A great deal of modern literature stresses the fact that life is without meaning or significance. The reason for this is that everyone and everything is headed for death. As long as you feel that life is without meaning then it is a triviality, and it cannot be the actor in a drama of ethical importance. So, you proceed to exaggerate the absurdity by doing every kind of sinful thing.
Death becomes an agency for the tyranny of sin over people.
Paul, in Romans, is aware of the weight of death. He understands its ethical weight. He feels the great surge of victory because of his conviction, as strong as his conviction of life, that Christ rose from the dead. Jesus has given the resurrection to us so that death is not the final answer to people's existence. And then Christ on the cross forgave our sins and removed our guilt.