Ephesians 2 explains more about how we got to be where we are in Christ. Paul says that we all were living full of sin under Satan’s leadership, refusing to obey God and following only the passions and desires of our own evil selfish hearts. He describes our wretched condition as “dead”, since our many sins had destined us for a state of eternal doom. BUT because of His amazing love for us, our richly merciful God gave us the gift of eternal life with Him when he raised us up with Christ Jesus. God chose us for salvation not because of any thought, intention, or action of ourselves, but only by His mercy and grace. Paul says God saved us when we believed, but we can’t take credit for that either because even our faith is a gift from God. Paul says that God did all this for us “so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago”. Because of the blood of Christ, Jews and Gentiles alike are united in the body of Christ, the church. Paul says, “Now all of us may come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us”.