aren’t trying too hard in your interpretation.
Both these parables seem to share one thing in common, they are both an attack on Jesus’ favorite target, religious leaders. The story of the workers would be a statement that our merit is not in how hard we work, it is in the generosity of God. It seems apparent from other parts of the Bible that none of us deserve anything from God. For the wedding feast, the story seems to relate in that those who think they are something by their own goodness have no place in the kingdom of heaven.
There’s also the parable of then tenants. That seems to very clear that the Kingdom of God was taken from Israel and given to others, presumably the gentiles. And these parables seem to be directed more at people groups than individuals.
All I’m saying is I think you’ve missed the primary point by trying to read too much into a parable.
re: The first and the last. The first are the Jewish nation the last are the Gentiles :hired at the end of the age. The rewards are the same for those hired one hour and those who laboured in the kingdom from the beginning. Keep in mind this is a spiritual book and relates to spiritual insights. Hope this helps. James.
Are you interpreting the plain speaking of Jesus in John 6 with his parabolic speech in Matthew 22? Concerning the topic at hand it would mean you’re interpreting that which is clear with that which is unclear. If your view is true than John chapter 6 contradicts Matthew 22 which means the Bible has errors and is therefore not God’s word. If it’s not God’s word then christianity is false. I would careful not to demonize Calvinists as those who “contrive” doctrine, you just might find that you yourself are in that camp by rejecting the plain teaching of scripture as that found in Romans 8 and 9. Pretty hard to ignore.
Th his should read, many are the called, few chose to follow, those that are first are the Jewish Nation, and the last are the bride of Christ the church which will be first.
Thanks
Gave a lot of clarity on this subject
Wow! Just phenomenal. I’m not a Calvinist but I do believe in certain components of Calvinism. But this was a word I needed to hear. I’ve been a follower of Yeshua for 39 years now. What has been hard to understand is why my life went the way that it did. There are others around my age who I’ve known for almost 30 years. 30 years ago we were all passionate to serve God in full time vocational ministry. But whereas they went on to have fruitful full time vocational ministries, I have often felt left behind stuck in the same secular career with certain things that happened to me beyond my control that made impossible to enter full time vocational ministry. Don’t get me wrong, I have faithfully served God all these years where I could but lately God has been gently showing me that this was actually AN ANSWER TO MY PRAYERS. I prayed that God would use me as HE wanted and that I wanted no praise from men. Well, that’s exactly what I got – along with A LOT of hardship in life. But now I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
I really understood the basic meaning of this verse,but I wanted a more in depth of understanding. Thank you for your help.
Thanks so much for the clarity
Thank you for taking the time to explain all this so well. That parables is indeed a difficult one to understand … naturally in a human sense we feel it means that most are not being “Christian enough” to be chosen. But that is at odds with the concept of being saved once you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, which anyone can do in an instant. Your explanation makes a much clearer understanding of this particular verse, which almost otherwise seems to have been placed there out of context. Thank you for the illumination, for making that parable a cohesive whole.
“Which anyone can do in an instant” you say, yet Jesus says “no one can come to me unless my Father ‘drags’ them over to me. And to Nicadimus Jesus said, you must be born again BEFORE you can see the Kingdom of God. So you see new birth goes before new faith by which I respond to the call.
I guess I see as called then not chosen cause you have no ideas how I’ve wrecked things in my walk with the Lord .
So there’s Calvinism , that’s messed up
How about Armenism – they say you can loose your Salvation!
Questioning my Salvation????
Very great lesson. Thank you so much and God bless you. I was having trouble understanding this passage. Serve, suffer, and die. This is what I am chosen for and to what I gladly respond!
Thank you, Jeremy
Although like others before me, I can not conclude that the owner of the vineyard employed all the people available early in the morning, I can surely conclude that he employed everyone by the 11-th hour. Even the lazy that came to their senses and came late to find work. He employed everyone that nobody would employ. The less strong, less capable, less productive men, the ones that we would never consider employing.
This is our God! That is why “the first will the last and last will be the first”
With regards to the fairness of God’s sacrifice (justice), we would have to accept both that Jesus had to be “the Lamb sacrified for our sins” (justice because God is just) and that He is a forgiving God, but this is because God is GENEROUS (forgiving). His Grace has no boundaries. That is why I am SO honoured to work for HIM.
Be blessed for your message
This has been very informative for me and very interesting, and I can see the light of truth, but I do have one question, who is the one without a wedding garment that was cast out to outer darkness at the wedding supper?