As you may have heard, this month, my friend Andy Naselli, New Testament Professor at Bethlehem College and Seminary, has put out his concise commentary of the book of Romans, the “greatest letter ever written.” This book is complete and helpful, and my only critique is the same as Tolkien on his own work: It is too short.

One literary aspect that Andy brings out in several places is the potential presence of chiasms in Paul’s epistle. I believe he points out five of them.

Wikipedia defines chiasm as a “reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses.” The most simple would be where the phrases are formed in an A B B’ A’ pattern but it can be more complex with more levels – like:

And so forth. In all cases, a set of ideas or phrases are repeated but in reverse order. And apparently (at least according to my study Bible) this was a somewhat common literary structure in Paul’s time.

I bring this up because last year I finished memorizing the book of Romans and just at the end I noticed a phrase, “to bring about the obedience of faith” in Romans 16:26, the second to last verse in Romans. I remembered this from Romans 1:5 – the same phrase – “to bring about the obedience of faith”. It’s the only time this phrase is used in Romans, or indeed in the whole Bible. In fact, in the whole Bible, those are the only two passages with the three-word phrase “obedience of faith.”

So I wondered, what if there was a large scale verse-level chiasm in Romans?* What would that look like? Well, there would be presumably something before 1:5 with a similar phrasing from after 16:26. And there was one: Christ Jesus in 1:1 and Jesus Christ (note the reversal) in 16:27. A good obvious choice to begin and end a chiasm with.

So I looked inward and remembered 1:7 (“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the  Lord Jesus Christ”) – similar to 16:20 (“The God of Peace … grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you”). Here’s a picture of the proposed Chiastic structure with color coating:

So I continued and found that in both cases (moving inward) Paul moves from talking about the good traits of his readers (1:8 and 16:20) and then the bad traits of evil people they are in contact with (in 1:25 and 16:18):

So now I was intrigued, and I kept going inward. And I worked and found several more.

At this point, you might have two questions:

1. How many more did he find?
2. What’s in the center?

The short answers are (1) lots and, (2) something better than I expected.

Before I elaborate – two disclaimers:

1. I make no claims that this massive precise chiasm was inspired or intentional (or even that it actually exists), although I could imagine Paul, or even Tertius who “wrote this letter” slipping these in during a re-write. For important purposes.
2. I don’t know Greek. I’m using the ESV. If you’re looking at the Greek or another translation, your mileage may vary.

Getting back to my two questions…

1. How many did I find? To be more precise, the answer is 44 – give or take. Some stretch the concept a little. Below is a picture of the whole thing and I have the full list at the bottom of the essay.

• 2. And what did I find in the middle?

First, I ask you to consider, if you were looking for evidence there was a real and intentional verse-level chiasm in Romans, what would you expect to find in the middle?

In any case, as I was moving inwards, I found myself in chapter 7 on the front site and chapter 9 on the back. And then moving from both sides into chapter 8, which appeared to be the center of the chiasm. So I found 8:1 (“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus“), corresponding with 8:34 (“Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died“)

And 8:6 (“to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace“) pairing with 8:27 (“he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit“). Now just 21 verses apart.

And so on until I found the only two usages of the phrase ‘we wait’ (or even just the word ‘wait’) in the book of Romans – 8:23 (“as we wait eagerly”) and 8:25b (“we wait for it with patience.”). Now we’re only a verse apart. So what’s in verse 24-25a?

It turns out to be perhaps the most repetitive passage in Romans.

It’s a sentence with Hope-See-Hope repeated twice with a bonus ‘hope’ and ‘see’ on either end. It’s like a double chiasm within itself. Awesome.

This time I did look into the Greek and found something similar – the pattern is Hope-See-Hope-See-Hope-See-Hope. So it’s also symmetric.

So here’s what the center looks like:

That’s something I might expect to find in the center of a giant chiasm.

So what do you think? Does this seem reasonable/possible/interesting to you? And if you think the chiasm is actually there, does it glorify God?

I leave creating a First and Second Corinthians chiasm as an exercise for the reader.

To conclude, here are the verse/passages, as I found them, listed out in order, from the outside-in.

Note: In the second column: I’ve put a ‘R’ if this is the only place in Romans that one of the phrases appears, a ‘B’ if this is the only place in the Bible that one of the phrases appears, a ‘T’ if the similarity is more topical than actually employing the same word, and a ‘C’ if there are contrasting/opposite ideas in the two passages.

