The Pauline Letters: A Rhetorical Analysis

By David Oliver Smith and Robert M. Price

In The Pauline Letters: A Rhetorical Analysis, David Oliver Smith unveils his revolutionary discovery that the apostle Paul divided his letters into structured literary units as he wrote them. These literary units are based upon repeated words, phrases, and abstract concepts and are invariably patterned into chiastic, parallel, or hybrid structures. Using his technique of rhetorical analysis, Smith sets out each literary unit in the seven undisputed letters of Paul. After the structures of the literary units have been exposed, the units reveal interpolations that disrupt Paul's original structure. When the interpolations revealed by this technique are compared with interpolations heretofore proposed by Pauline scholars, there are some surprising results. Smith also uses his technique to analyze the Deutero-Pauline letters to determine whether any of those letters exhibit the same literary attributes as the undisputed letters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: Jun 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9781666744583

David Oliver Smith

David Oliver Smith has a JD from Duke University and is a retired lawyer who began his study of the New Testament more than fifteen years ago. He is the author of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Paul: The Influence of the Epistles on the Synoptic Gospels (2011) and Unlocking the Puzzle: The Structure and Christology of the Original Gospel of Mark (2016).

Book preview

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Literary Structures in the Pauline Letters

Rhetorical Analysis

S

cholars have long thought

that Paul’s letters found in the canon had been redacted by later church leaders in order to get Paul’s imprimatur for their ideas.¹ In fact, William O. Walker Jr. in his seminal Interpolations in the Pauline Letters is of the opinion that a priori it should be expected that Paul’s letters contain non-Pauline interpolations.² Winsome Munro states, It strains credulity to assume interpolations did not take place.³ Pauline scholars generally agree that seven of the letters attributed to Paul were actually written by him.⁴ These letters are typically referred to as Paul’s undisputed letters. A minority of scholars follows the opinion of F.C. Baur that only Romans,

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Corinthians,

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Corinthians and Galatians, known as the hauptbriefe, are original to Paul.⁵ Much has been written by Pauline scholars with regard to exactly which part of the Pauline text is original and which parts are later interpolations. Scholars have heretofore proposed ninety-seven interpolations into Paul’s seven undisputed letters.⁶ The other six letters that claim to be authored by Paul,

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Thessalonians, Colossians, Ephesians,

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Timothy,

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Timothy and Titus, the Deutero-Pauline letters, are generally regarded by Pauline scholars as total forgeries.⁷

In the debate regarding forged letters of Paul and interpolation into the undisputed letters, traditional scholarship investigates whether the text under consideration seems to interrupt the context of the surrounding text, contains atypical vocabulary or grammatical forms, whether there is contradictory text elsewhere in the subject letter, and whether the subject passage is missing or located in a different place in early manuscripts.⁸ These are all relevant discussions by Pauline scholars in coming to their conclusions with regard to interpolations and forgeries, and that data provides important clues as to whether different texts may have been written by different authors.

This work presents an additional tool that can be utilized to detect possible interpolated passages and forgeries. This tool will be referred to as rhetorical analysis. Rhetorical analysis can also be used to confirm or refute proposed interpolations that have been suggested by scholars using the traditional methods. Rhetorical analysis is akin to analysis of vocabulary, grammatical forms and other elements of style. It involves analyzing the literary structures contained in letters allegedly written by Paul. Scholars have heretofore mostly ignored the structures of Paul’s literary units as contained in his letters. A careful examination of Paul’s work reveals parallelisms, especially repeated words, phrases, and abstract concepts he used to structure his literary units.

Paul made extensive use of parallelism in his letters. Parallelism in rhetoric is a literary device in which coordinate ideas are arranged in phrases, sentences, and paragraphs that balance one element with another of equal importance and similar wording. The repetition of sounds, meanings, and structures serves to order, emphasize, and point out relationships.⁹ Paul used repetition of words and phrases, repetition of grammatical forms, repetition of abstract concepts stated differently, and contrasting statements, all sub-categories of the literary device parallelism. He deftly used these to emphasize and drive home the points he was attempting to make. Parallelism was a main attribute of his rhetoric. As one reads Paul’s letters, he cannot help but notice Paul’s repeated phrases.

