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Matthew 20 · a question people ask

"For many are called, but few are chosen" (20:16). What did Jesus mean?

In the text

In the WEB these words close the parable, right after "So the last will be first, and the first last" (20:16). Matthew gives nearly the same words again, at the end of the parable of the wedding feast: "For many are called, but few chosen" (22:14). Jesus doesn't explain the saying in this chapter. Christians read it, and the words called and chosen, in more than one way. These notes don't choose between them and don't say who the called or the chosen are.

The verses

“So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.””
Matthew 20:16 · World English Bible
“For many are called, but few chosen.””
Matthew 22:14 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Matthew 20

Matthew 20: The last will be first

The parable of the vineyard is held between two sayings, "many will be last who are first" (19:30) and "So the last will be first" (20:16), and inside it the pay goes out "beginning from the last to the first" (20:8). Seven of the ten times Matthew's Greek has the word for last are in these few verses.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions