And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
And ('Now') if (it be) by grace - that is, the Election,
[then] is it no more of works; otherwise grace ('becomes') is no more grace.
But if it be of works, then is it no more grace; otherwise work is no more work. (The latter of these statements, beginning with "But," has very weighty external evidence against it; but, with Tischendorf, we retain it for the reasons stated by him. (See also Fritzsche's long and able note. Such seeming redundancies are not unusual with our apostle.) The general position here laid down is fundamental, and of unspeakable importance. It may be thus expressed: There are but two possible sources of salvation-men's works and God's grace; and these are so essentially distinct and opposite, that salvation cannot be of any combination or mixture of both; it must be wholly either of the one or of the other. (See Remark 3, at the close of Romans 4:1-25.)