Pauline scholars have noted Paul’s use of parallelisms,¹⁰ but little attention seems to have been paid to the systematic structural use of parallelisms in the letters. While Paul used all types of parallelism in his undisputed letters, the focus herein will be on the sub-category of repetition, particularly the repetition of words, phrases and abstract concepts. Careful examination of these repeated words, phrases, and concepts can be used to discover the structure, including the beginning and the ending of Paul’s literary units. For purposes of this analysis a parallelism is not necessarily merely a repeated word, phrase, or abstract concept, although the vast majority are in that category. The relationship of the parallelism could be of opposites (Heaven and Earth), synonyms (sin and immorality) or complementary concepts (faith and forgiveness). The relationship could be a question and the answer or an epithet and the target. An interesting aspect of Paul’s parallelisms is that occasionally in a chiastic structure the matching language in a particular stich will form a chiasm within the chiastic structure. For instance, in the chiastic structure of Rom 6:1–23 died to sin (apethanen tē hamartia) in v. 6:10 is matching language with sin to death (hamartias eis thanaton) in v. 6:16. The only way a reader would recognize the chiasm is by realizing that they form a stich in a chiastic structure. This is done a number of times in the undisputed letters. After the parallel text has been identified, a further determination is made whether a particular section of text is a unified literary unit with the repeated words and phrases arranged in a chiastic structure, a parallel structure, a hybrid structure, or a common prose structure devoid of parallelisms. Some Pauline structures actually have both a chiastic and a parallel structure overlapping each other.

Once a determination of the extent and structure of the literary units has been accomplished, a comparison can be made of these structures among the letters in order to determine whether a consistent pattern of literary structures can be identified as those of a single author. If a structure can be identified as being consistent with other structures found in Paul’s letters, additional text that has been inserted into the unit unbalancing and disrupting the original flow of the structure can be detected. In addition, some entire letters can be identified as not containing typical Pauline structures, rendering them total forgeries.

While Pauline scholars are certainly aware of Paul’s parallelisms, it appears that no systematic analysis of that element of Paul’s style has been performed. Several scholars have noted that chiasms can occasionally be found in the Pauline corpus.¹¹ They then used the chiastic structures they discovered as an exegetical tool. It has apparently gone unnoticed that Paul divided his letters into literary units and defined them by using the parallels of which he was so fond. The method of rhetorical analysis used herein is a chapter-by-chapter analysis. Of course, Paul did not organize his letters into chapters. However, he did organize his letters. He discussed one subject, came to a conclusion and then shifted to another subject. Rhetorical analysis reveals that Paul structured the separate topics and sub-topics in his letters into separate literary units using chiastic, parallel, hybrid chiastic/parallel, and dual chiastic/parallel structures, setting the topics and sub-topics apart.

The majority of the literary structures that are identified herein and contained in Paul’s seven undisputed letters encompass entire chapters. This validates the work of Stephen Langdon in the thirteenth century when he divided the books of the Bible into chapters.¹² When dividing Paul’s letters into chapters, Bishop Langdon would have naturally decided to end a chapter and begin a new chapter when one topic was completed and a new topic begun. If Paul used chiastic, parallel, or hybrid literary structures, it would be natural for him to have organized separate topics in his letters into separate literary structures. As Bishop Langdon divided them and are found in the canon, there are sixty-one chapters in Paul’s undisputed letters. Rhetorical analysis shows that only one chapter, 1 Cor 8, is not in Paul’s customary style. While 1 Cor 8 does contain repeated words and phrases, they are not arranged in any systematic pattern that Paul typically used. The repeated words and phrases found in 1 Cor 8 are similar to the chaotic type of repetition found in Ephesians. The conclusion is that the entire chapter is an interpolation. The fact that 1 Cor 8 contradicts 1 Cor 10:19–33 lends weight to the conclusion that it is an interpolation.