Thanks for reading! I appreciate any comments.

In case you’re curious, here is a list of other posts on my blogs which show a whole category of items from the Bible.

* By the way, I’ve seen other attempts at making a big chiasm out of Romans. What is different here is the extent of the intricacy and precision.

(Timing this post just as interest in this odd and controversial slogan is waning – so maybe you should consider it a debriefing)

1. The F-word is one of the harshest in the English language.
2. I’m not going to say that a Christian should never use the F-word, but Christian, never use the F-word.
3. A good Christian honors his or her leaders.
4. Specifically, a president should be respected.
5. So it is wrong-minded to say F Joe Biden (henceforth ‘FJB’). This is not what a Christian should want.
6. It is more wrong-minded to chant it.
7. Nevertheless, President Biden has done many things that most conservatives think are wrong-minded, foolish and/or unpresidential.
8. And the main-stream media generally overlooks or laud these things.
9. So it’s might be a little comforting for a conservative to hear that there are crowds that really disagree with President Biden’s presidency, enough to chant against him.
10. It’s at least a little funny, at least for a conservative, that the reporter said on camera that the crowd was chanting “Let’s Go Brandon” (henceforth ‘LGB’), when it’s clear they weren’t.
11. It is possible, perhaps even likely, that the reporter actually thought she heard them say this, so it might have been an honest mistake.
12. But It really fits into the fake news narrative that she knew what they were saying, but claimed it was LGB.
13. There are people who believe that saying LGB is the same as saying FJB.
14. For this reason, I would advise a Christian to not say LGB in any public forum.
15. There are people, perhaps most of the people who say it, who say LBG but don’t mean FJB.
16. They may just like highlighting the fact that some reporters are clueless, or deceitful.

                Or the fact that some reporters push a false narrative.

                Or the fact that there is a high Anti-Biden contingent in the US.

17. For this reason, I would advise a Christian to not judge those who say LGB too harshly.

The message, as it so often is, is ‘Be careful what you say and how you judge.’

Oh, and perhaps: 18. That wasn’t a church meeting. Please calm down. Handwringing isn’t necessary.

To any reader, I’d be interested to know which of these 17 statements you find the most offensive.

Book Review:

Observations on a Life Transformed – By Steve Hallblade.

The premise and structure of this book is simple – one letter at a time, it walks through the alphabet, spending a chapter defining for each letter an attribute or practice seen in lives transformed by Christ.

So for example, in the first three chapters he describes and points out how the Bible prescribes A – Authenticity, B – Benevolence, C – Compassion. And right there, even with those first three, you can see the value – I feel like it’s a worthy use of our time, to consider how God is calling us to live out these traits.

It’s a good idea for a book.

As I began reading it, however, I had three questions:

1. Since this book is about human traits and behaviors, does it only focus on the works of human action on its own and neglect the subject of God’s will, grace and providence in human lives? Or said another way, is this a legalistic or works-oriented book?
2. Does this book, as all Christian books should, spend time encouraging the reader to think about the Gospel and how it affects and directs a Christian’s behavior?
3. What does he do for the letter X?

As for the third question, I’ll let you find out for yourself – it was a new one for me. Happily, however, the answers to questions one and two are No and Yes!

So for example, in the chapter for H – Humility, he says this:

Christ’s example in humility is hard to humanly comprehend. Here is the creator of the universe (equal status with God) willing to become human. And why? He did this so he could live out a selfless, obedient life, die, and become a ransom for many. And while we will never come close to matching this type of humility, we are called to follow his example as best we can.

And then he continues with Paul’s words in Philippians 2 to describe ways in which we can strive to do that.

And later, in the chapter about L – Love, he says:

Jesus ups the game on the earlier command to love one another as you love yourself. The new command calls for our love toward others to be the same as Christ’s love toward us. But how can we do this? It’s definitely a very high standard, but with God’s help, we can love as we are called to love.

And right now, I’m resisting the temptation to give spoilers as to why he thinks we should have a Zeal for God. But there is a lot of good Gospel and God’s Grace in this book. And Scripture in every chapter.

