Chiastic Structure: X marks the spot!

I found one! A Chiastic Structure! (Just in my reading today.  If you're wondering- a chiastic structure (also called inverted parrellism) is a reference to the Beth Moore Bible Study "Esther."  

 ex- "Don't LIVE to EAT, EAT to LIVE. 

The main concepts of the sentence structure make an "X."

OK here's the one I read:

 "But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."  Gal 6:14

 So, it got me thinking, as I read. It has a chiastic structure in the second half. 

World has been crucified                                            to Me

Cross of Christ

I                                              crucified to the world

Think of that. Look at the center of the "X" - it's nothing WE did.  It's what He did.  But in Christ's crucifixion he severed the worlds ties to me and mine to the world.

That is a total "X" marks the spot on a Great Treasure!
It looks like a word picture, doesn't it?

       The World has been crucified to me;        X        So, now I am dead to the world 
         (Christ severed my identity with it)                    (I am no longer bound by its rule)


Paul summed it up in verse in  Gal 6:15

"Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation."

The treasure or boast of Christianity is not in religion or traditions, but that we have become New Creations through the cross of Christ. We are no longer bound by the world's curse!


So why doesn't it feel like it sometimes? Do you feel like a new creation- or more like the world?  
I think Paul gives us the answer in verse 16:

" And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. "

 Look- "to all who follow this rule" or "who live by this principle" (NLT). We have to choose whether or not we will believe this chiastic. Do we really believe that Jesus Christ's death has freed us from the rule and identification of this world. If so we can live in freedom! In hope.

Freedom not from the difficulties of life- but freedom from being ruled and bound by hopelessness. 

What do you boast in? What are you ruled by?  What do you really believe?  

When we choose to believe, as Paul said "walk by this rule..." peace and mercy become evident fruit that blossom from our lives.


We have to choose to believe this "X" (Chiastic) today.

       The World has been crucified to me,
                      through Christ
         ...so, now I am dead to the world.

       Therefore, I am a New Creation! Loved by the Father, ruled by His Peace and Mercy.

(That, my friends is is a peripty- "a sudden turn of events that reverses the expected or intended outcome", but I'll save that for another day!)

Thanks for joining me for my first blog entry!