Here is Paul telling his readers that he is praying they will be brought to understand God’s omnipotence:

…the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.  And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

So reads Ephesians 1.19bff without the chapter break. Typically, people read “made us alive together with Christ” as personal regeneration. The gift of faith mentioned in the next verse is obviously the way we appropriate this so that it can be said that we were made alive with Christ, but the making alive here refers not to our history, but to Jesus’. Gaffin tries to deny this as Ridderbos articulates it, saying that the “dead” in 2.1 is not identification with Christ’s death, but in our trespasses and sins. True, but the point here is not that we identified with Christ. Rather, he identified with us. Though sinless, he joined us in our curse in the ultimate way by submitting to death.

The transition here is not the transition of individual biography. Reading Acts it is obvious that many people were not “following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience,” living “in the passions of our flesh, carrying ou the desires of the body and the mind…” Cornelius was a devout man whose prayers were acceptable to God. The point here is that both Jew and Gentile races were going to Hell and, before the death and resurrection of Christ, the entire age was characterized in this way. Jesus representatively put the world to death and renewed the world in his person. Those who believe the Gospel message are sealed with the Spirit (1.13, 14) to Christ. We are saved “through faith” (2.8). But that work of the Spirit is not in view for believers in 1.19-2.7. Rather, it is the work of the Spirit in declaring a verdict on Christ by raising him. Christ was given the credit for his faithful life culminating in death on the cross by his resurection and ascension. When we believe the Gospel we receive and are received into Christ so that we share his verdict. Our sins no longer legally matter because Christ’s death to sin counts as ours. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus (Romans 8.1). Furthermore, Christ’s faithful life and ongoing faithful reign are reckoned as our own. Positively and negatively, Jesus’ righteousness is ours.

Paul is perfectly capable of mixing the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection with the story of a believer’s conversion (Colossians 2.8-15). But in Ephesians 1.19-2.7 it seems to me we have the historia salutis, not the personal ordo.