The parable of the laborers ends in the received text with two sayings: “the last shall be first, and the first last,” and “many be called, but few chosen.” The critical text keeps the first and omits the second. Matthew 22:14 contains the same sentence without serious dispute.
“For many be called, but few chosen.” — Matthew 20:16
The question is whether Matthew used the saying twice or whether a copyist carried it back from the wedding feast.
The earliest witnesses behind the critical text often stop after “the first last.” The omitted sentence fits Matthew 22 more visibly, where many receive the wedding call and one is cast out for lacking a wedding garment. It can therefore look like a familiar maxim added to give the vineyard parable a stronger close.
But the laborers are also called. The householder goes out at several hours and summons workers into his vineyard. Many hear his terms; the parable ends by exposing the envy that resents sovereign generosity. “Many called, few chosen” does not float free of the story.
The repeated endings of the two clauses also make loss possible. Both are short, balanced sayings, and a copyist who knew the line from chapter 22 might even judge its earlier appearance a duplicate. Once omitted, the paragraph closes smoothly.
Grace is not wages owed
The parable does not teach unequal justification, as if early converts earned more acceptance than late ones. Every laborer receives the penny the master chose to give. The offense lies in his freedom to be good with his own.
Calling and choosing sharpen that lesson. The outward summons reaches many; God’s electing mercy creates no debt in him and no ground for boasting in us. Yet the verse does not invite idle speculation about who is chosen. It warns hearers against standing inside the field while charging the master with injustice.
Because the sentence remains at Matthew 22:14, its omission here would not erase election from Scripture. That fact lowers the heat but not the need for judgment. The phrase has continuous ecclesiastical use, matches the vocabulary of the parable, and closes Christ’s reversal with a second, deeper reversal.
Matthew used the saying where it belongs. The same Lord may strike the same bell twice, and the second sound is not proof that the first was forged.
The call in the vineyard reaches laborers at different hours, but the parable does not tell us that only a few of those workers finally receive the penny. The closing maxim widens the warning beyond an arithmetic key to every character. Call and choice are related scriptural realities, not a one-to-one code hidden in each object.
The householder’s question—“Is thine eye evil, because I am good?”—places envy at the center. Election humiliates merit because God’s goodness is free. It never makes him unjust; every worker receives what was promised, and late mercy steals nothing from early grace.
The likely source for addition in chapter 22 remains a serious objection. Yet repeated sayings are common in Jesus’ teaching, and Matthew himself may use the maxim to join two parables of grace and judgment. Canonical repetition can be thematic architecture rather than scribal fatigue.
Sources and further reading
- Matthew 19:27–20:16; 22:1–14.
- Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, note on Matthew 20:16.
- Westminster Confession of Faith 3 and 10.