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In the Greek text of Ephesians 2:8, the statement "and this not of ourselves, it is the gift of God" is chiastically structured. A wooden translation is: "and this not out of ourselves, of God the gift," with the EX HUMON ("out of ourselves") chiastically matching the genitive THEOU ("of God").
OK, so what? Chiasm works, at least at times, by moving the text "down" to a depth or "into" a center, and then digging it out again. In the flood narrative, the first part of the chiasm takes us to a point where we return to the utter formless-and-voidness of Gen 1:2, before the second half of the chiasm "ascends" back to an ordered cosmos. That may be part of the implication in Eph 2:8: Things that are "of ourselves" move us to the bottom of a pit, but "of God" brings us back out to receive the gift.
Perhaps a labyrinth image is more fitting. In the first half, a chiasm takes us into the center of the maze, and in the second half it brings us out. Alternatively, if you take John Breck's view that chiasms actually function spirally (A->A', B->B', C->C', and so on), then the whole chiasm functions to take us to the center of the labyrinth, which is normally where the treasure is buried, where the tree of life has fruit for the taking.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, September 19, 2003 at 06:32 AM
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