What is a Chiasm?
Understanding the Chiastic Approach
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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 a literary style that some call the “chiastic (ky'-az-tic) approach” and others call the “chiastic structure.” Many who have read the Bible have never heard of this, yet it was identified over two hundred years ago (see Background on Chiasms). Once you understand how the chiastic structure works, it can dramatically enhance your understanding of those verses in the New and Old Testament where chiasms appear.
In our modern printing age, when emphasis is needed, 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.”
First example:
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
Chiasms are usually arranged in the same top-to-bottom form as they appear in the text:
A No one can serve two masters.
B Either he will hate the one and
C love the other, or
C' he will be devoted to the one and
B' despise the other.
A' You cannot serve both God and Money
Note how the verses A and A' have similar themes, as do B and B', and C and C'. For the purposes of clarity and rigor, an alternate way of presenting this chiasm is:
| Level | First presentation | Inversion | Theme |
| A - A′ | Two masters (Matt 6:24a) | God and money (Matt 6:24c) | Two masters: God and money |
| B - B′ | Hate the one (Matt 6:24b) | Despise the other (Matt 6:24b) | Hating one master |
| C - C′ | Love the other (Matt 6:24b) | Be devoted to one (Matt 6:24b) | Loving the other master |
To many people, this verse conveys the thought that we must choose between one of two masters: God and money. When looking at it from the standpoint of a chiasm, we see a far more profound understanding.
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 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.
When we find a chiasm in the Bible, the question becomes "WHY?" A dialog with the Lord might be appropriate at this point: "Lord, I see this chiastic structure. Now please show me why You wanted to emphasize these verses in this way." Allow the Holy Spirit to speak, providing His divine and personal revelation.
In this chiasm, one interpretation might be that the center point emphasizes 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. When we truly love the Lord, the second master named Money is despised and is no longer our focus. Therefore, this verse is not as much about the choice between God and money as it is in about loving the Lord that much.
Second example:
Let's look at another chiasm based on Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV):
A Come to me all you who are weary and burdened,
B and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you
C and learn from me,
C' for I am gentle and humble in heart,
B' and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy
A' and my burden is light.
In this chiasm, we see burden mentioned on the A and A' portions, rest and yoke are presented in that order in the B and B' verses. Many who look at these verses are very content to stop here because we all want the Lord's rest. Yet there is a deeper meaning by looking at the C and C' verses. Here are the verses in chart form:
| Level | First presentation | Inversion | Theme |
| A - A′ | Weary and burdened people (v11:28a) | People with a light burden (v11:30b) | Heavy and light burdens |
| B - B′ | The Lord gives his rest and yoke (v11:28b, 29a) | We receive his rest and easy yoke (v11:30a) | Rest and yoke |
| C - C′ | Learn from me (v11:29b) | Jesus is gentle and humble (v11:29c) | Becoming gentle and humble like Jesus |
By looking at the chiastic structure, we see that his rest and yoke are a very important part of these verses (B - B'), but they point to a greater richness of understanding. By meditating on the C - C' level, we see the gentle and humble nature of Jesus, and he wants that to be transferred to us. No matter how weary, burdened, or busy we are, no matter what obstacles we have in front of us, his gentle presence (his rest) teaches us how to become humble and yielding like he is. In that way, as we receive his softness, humility, and gentleness, our weariness and burdens become light and we take on his rest.
Repetition in an outer to inward direction is the key to recognizing chiasms. As you read through the Bible and discover a chiasm, seek discernment from the Lord about the meaning and application of these verses. In this way, chiasms allow us to hear the Lord's voice more clearly.
Resources:
There are a few Christian books devoted to this study, and no doubt many more will be forthcoming. Most studies of the chiastic approach have largely been confined to an academic audience. In the eStore, two books are worthy of mention: Dr. David Dorsey's "Literary Structure of the Old Testament" and Tom Clarke's "Joshua's Spiritual Warfare: Understanding the Chiasms of Joshua." Both books give comprehensive descriptions of chiasms in the Old Testament with many examples, thereby bringing the understanding of chiasms to a broader range of people.
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