Thirty-five chapters of the authentic sixty found in the undisputed letters, or 58 percent of them, have a single literary structure that encompasses the entire chapter. One literary structure encompasses two chapters, Rom 12–13. In the sixty chapters rhetorical analysis identified a total of ninety-eight separate literary structures. Thirty-eight of them are solely chiastic, forty of them are solely parallel, thirteen have both a chiastic and a parallel structure, five structures are a hybrid mix of parallel and chiastic, and two structures encompassing Rom 4 and 2 Cor 2 have an unusual progressive parallel structure.

For those chapters in Paul’s letters that contain more than one literary structure, it would be understandable that Bishop Langdon did not want to separate out fifty or a hundred words as a separate chapter. He quite sensibly chose to divide the letter at the end of the second, third, or fourth structure where Paul completed a thought. With six relatively short structures, 1 Cor 7 contains the most structures of any chapter in Paul’s undisputed letters. In addition to the single literary unit of Rom 12–13, Gal 1:18–2:1 and Phil 1:7–2:4 are the only two other instances in the undisputed letters where a literary unit begins in one chapter and ends in another. There are also two instances in Colossians and one in Ephesians.

Chiastic Structure

A chiastic structure, also called a chiasm or chiasmus, is a literary construction wherein words, phrases, or concepts in the first half of the literary unit are repeated in exact reverse order in the second half. These are also called ring structures and concentric structures. For example, Mark 10:31: But many first will be last, and the last, first. The significant word order is first, last; last, first. This is a short, simple, small chiastic structure. A famous chiasm from John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address is Ask not what your country can do for you, rather, ask what you can do for your country.

Except for the italicized font a chiasm is typically diagramed as follows:

A Ask not what your country

B can do

C for you

C’ ask what you

B’ can do

A’ for your country.

Each matching pair A, A’; B, B’; and C, C’ is called a stich and each half is a hemistich. Throughout this work the parallel or matching words, phrases, or concepts will be shown in italicized font as presented above to facilitate recognition by the reader. Also in this work the term A stich means both hemistiches, A and A’, of a chiastic or parallel structure, or all elements, A, A,’ A,’’ A,’’’ of a multi-element parallel stich. However, the term A hemistich means only the first half of the A stich.

With experience it is relatively simple to detect the chiasmus as in the above example when exact words or phrases are placed in reverse order in a composition. However, in New Testament scripture often the author intends that two abstract concepts be recognized by the reader as being parallel or a matched pair. In these cases a subjective element enters the analysis. Treatises on chiastic structure go into great detail setting forth rules to follow in order to identify a chiastic structure and reduce the subjective element. In attempting to make the identification of chiastic structures rigorous, these scholars probably obscure some chiastic structures that were intended by the ancient authors.

Scholars have heretofore noted chiastic structures in Paul’s letters.¹³ Nils Lund in his 1942 work, Chiasmus in the New Testament identifies chiasmi at 1 Cor 6:12–14,¹⁴ 1 Cor 5:2–6,¹⁵ 1 Cor 9:19–22,¹⁶ 1 Cor 11:8–12,¹⁷ 2 Cor 1:3–5,¹⁸ the overall structure of 1 Cor 7,¹⁹ a large structure encompassing 1 Cor 11:34b—14:40,²⁰ Eph 5:22–33,²¹ Eph 6:1–4,²² Eph 6:5–9,²³ Col 1:3–9a,²⁴ the overall conceptual structure of Philemon,²⁵ and Rom 11:33–36.²⁶ Lund elucidates two different kinds of chiasmus. One, he matches words and phrases in short, one to four-verse passages, and two, he finds structural chiasmi in long passages, but the matches in the structural chiasmi are conceptual themes, not in repeated words and phrases. In both cases he is using the chiasmus as an exegetic tool to assist in determining the meaning of that portion of the letter.

