Ephesians 2:1-10. What Does Paul Say?

Read the chapter before this. You will see God has chosen from before the foundation of the world. Unlike us finite beings, God is not bound in time and thus forced to react to circumstances within time. He is not forced to wait for you and me to do something before he can save us or adopt us. We are not the hinge upon which the door swings.

Ephesians 1:3-6
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Please read the entire letter to the Ephesians. In doing so you can get the whole of what God is conveying through Paul.

 

he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

You are not reading the whole text. Right after saying that God chose us before the foundation of the world...so that we should be blameless before Him, God goes on to tell us He predestined us for adoption as sons...through Christ... according to...His will. Now, ask yourself this question. "Why did God not tell us that our adoption comes through repentance, according to human will? Why does God explicitly state that He chose us, he adopted us and he predestined us according to...His will, not our will?
Why?

 

I found that reading it and believing it leads to understanding it better, but that the understanding comes over time as it sinks in to my addled brain.

I agree.
I also see that He's speaking to a mixed crowd of both His disciples, to whom it was given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God ( Matthew 13:10-11 ), and the rest of the Jews, to whom it was not and all things were done in parables in order to hide the truth from them ( Matthew 13:13-17, Luke 8:8-10, Mark 4:11 ).

In my opinion, that's one way of understanding it... but that's not how I do.
Rather, I clearly see this:

" Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." ( John 6:29 ).

That the work "of" ( by or from ) God ( not the work of men ) is to believe on Christ.
In other words, it is a work of God for someone to believe, not a work that we as men can do in and of ourselves.

To me, this is in perfect harmony with passages like Philippians 1:29, John 10:26-27, John 6:37-47, John 6:64-65, John 8:43-47, and many others that give us the reason(s) why some believe and some do not.
Those reasons are clearly spelled out in God's word, and we're not left with simply assuming that some men choose and some do not.

God's choice to reveal Himself to someone is the reason why people believe ( Matthew 11:27, Matthew 16:17 ).

 

The significance is made known farther down in the chapter when Christ tells us this:

" When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
62 [What] and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life." ( John 6:61-63 ).

In other words, He point-blank tells the Jews who were offended at His words that they are spiritual words, not words according to the flesh.
Notice a little farther when Christ asks Peter and the disciples if they would go away as well...
and Peter tells Him, " ...to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.".

Jesus told them earlier that their ears and eyes were blessed, so I'm not surprised that most of the Jews went away...
It wasn't given to them to know or understand His words;

Only those that are "of God" will hear God's words ( John 8:47 ).
Please see John 8:43-47 for the answer to why the Jews, for the most part, did not hear or understand His words.

 

2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 tells me that He did, and that He called me by His Gospel.

 

Compare and contrast:

2 Thessalonians 2:9-15
The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.

 

I really don't care about the KJV vs the ESV. From what I have read, the ESV is more accurate to the greek and it is the translation my church uses. Therefore I use the ESV. Would you prefer I use the NLT?

NLT Bible. Ephesians 1:3-14

[3]All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.
[4]Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
[5]God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
[6]So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.
[7]He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.
[8]He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.
[9]God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure.
[10]And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.
[11]Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.
[12]God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God.
[13]And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago.
[14]The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

 

NLT Bible. 2 Thessalonians 2:5-15
[5]Don’t you remember that I told you about all this when I was with you?
[6]And you know what is holding him back, for he can be revealed only when his time comes.
[7]For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way.
[8]Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, but the Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by the splendor of his coming.
[9]This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles.
[10]He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them.
[11]So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies.
[12]Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth.
[13]As for us, we can’t help but thank God for you, dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord. We are always thankful that God chose you to be among the first to experience salvation—a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and through your belief in the truth.
[14]He called you to salvation when we told you the Good News; now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[15]With all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and by letter.

 

NLT Bible. Ephesians 2:1-10
[1]Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.
[2]You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.
[3]All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
[4]But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much,
[5]that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
[6]For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.
[7]So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
[8]God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
[9]Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
[10]For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

 

Nowhere does it say "This is the Trinity." Goodness, the text is hitting you between the eyes and you're making up semantic excuses for refusing God's sovereign work in choosing.
May I ask why you insist on being in control rather than allowing God to be in control?

 

Does the Bible say Adam is the son of God or not? Romans 5:14 says Adam is a figure of the One who was to come; do you seriously think God used an unregenerate man to prefigure Christ, the "last Adam" (1 Corinthians 15:45)? If the truth of Adam's salvation is inscrutable to someone, in my opinion they need all the luck they can get. ;-)

 

If you study the Greek of that text carefully in its context it indicates that the Gentiles who had clearly already been seeking to hear the gospel (Acts 13:42, 44) had assembled themselves on this subsequent day, lined themselves up (τάσσω, reflexive middle voice) to be present when it was preached, and believed when they heard it. "As many as were lined up with a view toward eternal life." This might be comparable to the crowds who used to line up at Billy Graham crusades. This understanding is also consistent with how the opposite reaction is described, the Jews who thrust the Word of God away from themselves (ἀπωθέω, reflexive middle) and "judged themselves unworthy" (κρίνω plus reflexive pronoun).

I don't expect to convince you of this interpretation, only to demonstrate that it is possible to understand Luke's words differently than you do.

 

Its simple, a dead sinner cannot repent towards God until made alive.

 

Lk 3:38

38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

 

Are you asking if Adam was a type of Christ?

You seem to struggle with God choosing to redeem whom he wills. Do you think Adam was unredeemed and is now spending eternity in hell? How does that relate to Ephesians 2:1-10?