For each of these traits, the author ends the chapter with a “Stepping Towards Transformation” section that offers a helpful basic step or goal for moving towards that practice in our lives – such as “Consider getting into a small group!”, or “Read the book of Job.” These sections extend the book from thoughtful and provocative to directed and practical.

Perhaps a fourth question I should have asked from the outset is “Will this book make me feel guilty?” Again, happily, the answer is no. This is a refreshing, conversational, personal book and every chapter – every letter – was a helpful reminder as to the types of behaviors God wants us to exemplify as Christians. Over and over, I found myself thinking, “Yeah, that’s something I should be thinking about. That’s a description I should be working towards.” But the author doesn’t hit you over the head with these concepts and he never claims to have them totally figured out in his own life.

I encourage you to get this book and read it, and I pray that God will use it to draw you closer to him as you remember more of how you are called to live as a response to what God has done for you.

What makes me not want to do stuff
14 descriptors of activities that I put off

It’s expensive (or might be)
It’s multi step
It might reveal my ignorance
It might cause other work
Not sure what first step is
It requires learning (two step)
It requires me to ask for help
I might be very late in doing it
I might fail
I’ll get dirty doing it.
Not fun to do (actually unpleasant)
Physical work
Might learn I’ve procrastinated too long
Other more fun stuff I’d rather do

Would you add any?

This image, with the knowledge that it came from the rally the proceeded the Capitol riots, is evocative, provocative and triggering.

Here are some wrong (sinful or foolish) thoughts that a person might have as they look at this photo:

Disclaimer 1: I might have thought some of these.
Disclaimer 2: It’s possible that some of these have been thought by no one. But I doubt it.
Disclaimer 3: I’m not only suggesting they are wrong, I’m further suggesting that almost all Americans would agree that these are wrong. Or at least possibly wrong.
Disclaimer 4: It’s a dangerous thing to be this condemnatory; as such I’d be interested to know if you think any of these are correct or wise.

• Aha! This is evidence that Jesus is on the side of Trump supporters.
• Aha! This is evidence that all Trump supports subvert/pervert the true message of Christ.
• The people that put up that sign are definitely idiots/evil.
• The people that put up that sign are definitely strong Christians.
• The people that put up that sign were definitely aware of/ in agreement with the rioting that happened in the capitol.
• Great! I can describe this image in a way that makes it look like all Christians are rioters.
• The people that put up the sign were definitely thinking “Jesus Saves with Trump as president.”
• No one at the rally saw that sign and thought “Yes, Jesus Saves with Trump as president.”
• Great! I don’t like Trump supporters and I can use a pretext of care about truth, or racism, or Jesus to make Trump look bad. Yet again!
• It’s a ‘Jesus Saves’ sign! What could possibly be seen as dangerous/wrong-minded about that?
• If there’s a chance that a person might take a sign wrong, we should definitely not put it up.

And here are some correct/wise responses – which I hope all Christians would agree with:

• The people that put up that sign might be well-intentioned and might have done some good.
• People at rallies really should be careful with Christian imagery they post.
• There is such a thing as feigning offense.
• There is such a thing as feigning fear that others will see the wrong message.
• There might be people who looked at that sign (at a gathering literally called the “Save America” rally) and be reminded that Jesus transcends politics and presidents in His ability to preserve and defend America.
• Yes, Jesus does save.

With all the statement about judging (from Jesus, James, Peter, Paul) in the Bible, I think we should always tend towards grace and trust in God. But it’s sometimes very difficult to do that.

He’s generally an advocate for Trump, but he’s an athiest, he describes himself of “left of Bernie”, he advocates for legalizing drugs, he’s prochoice and recently he said, “I’m the most pro-LGBTQ person you’ve ever met.”

So what do you think he thinks is the most central aspect of Christian behavior? How would you expect him to talk about how he sees Christians acting these days?

He has a daily periscope podcast (“Coffee with Scott Adams” – Today’s had 85,000 viewers). Earlier this month, he experienced something and his comments about Christianity made me glad.

As I say, he’s usually pro-Trump, but not always. He was so disappointed in Trump’s performance in the first debate (including not taking a stronger stand on white supremacy), he openly proclaimed on his podcast that he wasn’t going to vote for him unless things changed.