In Chiasmus in the Pauline Epistles Ian Thompson detects chiasmi at Eph 1:3–10,²⁷ Eph 2:11–22,²⁸ Gal 5:13–22,²⁹ Col 2:6–19,³⁰ and Rom 5:12–21.³¹ Thompson also uses the chiasmus to assist in exegesis.³² It was not the intention of either Lund or Thompson to utilize the structures they discovered to detect possible interpolated passages or identify a consistent corpus wide Pauline literary characteristic. Since an interpolation in all likelihood disrupts Paul’s original structure, they were, in fact, encumbrances to Lund and Thompson in detecting chiasmi. Their endeavors in using chiasmus to assist in exegesis are interesting and elucidate the writing style of Paul. The analysis of Paul’s letters presented herein has a different focus and will detect literary structures that the others did not report.

Recognizing Chiastic Structures

As stated above nearly half of the literary structures in Paul’s undisputed letters have a chiastic structure. Because of the balanced nature of the structure, these provide the best opportunities to detect interpolations that disrupt the balance. The following set of principles sets out the parameters of the process of identifying a chiastic structure of a literary unit that encompasses a chapter or a substantial portion of a chapter in Paul’s letters. First Corinthians 7:20–24 will be used to illustrate these principles. Below the diagram of the entire unit is a table showing only the matching text.

A 7:20 Let each one remain in that calling wherein he was called.

B 7:21a Were you called as a slave? Do not care about it.

C 7:21b But if you can become free, rather take advantage.

D 7:22a For he that was called in the Lord being a slave is the Lord’s freed man.

D’ 7:22b Likewise he that was called being free is Christ’s slave.

C’ 7:23a You were bought with a price.

B’ 7:23b Do not become slaves of men.

A’ 7:24 Brothers, let each one remain wherein he was called, with God.³³

1 Cor 7:20–24 Chiastic Structure Table

Principles

1.A chiastic structure of a Pauline literary unit exists when there are words, phrases, or concepts found in the first half of the literary unit that are repeated in the second half of the unit in the exact reverse order from those found in the first half. In the table above the verses are in numerical order in the left hand column, but in the right hand column the verse numbers are in reverse numerical order, reflecting that the repetitions in second half are in reverse order from the first half. In 1 Cor 7:20–24 it can easily be seen that, with the exception of the C stich, exact words and/or phrases found in the first half have been repeated in reverse order in the second half of the structure. Clearly Paul intentionally created this effect for this section of 1 Cor 7.

2.The parallel word, phrase, or concept found in the second half of the literary unit may be the exact opposite of its counterpart found in the first half, e.g., life matching death, righteousness matching sinfulness, etc. In 1 Cor 7:20–24 above in the C stich you can become free has the opposite connotation of you were bought with a price. However, ironically, being bought with a price is what sets one free, christologically speaking; therefore, the reader can be sure Paul intended that match.

3.The words in a repeated phrase may be in a different order in the second half from that found in the first half, e.g., Heaven and Earth is parallel to Earth and Heaven. This is the situation in the D stich of 1 Cor 7:20–24 (called slave freed in the D hemistich versus called free slave in the D’ hemistich).

4.When the exact same word or phrase is used in both the first half and the second half of a literary unit, the reader can easily discern that there is a chiastic match; however, as mentioned above, matching an abstract concept in the first half to another abstract concept found in the second half introduces a subjective element. Reasonable minds can differ on whether two abstract concepts are in fact parallel, and it may depend on the context and the mindset of the reader. As discussed, there is a question in the C stich as to whether Paul intended to match you can become free with you were bought with a price.

5.If there are several stiches containing words and/or phrases in the first half and these words or phrases are repeated in exact reverse order in the second half, and in the midst of such exact word or phrase repetitions, there appears to be a tenuous repetition of an abstract concept in the appropriate order, such tenuous concept repetition should be considered as an additional stich. Once again, this is the situation with the C stich. Since it falls between the repetitions of the identical words slave in the B stich and called, slave, and free in the D stich, it is probable that Paul intended the match shown above for the C stich.

