While reading one of my favorite passages of scripture in
the Bible, I started to notice some patterns and rhetorical devices that we had
learned in class. Here is the passage of
scripture in Romans chapter 8:
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day
long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be
able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The passage starts by asking a question that is then
answered which I remembered to be a rhetorical device. I looked it up on Silva Rhetorica and this is
known as anthypophora, a figure of reasoning in which one asks and then
immediately answers one’s own questions.
This makes us as readers contemplate if there really is anything in the
world that can separate us from Christ’s love.
He goes on to state that nothing can separate us from the love of
Christ.
What is interesting about how the question is answered is that
the answer is elongated. There is an
obvious use of division in describing what could potentially separate us from
Christ’s love but in verses 38 and 39 we see the repetition of the word “nor”
at the beginning of the phrases and this is known as anaphora. This repetition makes us repeatedly consider
all the possibilities that could potentially separate us from his love which he
negates and states that none of these could succeed in taking away Christ’s
love for us. It makes his love much more
powerful through this use of anaphora and division.
What beautiful scriptures, and indeed, what powerful ones! That anaphora really does drive into us the idea that NOTHING can separate us from Christ's love. So many "nor"'s, one on top of the other, create a sense of finality that extends to everything, not just the things listed. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteGreat job Hailee, I used the same scripture because I am just now reading your post. he he. I really liked what you said, I didn't even realize the anthypophora in the beginning. I also think that by using a combination of adjuncts and degree he shows the characteristics and defines the that God has for us.
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