How did God make us alive when we were dead in sins?

Les explains that sin singular refers to the old Adamic nature, while sins plural are the results of that nature. He uses the illustration of a whiskey still: the still is the producer, but what it produces is what bends people's minds and causes harm. In the same way, Adam is like that still, producing sins. While we were dead in the activity prompted by old Adam, God quickened us—He made us alive—together with Christ. This was accomplished by grace, not by works. Les then connects this to Romans 8, where living after the flesh leads to death, but putting to death the deeds of the body through the Spirit brings life. The Christian life involves discipline, yet it flows from a change of appetites rather than merely giving things up.