Ephesians 2:1: “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;”
“And you hath He quickened”
Quickened means make alive.
“Who were dead in trespasses and sins”
Why does He make you alive? That is because you were dead because of sin. We were made alive by the Holy Spirit. Before one was saved, they did not have the Holy Spirit inside them. Why? According to Ephesians 1:13, the Holy Spirit comes inside a person when they believe in Jesus Christ for their salvation. The Holy Spirit is the only one keeping a person alive spiritually. Without the Holy Spirit, one is spiritually dead.
A spiritually dead person cannot make spiritual decisions? They can!
Calvinists will claim this verse to show that a person has no free will. They will argue that because one is spiritually dead, one cannot do spiritual things. Therefore, it is God and His will and not your own. If a person is so dead that they cannot accept Jesus Christ, they’re also dead and cannot reject Jesus Christ.
An unsaved person does not have the Holy Spirit. That person will only be flesh, which is helping one think and make choices. The flesh is alive and has the ability to reject or receive but the spirit inside is dead. A person can take spiritually correct decisions based on their flesh. Romans 2:14 proves that.
Romans 2:14: “For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:”
God has given everyone a conscience.
Romans 2:15: “Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)”
That is why in verse 16, one cannot get away with rejecting the gospel. One can not say, “when I rejected the gospel of Jesus, I was just incapable.” No! God is holding everyone accountable. Look at verse 16 below.
Romans 2:16: “In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.”
God holds a person accountable for the decisions they make with Paul’s gospel because He inserted a conscience in the flesh.
A Calvinist will try to use 1 Corinthians 2:14 as an argument that if they are spiritually dead, they can not get saved by their own will.
1 Corinthians 2:14: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
Thank them for using that verse pointing out that natural men are fleshy, then show them Romans 2:14-15.