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 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 the center and climax is “For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ” (2 Cor 1:5).ABlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, (1:3)Bwho comfortsus in all ouraffliction (Greek: thlipsis) so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction (Greek: thlipsis) with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (1:4)CFor just as the sufferings of Christareoursin abundance, (1:5a)C’so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. (1:5b)B’But if we are afflicted (Greek:thlibō), it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; (1:6)A’and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort. (1:7)
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