A chiasm is a literary structure where vocabulary of the first section of a passage is repeated in reverse order in the second. The center of the chiasm is typically the climax of the passage. In 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 the center and climax is “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet” we will all be changed (1 Cor 15:52a-b).A1Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, (15:51a)2but we will all be changed, (15:51b)Bin a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; (15:52a)B’for the trumpet will sound, (15:52b)A’1and the dead will be raised imperishable, (15:52c)2and we will be changed. (15:52d)
The Chiasm of 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
About the Author: Mike Rusten
Mike Rusten grew up in Plymouth, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. God drew him to himself at a Billy Graham crusade when Mike was a junior high boy, and life was never to be the same. He graduated from Princeton University where he was president of the Princeton Evangelical Fellowship. Read More ...
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