The first couple of chapters here in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians are a wonderful restating of the Good News, the Gospel, the message of how a loving God made a way to save his beloved creation from an eternity of separation from Him. If you are ever in doubt, come and read and reread what Paul wrote.

The ironic thing is, in the closing paragraphs of chapter two, Paul talks about how Jew and Gentile are united as one in Christ, but just a few sentences before, he wrote a couple of sentences that caused a split in the body of Christ that lasts right up to today.

He said in verses 8 and 9, “You were saved by faith in God, who treats us much better than we deserve. This is God’s gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own. 9It isn’t something you have earned, so there is nothing you can brag about.”

The King James Version might sound a little bit more familiar to you: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

These are the words that sparked Martin Luther’s thinking that led to the Protestant Reformation, effectively splitting the Christian church in two. The Catholics and the Protestants.

I obviously don’t have time here to discuss the differences between these two schools of thought, but suffice it to say that whether you are Protestant or Catholic, Jew or Greek, it is your faith (or lack thereof) that determine’s your eternal residence. Nothing else. And if reading these chapters in their complete context doesn’t tell you how much God loves you and wants to save you, then I don’t know what will. I pray that you respond to His love with gratitude and open arms, because I want to get to know you when we stand together around His throne in Heaven!