<p>2:19 <i>For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God</i>- This is very much the language of baptism in Romans 6. Paul understood that at baptism, he had died, which meant that he was no longer bound to obey the law, but rather, more positively, he was obligated to &quot;live to God&quot;. Peter makes the same point, probably also in a baptism context (1 Pet. 4:2,6). Paul says that &quot;through the law&quot; he had come to this position; and his autobiographical comments in Romans 7 suggest that it was through his experience of failure to obey the law that he was driven to throw himself upon Christ and death with Him. This was his point in 2:16- see notes there.</p><p>Galatians was one of Paul&rsquo;s earlier letters. In it, he speaks of his own baptism: &ldquo;I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live&rdquo; (Gal. 2:19-21). Years later he writes to the Romans about <i>their </i>baptisms, in exactly the same language: &ldquo;All of us who have been baptized&hellip; our old self was crucified with him&hellip; the life he lives he lives to God&rdquo; (Rom. 6:1-10). He clearly seeks to forge an identity between his readers and himself; their baptisms were and are as radical as his in their import. Note how in many of his letters, especially Galatians and Corinthians, he switches so easily between &ldquo;you&rdquo; and &ldquo;we&rdquo;, as if to drive home the fact that there was to be no perception of distance between him the writer and us the readers. &nbsp;</p>