What is a Chiasm?
When I was young there was a very popular TV show called Star Trek. The “Starship Enterprise,” roamed the galaxy defending the “Federation.” Captain Kirk expressed the typical range of emotions, but his, subordinate, (Spock) from the planet Vulkan, was totally devoid of emotion and repeatedly said, “that’s not very logical.”
Western logic can be illustrated by the equation: A + B = C. Everything drives toward the conclusion. But the Hebrew logic of the Bible is different: A + B = A! Hebrew logic returns back on itself. It is like the notes on a piano. As you go up the musical scale (do, re, mi, etc.) you keep coming back to the same notes, but they are at a higher, more advanced level than before. In Western logic the emphasis is on the conclusion, in Hebrew logic the emphasis is on the centre. This is called a chiasm in Hebrew poetry and is very common in the Bible.
The seven churches seem to be structured along the lines of Hebrew logic, A-B-A. Two of the churches are not criticized by Jesus at all–Smyrna and Philadelphia (the second and the sixth); two seem to be in serious decline–Pergamus and Sardis (the third and the fifth); and two seem to have similar problems–Ephesus and Laodicea (the first and the last). The church in the middle seems to have two phases and the message is twice as long as any of the others—Thyatira.
The resulting structure is like a seven-branch lampstand with three branches on each side, one in the middle and pairs of branches meeting at the same point in the stem of the lampstand: Ephesus and Laodicea are at opposite ends of the candlestick; Smyrna and Philadelphia are the next level; Pergamus and Sardis, next; and Thyatira, the top.
God did not apply Western logic to the churches of Asia Minor. He cared so much for them that He met them where they were.
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this” REV 2:1.
Ephesus was the most prominent of the seven cities. It was more powerful than Pergamum politically and more favoured than Smyrna with regard to the cult of emperor worship. Ephesus was filled with symbols of this civil religion. Ephesus was also renowned for the worship of Artemis (Acts 19:23-40), the practice of magic (Acts 19:13-19), and its large Jewish community (Acts 19:8-9). All of these elements would have made the Book of Revelation relevant to the church in Ephesus.
Shortly after the time of Revelation the church received another letter, this time from Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch in Syria. Ignatius had been taken into custody and was being transported through Asia Minor to Rome, where he was to die in the arena. Along the way the soldiers allowed him to meet with other Christians. One memorable encounter was the warm welcome in Smyrna from its leader Polycarp.
While Ignatius was in Smyrna, four representatives also came from Ephesus to encourage him. These included the bishop of Ephesus, Onesimus, presumably the former runaway slave mentioned in Paul’s letter to Philemon. Ignatius responded to their visit by sending a letter to the church at Ephesus. Later on, he also sent letters to Philadelphia and Smyrna.
In his letter to the Ephesians, Ignatius thanks the church for its kindness, praises its unity, and warns them to not allow divisions in the church. Like John in the three NT epistles, Ignatius considered Docetism, a theory that rejected the full humanity of Jesus, as the greatest threat facing the church at that time.
Ignatius also sent a letter to the Christians in Rome, asking them not to intercede with the Emperor on his behalf. He seems to have been almost eager for martyrdom. He declared that if the wild beasts were not hungry, he would urge them on!
While his eagerness for martyrdom may strike us as odd, his love for Jesus would have been a great model for a church that was lacking in love.