Jeff Adams

As promised in our study of Luke this morning, below is the layout of the parallelism in Luke 1: 5-20. Some of you will recognize this schematic way of diagramming from literature classes in High School or college. All of you who are regulars at Graceway have heard me speak repeatedly of parallelism because it is such a major component of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments.

Parallelism is a huge part of the beauty and genius of scripture. Basically, parallelism refers to laying out parallel words, phrases, sentences or other literary units to compare, complement, complete or contrast with each other. Sometimes you will hear terms like chiastic structure, form or redaction criticism used to speak of the literary analysis of any writing, not just the Bible. Here is a quick and basic overview if you are interested.

Upper and lower cases of the Greek letter Chi

Chiastic form is a term derived from the Greek letter Chi that looks quite similar to a stylized capital X in our English alphabet. As you look at the diagram below, you can see that the diagram forms half of an X, of Chi.

This is important because key to understanding the words of scripture, or any words, is context. To properly understand the Bible we must understand the historical, cultural, grammatical and literary context of the words of scripture. From a practical standpoint, parallelism assists us to see clearly the main points, how they are related and to remember the message. As you might imagine, this type of study can be as simple or complicated as you want.

Also, despite the wonderful insight we can gain from learning about literary structure in biblical times, some use such information in an attempt to discredit the historicity or accuracy of the Bible. Like any good tool, its value is in the hands of the individual who uses it.  Parallelism is not a secret code or silver bullet, but simply a literary technique useful to writer and listener/reader alike for the enhancement of communication was well as creative beauty.

In biblical times, no one walked around with a big black Bible under the arm. In Old Testament times, most biblical revelation was preserved on scrolls by scribes. Handmade, large, and rare, scrolls were not immediately accessible to just anyone. As the various books of the New Testament were completed, they were circulated on papyrus scrolls. Only after the first century did it become common to begin to assemble biblical books on papyrus or vellum in a form that would approximate what we think of as a book today.

Instead of owning a personal copy of scripture, people listened to scripture as it was carefully read, whether in the temple, synagogue or church. Literary devices such as parallelism or chiastic structure assisted listeners to understand and remember what they were hearing. This is still true in oral societies to this day.

Western literate cultures process information in what many would consider to be linear and logical forms, while many oriental cultures process information by thoughts patterns that are sometimes described as “spiral.” This is not to infer that one is better than the other, only different. Eastern thought processes are more similar to the way people in biblical cultures processed information. Huge portions of the Bible are written in various poetic, literary styles. Writers of scripture wrote understanding that their words would largely be heard with the ears, not read with the eyes.

Please understand that recognition of such literary devices and their use in no way detracts from the divine inspiration of the Bible, nor does it imply less historical accuracy as some might attempt to infer. To the contrary! God chose to work through human instrumentality employing the forms and techniques of the time and culture of the biblical writers. This is the whole point of context. We should also understand how blessed we are today to have immediate and personal access to the words of God, whether in a big black Bible under the arm or on our smart phone!

So, with this brief and simplistic background, here is my own simplified adaptation and wording of of the parallel structure of Luke 1:5-20 that I have studied in the works of various scholars and commentators. Notice how the thoughts parallel each other, A to A’, B to B’. C to C’, etc.

A good way to read this is in spiral form rather than linear. In other words, read both A points, then the B, and so on, working your way to the middle – in this case H or verse 13. This is the writer’s way of signaling that this is THE point. This is also the way the original recipients of biblical scripture would have intuitively processed the content.

Enjoy! I’ll probably be posting more examples as we move through our study of Luke, so check back from time to time.

A – Day apppointed – 1:5

B – Righteous before God – 1:6

C – Stricken in years – 1:7

D – Obedient service – 1:8-9

E – Multitudes affected – 1:10

F – Messenger of God – 1:11

G – Trouble and fear – 1:12

H – The message – 1:13

G’ – Joy and gladness – 1:14

F’ – Messenger of God – 1:15

E’ – Multitudes affected – 1:16

D’ – Obedient service – 1:17

C’ – Stricken in years – 1:18

B’ – Blessed by God – 1:19

A’ – Day appointed – 1:20