Saturday, August 14, 2010

Colossians Chiasm... Maybe?

So, I was reading through Colossians and thought that it might be profitable to outline the short letter. It took me a while, but I think that maybe the book is a neat little chiasm... maybe.

I am not certain that I fully understand chiastic structure; I gave it a shot anyway. This is what I came up with:


The more time I spent in the book, the more that I came to think that the pivot of Colossians is Paul's short aside concerning his ministry.
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
This passage serves as a transition between a sharp already/not yet juxtaposition that lies within the heart of the book: you already have everything; you need to do these things.

The Colossians had heard and believed and because of this fact Paul rejoices. However, false teaching had the potential to confound the Colossians and for that reason Paul had to demonstrate that the Colossians had continual spiritual needs, mainly, walking in Christ (2:6), spiritual captivity (2:8), imposition of new law (2:20-23), etc.

Essentially, Paul tells the Colossians, "Everything that you needed to happen has indeed happened; however, those with the appearance of wisdom are out there, but you should not succumb to their ways. They are worldly. Rather do x, y, and z."

So, 1:24-2:5 is a go-between. Paul wraps up his section about all that the Colossians have in Christ, then he says, "Oh, and btw, I am being heavily persecuted for your sake. Why? Because worldly wisdom opposes Godly wisdom. I am an advocate for the latter. But I care about you enough to suffer for you because just as it is vastly important that you understand your current position in Christ, so is it vastly important that you understand that means a particular way of living; and it's not automatic."

If I had to sum up Colossians in three words I would simply say: done; now do.

As for the chiasm I put together, maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. But I think it lent some insight.

2 comments:

Brian Casey said...

Just found and have barely scanned your post so far but am planning to delve into it and other materials tomorrow. I appreciate your interest in finding structure in the text and have done some of the same myself with Mark and Philemon. Our house church is starting Colossians tomorrow evening, and I'm excited about it.

djr said...

I think you might be right about the book having a chiastic structure, but I think it might be better to set the focus of the chiasm on Chapter 2 9-15 with the whole point of the book being 2:9-10 check it out.
A: the letter itself
B: 1:1-2
C: 1:3-8
D: 1:9-14
E: 1:15-18
F: 1:19-23
G: 1:24-2:3
H: 2:4-8
----------> I: 2:9-15
H': 2:16-3:4
G': 3:5-11
F': 3:12-17
E': 3:18-4:1
D': 4:2-4
C': 4:5-6
B': 4:7-14
A': 4:15-18