You need to do a study on the Hebrew concept of ga'al. It blows the "in Him" misconception out of the water. We didn't pay for our own sins by being "in Jesus" on the cross. Jesus died a substitutioary death according to the law of kinship expressed in the Hebrew laws concerning the ability of the closest relative of someone who had to sell his children, himself, his land, etc... to pay his debts to ransom them from slavery. The entire gospel is built around this for it is the legal reasoning behind the plan of salvation.
The idea is found throughout both testaments. Jesus' disciples talked about how they believed that Jesus was the one to ransom Isreal in Luke 24:13 as the Greek translated as redeem means to ransom. Paul uses the same terminology as well as all the gospel writers and all of the OT authors who spoke about the messiah to come. In fact the word ga'al is translated as Redeemer 18 times in the OT and every one is in reference to the messiah to come.
You are right about not paying for our own sins, as Jesus came to do that.
But that doesn't negate the truth that the wages of sin is death. (Rom 6:23)
Our death occurs at our "immersion"
into Jesus and into His death and burial...from whence we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life. (Rom 6:3-7)
As Paul wrote in 1 Tim 5:24..."Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after."
My sins were opened beforehand, and the judgement was death.
Thanks be to God for rebirth.