εἰ δὲ�. The death spoken of is not an absolute death, but relative only. The force of these verses is to bring out the positive effects of this death: it is not only death to the old life but entry upon the new. S. Paul thinks of death not as an end but as a transition from one life to another.

πιστεύομεν ὅτι is of the nature of a parenthesis = as we believe; it is even possible that there is a reference to a Christian commonplace such as 2 Timothy 2:12.

καὶ συνζήσομεν. This is the real apodosis. The future does not necessitate a reference to the future life, and in the context such a reference is very unnatural; it is rather the logical future marking the new life as fulfilling a promise or natural consequence. So probably 2 Corinthians 13:4; cf. Romans 6:2. Cf. ἐσόμεθα, Romans 6:5.

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Old Testament