Matthew 20:13

But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? BUT HE ANSWERED ONE OF THEM (DOUBTLESS THE SPOKESMAN OF THE COMPLAINING PARTY) AND SAID, FRIEND, I DO THEE NO WRONG: DIDST NOT THOU AGREE WITH ME FOR A PENNY?...

1-16 The direct object of this parable seems to be, to show that though the Jews were first called into the vineyard, at length the gospel should be preached to the Gentiles, and they should be admitted to equal privileges and advantages with the Jews. The parable may also be applied more generally, and shows, 1. That God is debtor to no man. 2. That many who begin last, and promise little in religion, sometimes, by the blessing of God, arrive at a great deal of knowledge, grace, and usefulness. 3. That the recompense of reward will be given to the saints, but not according to the time of their conversion. It describes the state of the visible church, and explains the declaration that the last shall be first, and the first last, in its various references. Till we are hired into the service of God, we are standing all the day idle: a sinful state, though a state of drudgery to Satan, may...

Verse Matthew 20:13. _FRIEND, I DO THEE NO WRONG_] The salvation of the Gentiles can in itself become no impediment to the Jews; there is the same Jesus both for the Jew and for the Greek. Eternal life is offered to _both_ through the blood of the cross; and there is room enough in heaven for _all_....

FRIEND, I DO THEE NO WRONG - I have fully complied with the contract. We had an agreement: I have paid all that I promised. If I choose to give a penny to another man if he labors little or not at all if I should choose to give all my property away to others, it would not affect this contract with you: it is fully met; and with my own with that on which you have no further claim I may do as I please. So, if Christians are just, and pay their lawful debts, and injure no one, the world has no right to complain if they give the rest of their property to the poor, or devote it to send the gospel to the pagan, or to release the prisoner or the captive. It is their own. They have a right to do with it as they please. They are answerable, not to people, but to God, and infidels, and worldly people, and cold professors in the church have no right to interfere....

EXPOSITION MATTHEW 20:1 _Parable of the labourers in the vineyard_._ _(Peculiar to St. Matthew.) MATTHEW 20:1 FOR. The following parable is intended to illustrate the apophthegm at the end of the last chapter, which is repeated almost in the same words at the close, "Many that are first," etc., and "The last shall be first," etc. It taught the apostles a lesson in answer to Peter's question (Matthew 19:27), "What shall we have therefore?" and the primary lesson was that the reward of the kingdom is not of debt, but of grace. There are many difficulties in the parable, which may be better noticed after we have expounded it

BUT HE ANSWERED ONE OF THEM,.... Who was the forwardest and loudest in his complaints, and represented the rest; AND SAID, FRIEND, I DO THEE NO WRONG; by giving all alike, the same privileges and blessings to the last, as to the first, since nothing was withheld from him. And indeed the Lord does no wrong to any, by the distinction which he makes among his creatures: he is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works: he does no injury to the evil angels, by choosing the good angels, and confirming them in the estate in which they were created; when the others are reserved in chains of darkness, to the judgment of the great day; or by choosing fallen men, in Christ, and making provisions of grace for them, and not devils: and so there is no unrighteousness in him, nor does he do any wrong to any, when, like the potter, out of the same clay, he makes one vessel to honour, and ano...

Matthew 20:1. _For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard._ That was the usual wage of the time, the daily pay of a Roman soldier. Matthew 20:3. _And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, And said unto them; go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way._ You notice that the first labourers made a bargain with the householder, he agreed with them for a penny a day, and then sent them into his vineyard. So our Lord seemed to say to Peter, «If you are going to make a bargain concerning

8. THE PARABLE OF THE LABORERS IN THE VINEYARD. The Healing of the Two Blind Men. CHAPTER 20 _ 1. The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. (Matthew 20:1 .) 2. The Third Prediction of His Death and Resurrection. (Matthew 20:17 .) 3. The Ambitiousness of the Disciples. (Matthew 20:20 .) 4. The Healing of the Two Blind Men. (Matthew 20:29 .)_ The Lord had spoken about the rewards to be given at the time when the kingdom is to be established on the earth in power and glory, the time of regeneration. His last word in the nineteenth chapter was the statement, “many that are first shall be last;

PARABLE OF THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD. It is possible (as it is necessary) to distinguish two interpretations of this splendid parable, (_a)_ that intended by Jesus, (_b)_ that suggested by the evangelist. To Mt. the vineyard is the Christian community: those who joined it early and those who join it late may expect the same reward. There will be no distinction between them at the Parousia. It is probable that we should omit Matthew 20:16 as well as the words Many (the Jewish nation) are called, but few (the Christian community) chosen. But what Jesus meant to teach was that the eternal life is the result not of work but of grace; God is no mere timekeeper; the laws which govern admission to the Kingdom are not those which prevail in ordinary business transactions (_cf._ Isaiah 55:8 f.). A

"For the situation in the Kingdom of Heaven is like what happened when a householder went out first thing in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. When he had come to an agreement with them that they would work for 4 pence a day, he sent them into his vineyard. He went out again about nine o'clock in the morning, and saw others standing idle in the market-place. He said to them, 'Go you also into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' And they went. He went out again about twelve o'clock midday, and about three o'clock in the afternoon, and did the same. About five o'clock in the evening he went out and found others standing there, and said to them, 'Why are you standing here the whole day idle?' They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'Go you also to the vineyard.' When evening came, the master of the vineyard said to his steward, 'Call th...