Even though Paul uses the future tense in this verse (as he did in v. 5), the believers’ confidence in this future experience has relevance for his present life (see v. 11).

It may be necessary to change the metaphor we have died with Christ to a simile—for example, “if we have, as it were, died with Christ” or “if we, so one might say, died when Christ died.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .