Dead men walking

The latest new idea I've heard taught is that, just like Lazarus, before the Lord calls us forth, we are dead. And like dead men, we cannot respond to His call. Only after He gives us life can we respond to His call, and then we cannot do other than respond to His call.

Paul writes in Ephesians 2: 1-3a And you were dead in the trespasses and sins, in which you once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived...and were by nature children of wrath.

This new idea comes from not understanding that Paul is talking about our sentence of death. Adam and Eve were warned of death if they ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they did not die on the day they ate, but they certainly did die.

We were all dead men walking. Like the prisoners on death row, we lived hopelessly and helplessly. We were without a defense, and had no capability of lifting that sentence--except by accepting the pardon freely offered by the One who died that we might live!

If we are to be saved from this death sentence, we are told we must repent, we must believe, we must receive this offer freely given. If we are told this is something we must do by our Lord, this is something we can do. (This is not a new idea.)