6.Each stich in a chiastic structure is usually balanced. There should be roughly the same number of Greek words and/or syllables in each hemistich of a particular stich. Different stiches in the same chiastic structure may vary in number of Greek words. That is, the B stich may contain many more Greek words than the C stich. A long multisyllabic word balances several short words. In 1 Cor 7:20–24 the A hemistich of the A stich contains nine Greek words, and the A’ hemistich contains ten. The B hemistich contains five Greek words, while the B’ hemistich contains four. The C hemistich contains eight Greek words, but the C’ hemistich only contains 2; however, one of the words in the C’ hemistich has five syllables. The D hemistich contains nine Greek words, and the D’ hemistich contains seven. There are literary units in the undisputed letters wherein several hemistiches in one half of the unit have many more words than the hemistiches in the other half of the unit, but no interpolation can be detected. These are rare.

7.First Thessalonians 2:19–20 is the only chiastic structure of the fifty-one found in the undisputed letters wherein the center stich contains only one hemistich. This is a special case because of the wording of the center hemistich about Jesus coming to Earth, a main theme of 1 Thessalonians. All other chiastic structures have a two-hemistich center stich. The center stich of a chiastic structure is typically the theme of the chiastic structure. The center D stich of the chiastic structure of 1 Cor 7:20–24 has two hemistiches, and it is the theme of the unit.

Parallel Structure

There are slightly more parallel literary structures in Paul’s letters than there are chiastic structures. Lund observed that there are parallel structures in Paul’s letters.³⁴ Paul constructed two different types of parallel structures. The most common contains repeated words, phrases, and concepts in an A, A’; B, B’; C, C’; etc., pattern. He also constructed several units with an A, B, C; A,’ B,’ C,’; etc., structure. Frequently there will be more than two elements in a single stich, such as A, A’; B, B’; C, C,’ C,’’ C’’’.

Parallel structures are more easily discerned than chiastic structures because the matching words or phrases are closer to each other. As with chiastic structures, parallel structures are generally balanced. When there are more than two occurrences of a matching phrase in a stich, as in the below A stich, they will be referred to as elements. The parallel hemistiches or elements should contain approximately the same number of Greek words. Galatians 1:1–17 is a typical Pauline parallel structure.

A 1:1 Paul, an apostle not from men nor through man but through Jesus Christ and God the father, the one raising him from the dead,

A’ 1:2 and all the brothers that are with me to the churches of Galatia. 1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ,

A’’ 1:4 who gave himself for our sins so that he might deliver us out of this presently evil age according to the will of our God and father, 1:5 to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

B 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting from the one who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel;

B’ 1:7 which is not another one, only some who trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

C 1:8 But even if we or an angel from Heaven, should preach a gospel to you other than the one which we preached to you let him be accursed.

C’ 1:9 As we have said before, so I now say again, if anyone preaches to you any gospel other than that which you received let him be accursed.

D 1:10 For am I now seeking the approval of men or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were pleasing men, I would not in any way be a servant of Christ.

D’ 1:11 For I make known to you, brothers, regarding the gospel which was preached by me, that it is not according to man. 1:12 For neither did I receive it from man nor was I taught it, but through revelation of Jesus Christ.

E 1:13 For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and was destroying it.

E’ 1:14 And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

F 1:15 And when it pleased God, who selected me from my mother’s womb and called me through his grace,

F’ 1:16 to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood.

G 1:17a Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to them that were apostles before me.

G’ 1:17b But I went away into Arabia.

G’’ 1:17c And again I returned to Damascus.

Gal 1:1–17 Parallel Structure Table

In the A stich this analysis determines that there are three elements based on the repetition of God and father and a reference to Jesus. In the table for the B stich the repeated words found in the B hemistich are placed in the table cell in the order they are found in the text. However, for the B’ hemistich the repeated words are placed in the table cell in the same order they are found in the B hemistich, so that both cells appear as much alike as possible for comparison. This procedure will be followed throughout this work. Presumably in the E stich Paul intended that I persecuted be parallel to I advanced in that both are actions that Paul took. It is also presumed that destroying is intended to be parallel to exceedingly zealous since one would need to be exceedingly zealous to destroy churches. In the F stich called me was determined to be parallel to I might preach him because preaching is the objective of the calling. Paul was called to preach. Paul’s literary structures are quite often symmetrical. The initial A stich and the final G stich both contain three elements, while all the stiches in between contain two hemistiches.

