That is a remarkable exercise in special pleading. By excluding grace from faith, you make faith into a work, and therefore a suitable subject for boasting.
There are many others that agree with me. Let me quote one for you.
Here is Walvoord:
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
These verses explain “the incomparable riches of His grace” (Eph_2:7), expanding the parenthetical statement in Eph_2:5, It is by grace you have been saved, and adding that the means of this salvation is through faith. Hence the basis is grace and the means is faith alone (cf. Rom_3:22, Rom_3:25; Gal_2:16; 1Pe_1:5). Faith is not a “work.” It does not merit salvation; it is only the means by which one accepts God’s free salvation.
Paul elaborated, And this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
The neuter touto, as is common, refers to the preceding phrase or clause. (In Eph_1:15 and Eph_3:1 touto, “this,” refers back to the preceding section.) Thus it refers back to the concept of salvation (Eph_2:4-8), whose basis is grace and means is faith. This salvation does not have its source in man (it is “not from yourselves”), but rather, its source is God’s grace for “it is the gift of God.”
Eph_2:9 reinforces this by showing that the means is not by works since its basis is grace (Rom_3:20, Rom_3:28; Rom_4:1-5; Rom_11:6; Gal_2:16; 2Ti_1:9; Tit_3:5), and its means is faith (Rom_4:5). Therefore since no person can bring salvation to himself by his own efforts, no one can boast (cf. Rom_3:27; 1Co_1:29). Their boasting can only be in the Lord (1Co_1:31).
He elaborates what I have already stated. Faith is never a work, and salvation, by faith is never by works.
'But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?" Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honour and another for dishonour?' (Rom. 9:20-21; Isaiah 29:16).
Simply quoting a verse or two of Scripture doesn't answer my argument.
Have you read the news recently? Are all men reconciled to God?
Did I say they were? Please quote me.
It would be news to ISIL or Richard Dawkins. When the Bible speaks of 'the world' it rarely means 'all the people in the world. More often, it means all sorts and conditions of men- Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, slave and free.
Your point here is that Satan, and not Christ is the god of this world and presently rules it. The Kingdom of Christ is yet to come, which is His Millennial Kingdom.
However, back to what I really said:
"His grace is sufficient"...for all mankind."
If you don't believe God is sufficient for all mankind then God is insufficient and not omnipotent. If that be the case then God is not god. He is limited like man.
Speaking about God to the pagan Athenians, Paul said:
Act 17:25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands,
as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
--IOW, God doesn't need anything. He is all-sufficient.
No. Dead means dead. And spiritually dead means spiritually dead.
Some examples:
Physical death:
Jas 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
--When spirit is separated from the body that is death. Death is separation.
The Second Death and Eternal Death:
Rev 20:12 And I saw
the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and
the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up
the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up
the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
--The dead here are very much alive. This is the second resurrection. "The dead" are alive and well and standing before God receiving their ultimate sentence--to be cast into the Lake of Fire. There they will receive the most horrible sentence ever: "the second death," eternal death, eternal separation from God for all eternity. They will be very much alive, conscious, but separated from God. Death is separation.
Spiritual death:
Eph 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
--They were separated from God. Now they had been reconciled. They weren't a corpse; they were separated. And if they had continued in their separation, not being reconciled to God they would end up in the Lake of Fire to be eternally separated from God--the Second Death.
A literal translation of Gen. 2:17 is 'Dying, you shall die.' And so it was. Adam started dying and went on dying until he was dead. That is physical death. As spiritually dead people, the first thing Adam and Eve did was to run and hide from God (3:8). That is what spiritually dead people do unless God intervenes. God took the initiative in everything: He called them (v.9), made atonement for them (v.21) and gave them the promise of salvation (v.15). Every part of their salvation was of God.
There you are simply stating the consequence of his "death." He did die; died spiritually--was separated from God. If he didn't there would not have been any need of a sacrifice. Your theology takes away the need of a sacrifice.
"The dying" is the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which was set in motion when Adam sinned. Everything began to decay. Death entered into the universe. But that is not what God told Adam. God told him he would die. Thus Adam did die.
Actually, I think you'll find that when man is dead he is a corpse. We are not told that we're ill in trespasses and sin, not even that we're really, really poorly. Dead is the word God uses and there's a reason for that.
It is a picture used for emphasis. He is still separated from God. He still needs to be reconciled to God. And God isn't sitting back doing all the work. He gave you the Great Commission, a responsibility to give his great message to others that they might have the opportunity of hearing that same message that you already heard.
They can't hear. "Why do you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to My words' (John 8:43). Until God unstops their ears men cannot hear savingly.
They couldn't hear because they did not want to hear. They would rather carry on in their own unbelief. Those in Acts seven literally put their hands over their ears.
It is not a parable; it is a prophetic vision.
That was my point precisely.
What did Stephen say? 'You always resist the Holy Spirit!' And men always will unless He comes irresistibly. But when the Spirit comes in power, 'As many as had been appointed for eternal life believed' (Acts 13:48).
Of course he said that concerning those who he was speaking to--the Sanhedrin, the ones who crucified Christ, and their ancestors, the ones that had killed the prophets. He was very specific about who he was referring to. He wasn't referring to everyone. Context is important.
To take one verse and make it as an absolute is something Calvinists here must deal with.
