Without the Redemption, all mankind would become devils, angels to a devil (2 Nephi 9:9). Benjamin says, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants (Mosiah 2:2). Aaron explains that the sorry state of fallen man is such that he could not merit anything of himself. Paul expresses this concept differently. He says, 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 (Eph 2:8-9). Paul is saying that, of his own accord, fallen man can in no way overcome the consequences of the Fall, yet we are often uncomfortable with these verses of Paul. We often qualify Paul’s writings with the words of James, faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone, or Nephi, it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do (James 2:17, 2 Nephi 25:23). Yet Paul’s writings really need no qualification; there is nothing wrong with the message of Eph 2:8-9. Paul is teaching the same thing that Aaron is—that fallen man could not merit anything of himself.