Welcome to Tuesday's Things Unseen.

And first of all, maybe I should apologize for leaving you dangling on the edge of a cliff yesterday when I signed off.

But I did say that today I'd tell you what strikes me as being

a rather unusual feature of Romans 8 verses 28 to 39 and specifically of verses 31 to 35. And I do

think it's really quite significant. And when you notice it for the first time, as I said, it tends to stick in your mind.

So what is it?

Well, it's the fact that this series of verses is actually framed by a rapid-fire series of questions.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?

Who is to condemn?

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

It's not just the simple fact that there's this rapid-fire series of questions that strikes

me as significant here.

Of course, you get a sense from Paul that he's got tremendous confidence

that nothing can withstand the purposes of God or the power of the gospel. But what's significant,

I think, is that all of these questions begin with the same interrogative pronoun. And it's

not just that the interrogative pronoun is the same each time. It's that the

interrogative pronoun on each occasion is a personal pronoun. He doesn't ask what, but who? It's

not what can be against us, or what can constitute a charge against us or what can

condemn us or what shall separate us. It's who, who, who, who, who all the time. And that surely

can't be accidental. After all, when he asks his fourth question, he goes on to give

a list of potential separators, doesn't he? Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness,

...