Ephesians 2:1

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The following is by Jac3510 and gave me permission to use his work.

Now, it is charged that unregenerate man is dead in his sins based on Eph. 2:1. It is then asserted that, just as a dead man cannot respond, neither can the man dead in sins respond to Christ’s calling. Therefore, regeneration must precede the response. Those whom God elects He regenerates, and they come then to belief (thus, irresistible grace).

This position is easily discounted. It is simply incorrect to say that a dead man cannot respond. First, the word dead does NOT mean “inability.” This is an assumption drawn from an argument by analogy. A physically dead man is unable to respond, so therefore, a spiritually dead man must be unable to respond. However, in Eph. 2:1, Paul is not making an argument by analogy. He is stating a categorical fact. In truth, the word “dead” means “separated from.” In physical death, we find the body separated from physical life. In spiritual death, we find a man separated from God. There is no inability implied here except that which the reader chooses read into it. We can, in fact, demonstrate that a dead man responds in many ways. To quote a friend of mine:
Justin Kirksey wrote:
If one tries to speak or communicate with a corpse, they will not respond because they are incapable. If one asks the corpse if it would like to be resurrected, it would not be able to respond. The question then becomes, is this analogous to spiritual death? Is the spirit dead in the same way the body is? If it is then your belief about inability would certainly be correct, because the spirit would be powerless to respond to an invitation from God, and would in fact need to be resurrected first in order to respond. I would respond that from the facts we know about the dead human spirit, spiritual death is NOT analogous to physical death. Let’s examine the facts.

1. While the physically dead body is inanimate and incapable of action, the dead spirit is capable of action. The spiritually dead commit sin, reject God, and go astray, etc…
2. While the physically dead body is unresponsive to stimuli, the spiritually dead body is not. We note that the spiritually dead will experience torment of hell and even experience joy in their sins for a season.

With these two observations we see that spiritual death does not result in inanimation or in unresponsiveness.

If the spiritually dead person is responsive, then there is no reason to assume that he is incapable of responding to the gospel. In fact, I submit that no where in Scripture do we find the doctrine that regeneration precedes faith, but in fact, just the opposite! Titus 3:5 says, “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.” (NASB) God saves us by regeneration, but we are told in Eph. 2:8-10 that we are saved by grace, and that grace comes through faith. Therefore, it must be that regeneration comes through faith. Even if you assume that the “gift” in Eph 2 is both grace and faith, it still must follow that regeneration is through faith. Now, you can say that God gives us the faith, and through that faith, God applies the grace of regeneration, but you STILL cannot say that God regenerates us so that we might believe. That is simply contrary to Scripture. And I reject that position, anyway, because it more probable—the plain meaning of the text—that the “gift” is grace, not both grace and faith. In the end, we are told that whoever receives Christ, they become sons of God (John 1:12). This is written in the gospel of John, which is directed to unbelievers (John 20:30-31). The plain meaning is that reception of Christ, through faith, results in the reception of the gift of grace, that is, regeneration, justification, adoption, etc.