And you might think that people who don’t like Trump would be pleased to hear this and would be encouraging to Scott. But that’s not what happened. And the negative thoughts that came at him from left caused him to say the following ideas. [Note: even with his disclaimer, I disagree with his overly-negative description of democrats, so I took them out, but thinking towards fairness and completion, I’ll be adding them in the comments of this post. And yes, his description of Republicans is almost certainly overly positive. More’s the pity.]

************************
(From around time marker 22:15)

I’ve noticed that there’s a distinction between Republicans and Democrats and it goes like this… This is going to be a gross generalization, so I’m not going to say every Republican and I’m not going to say every Democrat…

************************

What he’s missing here, of course, is the source of a Christian’s interest in forgiveness: Jesus and the fact that we’ve been forgiven by him as a result of what he did for us on the Cross.

But just like with Louis C. K., I’d like to commend the Republicans that Scott’s been talking to. It looks like you’ve represented Christianity (and Christ) well. May we all be more like that.

And Scott, thanks for the nice words.

I then charted all of them, listing the vices and virtues – and I would like to present a summary of them here – vices first (I’ll show the virtues in another post – you know, end with the more positive).

There are 19 passages and 159 total items in this list, but (since many of them are repeated, there are 83 unique items on the list.

34 of those unique items appear on more than one list and 49 of them only appear once.

What vice do you think is on the most lists? It’s not a big surprise – Sexual Immorality. It’s on ten of the lists, so more than half. And this isn’t the only one having to do with sexual sin.

The rest of this post has two parts:

1. The context of each of the posts, which the authors say is true about all of the listed vices.
2. The full list of all of the vices and how often they appear.

I hope you find it helpful and interesting and motivating.

1. Vice List Context Passages – What You Should Know About These Sins

For out of the heart come … But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

What comes out of a person is what defiles him… All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done….

… Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in … But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the … will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be … I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: … I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

… has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: … On account of these the wrath of God is coming. … seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for …

… imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

This is not the wisdom that comes down from above…

… the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do

… they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

… their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

2. Full Vice List

Here are a few things to note:

• I put all of the full passages – lists with context, in the post right before this one.
• I used my own discretion when combining, but I didn’t do that too often
• I’m using ESV
• With most of these passages, I’m always surprised to see the dark and horrible sins mixed with the more acceptable sins.
• Entries that are in both of the gospel passages (Matthew 15:19 and Mark 21-23) I only counted as one. They are fairly similar lists.
• I’ll do the Virtue list summary soon.

Here’s the list of all the vices on all the lists.

Sexually immoral – 10
idolaters – 7
slanderers – 7
anger (fits of anger)(quick tempered) – 5
drunkards – 5
envy – 5
malice – 5
murder/murderers – 5
deceit (lying) – 4
impure – 4
jealousy – 4
Sensual (sensuality) – 4
Conceit – 3
covetousness – 3
evil (desires)(thoughts) – 3
foolish (talk) – 3
liars – 3
orgies – 3
passion – 3
quarrelling – 3
sorcery/sorcerers – 3
wrath – 3
adulterers – 2
boastful – 2
disobedient – 2
disorder – 2
dissensions – 2
faithless – 2
gossips – 2
greedy – 2
homosexuality practicers – 2
lawless – 2
strife – 2
thieves – 2
ambition (selfish) – 1
Bitterness – 1
Clamor – 1
Controversy (unhealthy craving for) – 1
cowardly – 1
crude joking – 1
demonic – 1
depraved in mind – 1
deprived of the truth – 1
detestable – 1
disobedient to parents – 1
divisions – 1
dogs – 1
enmity – 1
empty talkers – 1
enslavers – 1
evil suspicions – 1
filthiness – 1
friction (constant) – 1
hated by others – 1
haters of God – 1
hating one another – 1
haughty – 1
heartless – 1
hostility – 1
hypocrisy – 1
insolent – 1
insubordinate – 1
inventors of evil – 1
led astray – 1
maliciousness – 1
obscene talk – 1
perjurers – 1
practice contrary to sound doctrine – 1
practices falsehood – 1
pride – 1
profane – 1
revilers – 1
rivalries – 1
ruthless – 1
sinners – 1
strike their parents – 1
swindlers – 1
ungodly – 1
unholy – 1
unrighteousness – 1
unspiritual – 1
violent – 1
wickedness – 1

In case you’re curious, here is a list of other posts on my blogs which show a whole category of items from the Bible (Biblical Surveys).

*Yes, that’s a chiasm