A whole lot in these verses:
2 Timothy 2:24-26 New International Version (NIV)
24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25 Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
Notice how it is GOD that is granting them repentance, and leading them to the knowledge of the Truth.
I have never understood how the sovereign election of God and the free will choice of man can somehow mesh. My objection is to those who callously with condescension, scoff at those that lean more toward God's sovereignty than man's choice, certainly not exercising "gentle instruction". And yes, I HAVE seen the reverse as well.
I can look at my own life, and I would say, a preponderance of Scripture, to lean far more to God's sovereignty than my choice.
I would NOT of my own accord have sought Him out. I would NOT have believed the Gospel had HE not given me the faith to do so. I was NOT a participant in my conception and birth, beyond being the recipient. What I have done SINCE then I have been.
I would have continued to revel in my sin had He not drawn me.
This WHOLE passage totally speaks to the fact that it was GOD from start to finish that did ALL the saving and electing. Notice how we were DEAD, notice how we fulfilled the lusts of our flesh WHILE DEAD just like the unsaved.
Ephesians 2 New King James Version (NKJV)
By Grace Through Faith
2 And you
He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the [
a]course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised
us up together, and made
us sit together in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in
His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
So what role does a dead man play in his birth?