<p>2:1 <i>You once were dead in the trespasses and sins</i>- We were spiritually dead and have now been resurrected, in spiritual terms, made alive in Christ (:5). This is indeed an allusion to baptism, but the connection is to the preceding argument in 1:19,20- that the same Spirit which raised the Lord Jesus is mightily at work within us, internally transforming us into His image (as taught in Rom. 8:11). There is an allusion here to the LXX of Is. 57:4, and we shall find allusions to that part of Isaiah throughout this section : :1=&nbsp; 57:4; :12 &quot;no hope&quot;= &nbsp;56:10; :2 =57:5; :14=57:19; :5 =57:10 (RV) ;:19&nbsp;= 56:1; :6 = 57:15; :21 = 56:7; :12 = 56:7; :19&nbsp; =56:6 (RV) ;:22 = 57:15. The Isaiah references are to the possibility of revival at the time of the restoration from Babylon, and also at the time of Hezekiah. The returned exiles could have entered the new covenant and received the working of the Spirit to transform them into God's new people, according to Jer. 31 and Ezekiel 34-37. But they refused. And so the new covenant community, those baptized into Jesus and partaking in the new covenant, therefore have the same promises of Spirit-led restoration and transformation. Judah dead in sins without hope could indeed have been revived by the Spirit; but they preferred to remain in spiritually dead Babylon. And so the promises were fulfilled but with a somewhat altered focus- in that they were transferred to those who were baptized into the Lord Jesus in New Testament / covenant times.</p>