Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
To be quickened means to be reanimated with life. How can this be? Are we the walking dead before salvation? The answer is; though we are physically alive there is a part of unregenerate man that is dead. This part of man that is dead in trespasses and sins is the spirit/soul. Obviously we are not talking about physically being made alive for we already are living. That which is quickened is the soul which was dead as a result of sin. Notice, Ezekiel 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. The soul is dead because of sin! Now, listen carefully this is important, there are Calvinists who claim that a soul that is dead CANNOT believe and must be made alive FIRST in order to believe. It seems logical at first but, the problem is we are not to interpret scripture with human logic! Their human logic says, because the soul is dead, it cannot respond, no more than a dead body can respond. This may appear to make sense on the surface but, as we will see it's not biblically accurate. Why? First, our soul being dead does not mean it is no longer living, or active, and unable to respond. A soul that is dead is only separated from God, for the soul never dies the way we think of death. Every soul has a conscience that aids them in making decisions before salvation. A soul that's dead is still active and can feel, hear and respond. For example, many people who for the first time feel the convicting of the soul do not respond for salvation even though it's still felt. To say a soul has to be quickened FIRST in order to respond in faith is a gross negligent interpretation of scripture! God made the soul and the spirit of man to live forever! So if God made us as a living soul that never dies what does it mean to be dead in trespasses and sins. Let's first define death. Physical death is the separation of the soul/spirit from the body. Spiritual death is the separation of the soul/spirit from God with the end, a lake of fire. Even when a soul is dead in the lake of fire that soul still lives for eternity. Our soul never ceases to exist even though it is dead. So back to Ephesians 2:1, even though our soul is dead in our trespasses and sins, it does not mean our soul is equivalent to a dead body that cannot move, hear or see. Our soul was dead in that our sins had separated us from our God. Our soul still had the ability to hear and feel conviction through our conscience. Our soul was able to make a decision to believe. Our soul was able to hear the Spirit's call. Our soul was able to see the light His Word brought. So it is with our soul, it still functions and exists although dead separated from God. To make the argument that a soul before salvation CANNOT respond, hear, see, feel, believe is simply false. If you believe that you might as well believe in the annihilation of the soul. Every soul has the ability to hear the gospel, see the light of truth, feel the conviction of the Spirit and to respond by faith. Our quickening is a result of our faith, not a precursor for us to appropriate our faith. Let's just preach the Gospel so souls can hear!!!
