Chiasm in Romans 3:19-31

Peter J. Leithart, December 10, 2003

There's something chiastic going on in 3:19-31 (or maybe 2:25-3:30).

A. by works of law no flesh shall be justified, 19-20
B. Apart from law, righteousness of God is revealed, 21
C. righteousness through faith in Jesus--> for all have sinned, 22-23
D. being justified as a gift through Jesus the propitiation, 24-25a
C'. to demonstrate his righteousness (having passed over sin), 25
B'. demonstration righteousness at the present time, right through faith 26-27
A'. Because man is justified by faith apart from wokrs of law, 28-31

The circumcision/uncircumcision in v 30 reaches back to the end of 2, so there may be something broader going on here. Verse 31 might go with chapter 4: Torah is established by an appeal to faith because Torah contains the story of Abe and he was justified by faith.