First Corinthians 4:9–13 is an example of the other type of parallel structure found in Paul’s letters. In addition, it contains an inclusio, which is an attribute that is found in twelve of Paul’s parallel structures. An inclusio is present when the two hemistiches of the A stich introduce and conclude a parallel structure. An inclusio provides a definite division between structures. Paul made clear divisions between his literary units.

A 4:9 For I think God has proclaimed us apostles last as men condemned to death. For we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.

B 4:10a We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ.

C 4:10b We are weak, but you are strong.

D 4:10c You are honored, but we are despised.

B’ 4:11a Even to the present hour we both hunger, and thirst,

C’ 4:11b and are naked, and are mistreated,

D’ 4:11c and are homeless. 4:12a And we grow weary working these hands.

B’’ 4:12b Being reviled, we bless.

C’’ 4:12c Being persecuted, we endure.

D’’ 4:13a Being slandered, we encourage.

A’ 4:13b As the scum of the Earth, we have become the refuse of all things until now.

1 Cor 4:9–13 Parallel Structure Table

In this structure each stich has three parallel elements except the A stich which is an inclusio that sets off and defines the structure. It was mentioned above that in a chiastic structure the center stich defines the unit. In parallel units with inclusios, the inclusio defines the unit. In this structure it is the construction of the phrases that are parallel and not the repetition of exact words as is typical in Paul’s structures. The parallels are travails of the apostles Paul and Apollos. The first B, C, D group tells how Paul and Apollos are considered to have flawed characters. The second B, C, D group tells how they physically suffer. The third B, C, D group tells how they overcome abuse. Note that the versification is clumsy. If the versifier had appreciated Paul’s parallel literary unit, verse 4:12 would begin with Being reviled and verse 4:13 would begin after encourage. Robert Estienne, a French printer, is credited with the versification of the Bible in 1551 that was generally accepted.³⁵ To properly represent the author’s intent, each new hemistich or element should be a separate verse. The problem is that reasonable minds can disagree on where to end one hemistich and begin another, although the process should not be random. Such a division should occur at the end of a sentence or clause, consistent with the balance principle.

Hybrid Chiastic/Parallel Structures

The hybrid chiastic/parallel structure has parallel aspects and chiastic aspects. Usually the chiastic portion matches the beginning and ending of the literary unit while the parallel portion is in the center of the unit. This is in keeping with Paul’s love of symmetry and clearly delineating the beginning and ending of his literary units. An example of a hybrid structure is Rom 14:7–12.

A 14:7 For no one lives to himself, and no one dies to himself.

B 14:8a For if we live, we live to the Lord.

C 14:8b And if we die, we die to the Lord.

C’ 14:8c Whether we live therefore or die, we are the Lord’s.

D 14:9a For to this end Christ died and lived,

D’ 14:9b that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

E 14:10a But you, why do you judge your brother?

E’ 14:10b Or you also, why do you condemn your brother?

E’’ 14:10c For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

B’ 14:11 For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, and every tongue will acknowledge God."

A’ 14:12 So then each of us will give account of himself to God.

Rom 14:7–12 Hybrid Structure Table

The A and B stiches are chiastic with himself matching himself in the A stich and we live to the Lord matching I live says the Lord in the B stich. This could be regarded as a two-element inclusio. However, the C, D, and E stiches are parallel, with three elements in the E stich. There can be no doubt that this was an intentional structure created by the author. The reverse of this structure is found in Gal 3:1–17 where there is a parallel structure of five verses followed by a chiastic structure containing eleven verses and concludes with a parallel structure of two verses.

Dual Chiastic/Parallel Structures

There are thirteen literary units in the undisputed letters where Paul designed them both with a chiastic structure and a parallel structure, an amazing feat of literary construction.³⁶ Such structures have been designated dual chiastic/parallel structures. In every case the entwined structures begin and end with the same verses. In two cases the parallel structure has an inclusio where the A stich of the parallel structure is identical to the A stich of the chiastic structure. Often the center stich of the chiastic structure is also one of the parallel stiches in the parallel structure. In the majority of cases these dual chiastic/parallel structures are fairly long and encompass an entire chapter. An example of this extraordinary type of structure is 2 Cor 11:1–19.

