A new way to look at the acronym TDY...

". . .as  it is written: ^ “None is righteous, no, not one. . .

Death is separation. A physical death is the separation of the soul from the body. Spiritual death, which is of greater significance, is the separation of the soul from God. In Genesis 2:17, God tells Adam that in the day he eats of the forbidden fruit he will “surely die.” Adam does fall, but his physical death does not occur immediately; God must have had another type of death in mind—spiritual death. This separation from God is exactly what we see in Genesis 3:8. When Adam and Eve heard the voice of the Lord, they “hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God.” The fellowship had been broken. They were spiritually dead.

Fear and forgiveness seem to be an opposite impossible couple. These two traits, when correctly applied, provide a key to deeper understanding of God.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins. - Ephesians 2:1

In those words, the Apostle Paul is speaking of a 'former' state of those believers, a state of being spiritually dead.  So we have to ask - former to what? Well, that is rather self-evident in the context and can only mean before they believed in Christ, since he is speaking to professing believes in Ephesus.