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What is a Chiasm?

Understanding the Chiastic Approach

A chiasm (ky'-az-um) represents a writing style that – once understood – clarifies, emphasizes and reveals deeper meaning in the Scriptures than is revealed in just a surface reading of these same verses. A chiasm is an example of the linguistic style called the “chiastic (ky'-az-tic) approach.” Many Bible scholars have never heard of this, yet it was identified over two hundred years ago (see Background on Chiasms). Once you understand how the chiastic approach works, it can dramatically enhance your understanding of those verses in the New and Old Testament where a chiasm appears.

In our modern printing age, when emphasis is needed for a thought, the author will add bold, italacs, underline, indentation, bullets or change font size. Hebrew and Greek writers did not have these modern typing techniques, so they had to rely on literary styles. For example, Isaiah wrote much of the Book of Isaiah using synonymous parallelism, where one thought is immediately followed by a similar thought for emphasis and clarification.

The chiastic approach uses an arrangement of repeated thoughts or phrases to accomplish the emphasis. Each repeated thought or phrase is called a “theme.” In a chiasm, there will be two or more themes. Each theme is assigned a “level.” Consider this brief chiasm:

No one can serve two masters.
Either he will hate the one and
love the other, or
he will be devoted to the one and
despise the other.
You cannot serve both God and Money. (Matt 6:24) NIV

Here is how this verse is analyzed as a chiasm:

When reading this chiasm, the verses under First presentation are to be read from top to bottom, while the verses under Inversion are to be read from bottom to top. This is done so that the pairs on each Level can be placed together, and then a Theme is assigned to each level.

This chiasm illustrates the presence of three themes: one master or the other, hating one of the masters and loving the other master. The first theme, which is about the two masters, is called the A-A′ level. The second theme, which is the hatred of one master, is the B-B′ level. As we move towards the center of the sentence, we see that the third third theme is the love for the other master, and this is the C-C′ level.

Chiasms are paired so that there is an outside theme and additional themes until the last theme is found in the middle. In this chiasm, there are three levels, although there could be as few as two and as many as eight or ten or even higher.

The level that appears at the bottom of this list is at the center of the chiasm. This last level is called the center point. Most of the people that have studied the chiastic approach agree that the portion in the center usually contains the most important part of the chiasm. By looking for chiasms and finding the center point, we can derive a far deeper meaning of the Bible and often apply it to spirital warfare.

In this chiasm, the center point is about loving the right master: we are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart and with all of our mind and with all of our strength. When we do that, the choice between God and money becomes a moot question. Therefore, this verse is not as much about the choice between God and money as it is in about winning the spiritual battle because we love the Lord that much. When we truly love the Lord, the second master named Money is no longer the focus of our lives.

Let's look at another chiasm based on Joshua 1:5-9 (NIV):

The A - A′ level is concerned with the Lord's presence remaining with us. The emphasis on "strong and courageous" is stated in Joshua 1:6 and Joshua 1:9b. Obedience and success is the theme of the C - C' level. On the D - D' level, the words of the law were to be their life - they were to eat it, breathe it, think it and consume it, and so it would keep them alive.

The application of these verses is: by keeping the words of the law alive in our spirits (D - D′ level), we will be better prepared to obey the law (C - C′ level), thereby keeping us strong and courageous (B - B′ level). By keeping the words of the law fresh in our minds, we are more able to obey; by obeying, we can depend on the Lord's strength and courage; and because of all of these (meditating, obeying, depending on the Lord), we will have the Lord with us wherever we go. The progression of meditation, obedience and dependence are essential for fighting the spiritual battle in the Lord's presence.

There is no executive director of chiasms and there are no chiastic police. As you read through the Bible and suspect a chiasm, seek discernment from the Lord about the application of these verses.

The book Joshua's Spiritual Warfare: Understanding the Chiasms of Joshua ($14.99 at Amazon.com) includes a comprehensive description of chiasms with examples and application to modern day life, including the chiasm shown above. There are sixty-seven chiasms from the Book of Joshua that are identified in that book. Each of the chiasms is given an application for our daily lives, especially in the area of spiritual warfare.

Most studies of the chiastic approach have largely been confined to an academic audience. The attempt is made in Joshua's Spiritual Warfare to make chiasms understandable to a broad range of people. Click here for a free download of the second chapter from Joshua's Spiritual Warfare, which is entitled "Introduction to the Chiastic Approach" (requires Adobe Reader).