2 Cor 11:1–19 Chiastic Structure

A 11:1 I wish that you were bearing with me in a little foolishness. But indeed you do bear with me.

B 11:2 For I am jealous as to you with a godly jealousy. For I have given you in marriage to one husband, a pure virgin to present to Christ.

C 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity in Christ.

D 11:4 For if he who is coming proclaims another Jesus whom we did not proclaim, or you receive a different spirit, which you did not receive, or a different gospel, which you did not accept, you are bearing it well.

E 11:5 For I conclude that I am inferior in nothing to the most chief apostles.

F 11:6 But though I am unpolished in speech, yet I am not in knowledge. But in every way we have revealed this to you in all things.

G 11:7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I gratuitously proclaimed to you the gospel of God?

H 11:8 I robbed other churches, having received support for the ministry to you. 11:9a And when I was present with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone.

H’ 11:9b For the brothers coming from Macedonia, fully supplied my need. And in everything I kept from being a burden to you, and so will I keep.

G’ 11:10 The truth of Christ is in me so that this boasting of mine will not be obstructed in the regions of Achaia.

F’ 11:11 Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do. 11:12a But what I do that I will do so that I might cut off the opportunity

E’ 11:12b from those who desire an opportunity. That in what they are boasting they might be found as we are.

D’ 11:13 For such as these are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

C’ 11:14 And no wonder; for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 11:15 It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.

B’ 11:16 I say again no one should think I am a fool. But if so, receive me as a fool that I also may boast a little. 11:17a What I am saying, I am not saying according to the Lord,

A’ 11:17b but in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting. 11:18 Since many boast according to the flesh, I will boast also. 11:19 For being wise you bear fools gladly.

2 Cor 11:1–19 Chiastic Structure Table

Both the A and A’ hemistiches contain foolishness. The A hemistich contains bearing with me and bear with me while the A’ hemistich contains you bear fools. The B stich matches I have given you in marriage with receive me, a match of opposites—giving you and receiving me. The B stich also matches Christ with Lord. The C stich matches serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness with Satan disguises himself, Christ with angel of light, and your minds might be corrupted with ministers also disguise themselves. The D stich matches he who is coming in the D hemistich with false apostles in the D’ hemistich emphasizing the D hemistich text, proclaims another Jesus. The second D stich match is between proclaims another Jesus and disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. Obviously in Paul’s mind if an apostle is proclaiming a Jesus with different attributes from Paul’s Jesus, then such apostle is disguising himself as an apostle of Christ, but is not an apostle of Paul’s Christ. In the E stich the match is between I am inferior in nothing in the first half with as we are in the second half since as we are means that Paul’s opponents are boasting they are equal to Paul in stature. The second match of the E stich is between most chief apostles and those seeking an opportunity. Paul is warning that the chief apostles of his opponents are coming to Corinth seeking an opportunity to reconvert Paul’s proselytes in Corinth into a different Christianity. The F hemistich has I am not in knowledge matching I might cut off the opportunity in the F’ hemistich with Paul in both cases bragging about his abilities and in the F’ hemistich making a word play about circumcision. The G hemistich has I gratuitously proclaimed to you the gospel of God which matches the truth of Christ is in me found in the G’ hemistich. The center H stich matches I robbed other churches and the brothers coming from Macedonia fully supplied my need, both claiming that the Corinthians did not pay him anything. The H stich has a second parallelism with I did not burden anyone being parallel to I kept from being a burden to you.

2 Cor 11:1–19 Parallel Structure

Below is the same literary unit showing the parallel structure with which Paul overlaid the chiastic structure. This structure contains parallelisms using some of the same phrases that define the chiastic structure and using others that are not included in the chiastic matches. In the parallel structure the C and H stiches each have three elements. The C stich is the third from the beginning and the H stich is the third from the end. This is another example of Paul’s parallel structures having symmetry.

