Put more clearly, how does on dead in their sin and trespasses make the spiritual good choice towards God?
Ephesians 2: NASB
1And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
3Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
4But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus,
7so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God;
9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
When the Bible talks about a sinner being “dead” it does not mean the sinner cannot do stuff, even in this passage you have the sinner walking, lusting, and indulging. Now these unbeliever sinners can do nothing “righteous, honorable, worthy or noble”, but they can for selfish reasons: wimp out, give up and surrender to their enemy while their enemy is still their enemy. This is like the prodigal son coming to his senses and for selfish reasoning returning home (not some noble act on his part).
I’m not sure what you are trying to get across with Eph. 2:8
I can look up genders and dust off my Greek New Testament, but here is what Barnes and Robertson have to say and they do an honest job as far as I can tell:
And that not of yourselves - That is,
salvation does not proceed from yourselves. The word rendered "that" - ͂ touto - is in the neuter gender, and the word "faith" - ́ pistis - is in the feminine. The word "that," therefore, does not refer particularly to faith, as being the gift of God, but to "the salvation by grace" of which he had been speaking. This is the interpretation of the passage which is the most obvious, and which is now generally conceded to be the true one; see Bloomfield. Many critics, however, as Doddridge, Beza, Piscator, and Chrysostom, maintain that the word "that" ( ͂ touto ) refers to "faith" ( ́ pistis ); and Doddridge maintains that such a use is common in the New Testament. As a matter of grammar this opinion is certainly doubtful, if not untenable; but as a matter of theology it is a question of very little importance.
Robertson, on the topic of pronouns, wrote:
9.
Gender and Number of outos. ... In general, like other adjectives,
outos agrees with its substantive in gender and number, whether predicate or attributive. ... In
Eph. 2:8
, ..., there is no reference to
pisteos in
touto, but rather to the idea of salvation in the clause before. (A. T. Robertson,
A Grammar of the New Testament, p.704)
Robertson, on the topic of particles, wrote:
(ii)
Kai. ...
The Mere Connective ('And') ...
kai tauta (frequent in ancient Greek). See in particular
Eph. 2:8
, kai touto ouk ex umon, where touto refers to the whole conception, not to chariti. (A. T. Robertson,
A Grammar of the New Testament, pp. 1181-1182)
Robertson, on the topic of prepositions, wrote:
(d)
dia ...
3. 'Passing Between' or 'Through.' The idea of interval between leads naturally to that of passing between two objects or parts of objects. 'Through' is thus not the original meaning of dia, but is a very common one. ... The agent may also be expressed by dia. This function was also performed in the ancient Greek, through, when means or instrument was meant, the instrumental case was commonly employed. dia is thus used with inanimate and animate objects. Here, of course, the agent is conceived as coming in between the non-attainmnet and the attainment of the object in view. ... Abstract ideas are frequently so expressed, as sesosmenoi dia pisteos (
Eph. 2:8
), ... (A. T. Robertson,
A Grammar of the New Testament, pp. 580-582)
"Gift" and "faith," are both nouns and would not need to agree. However, agreement in gender is necessary between a pronoun and its antecedent. The demonstrative pronoun will change its gender to match the previous noun (or other substantive) to which it refers.
This verse tells us that the antecedent for "This" is also the "gift of God." But the "gift" cannot be "faith" because there is no agreement in gender between "faith" and the demonstrative pronoun, "touto" (This).
You call look up lots of Greek scholars work and let me know if you find any one disagreeing with this, because I have not among scholars.
It is not “spiritual good” to be selfishly motivated.
