About a year ago, I happened to notice some anaphora in "If God Himself Be for Me," specifically in verses five, eight, and nine:
For no one can condemn me
Or set my hope aside;
Now hell no more can claim me:
Its fury I deride.
No sentence now reproves me,
No guilt destroys my peace;
For Christ, my Savior, loves me
And shields me with His grace.
No danger, thirst, or hunger,
No pain or poverty,
No earthly tyrant's anger
Shall ever vanquish me.
Though earth should break asunder,
My fortress You shall be;
No fire or sword or thunder
Shall sever You from me.
No angel and no gladness,
No throne, no pomp, no show,
No love, no hate, no sadness,
No pain, no depth of woe,
No scheming, no contrivance,
No subtle thing or great
Shall draw me from Your guidance
Nor from You separate.
These verses are drawing from Romans 8:38-39: "38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." In the same way that "nor" is repeated in this passage, "no" is repeated in the hymn, and this repetition provides a sense of that surety.