A 11:1a I wish that you were bearing with me in a little foolishness.

A’ 11:1b But indeed you do bear with me.

B 11:2 For I am jealous as to you with a godly jealousy. For I have given you in marriage to one husband, a pure virgin to present to Christ.

B’ 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity in Christ.

C 11:4a For if he who is coming proclaims another Jesus, whom we did not proclaim,

C’ 11:4b or you receive a different spirit, which you did not receive,

C’’ 11:4c or a different gospel, which you did not accept, you are bearing it well.

D 11:5 For I conclude that I am inferior in nothing to the most chief apostles.

D’ 11:6 But though I am unpolished in speech, yet I am not in knowledge. But in every way we have revealed this to you in all things.

E 11:7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted because I gratuitously proclaimed to you the gospel of God?

E’ 11:8 I robbed other churches, having received support for the ministry to you. 11:9a And when I was present with you and was in need I did not burden anyone.

F 11:9b For the brothers coming from Macedonia fully supplied my need; and in everything I kept from being a burden to you, and so will I keep.

F’ 11:10 The truth of Christ is in me, so that this boasting of mine will not be obstructed in the regions of Achaia.

G’ 11:11 Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do. 11:12a But what I do, that I will do so that I might cut off the opportunity

G’ 11:12b from those who desire an opportunity. That in what they are boasting they might be found as we are.

H 11:13 For such as these are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

H’ 11:14 And no wonder; for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

H’’ 11:15 It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.

I 11:16a I say again, no one should think I am a fool.

I’ 11:16b But if so, receive me as a fool that I also may boast a little. 11:17a What I am saying, I am not saying according to the Lord,

J 11:17b but in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.

J’ 11:18 Since many boast according to the flesh, I will boast also. 11:19 For being wise you bear fools gladly.

2 Cor 11:1–19 Parallel Structure Table

In the A stich bearing with me matches bear with me. In the B stich both halves mention purity and Christ. The C stich contains three elements with a parallel construction about another Jesus, a different spirit, and a different gospel. Both halves of the D stich have Paul bragging about himself. Commit a sin in the E hemistich matches robbed other churches in the E’ hemistich, when Paul’s meaning is that he did not sin against the Corinthians by relying on other churches to support him. Then the second match of the E stich is you might be exalted with I did not burden anyone. Burden has the opposite connotation from exalted. Both halves of the F stich mention the name of a Greek region, Macedonia and Achaia. The G stich has Paul’s word play about circumcision and the opportunists Paul opposes. All three elements of the H stich have two matching phrases false apostle matching Satan and ministers. Then apostle of Christ matches angel of light and ministers of righteousness. Both matching phrases in the two halves of the I stich mention say and fool. Finally, both halves of the J stich mention boasting.

It is no small feat for Paul to have constructed a literary unit having both a chiastic structure and a parallel structure. Rhetorical analysis identifies thirteen of these dual chiastic/parallel structures. This shows the sophistication of Paul’s literary education. The device of using parallel constructions to establish one’s premise rhetorically must have been constantly practiced in Paul’s education so that it came naturally and effortlessly to him as he expounded his arguments.

1

. Ehrman, Corruption of Scripture,

321

. Walker, Interpolations.

2

. Walker, Interpolations,

43

.

3

. Munro, Interpolations,

161

–

68

.

4

. These are Romans,

1

Corinthians,

2

Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians,

1

Thessalonians, and Philemon; Ehrman, Forged,

93

.

5

. Britannica.com/biography/Ferdinand-Christian-Baur.

6

. Walker, Interpolations,

16

–

19

; O’Neill, Romans; O’Neill, Galatians. Of the ninety-seven interpolations proposed by Pauline scholars, rhetorical analysis agrees totally or partially with eleven, cannot dispute three, disagrees with eighty-three, and proposes twenty-four additional interpolations.

7

. Ehrman, Forged,

93

.

8

. Walker, Interpolations,

63

–