A Chiasm in Matthew 5 on the Spiritual Nature of the Law

 

A - v2-12 - Spiritual application of Torah
-- B - v13-16 - Righteousness that glorifies God
---- C - v17a - Don't think that Yeshua will abolish the Law or Prophets
------ D - v17b - Yeshua didn't come to abolish them
-------- E - v18a - Until Heaven and Earth pass away
---------- F - v18b - Not an iota or dot will pass from the Law
-------- E - v18c - Until all is accomplished
------ D - v19a - Relaxes the least commandment and teaches others so
---- C - v19b - Does and teaches the commandments
-- B - v20 - Righteousness that glorifies man
A - v21-48 - Spiritual application of Torah

A few things that can be learned from this chiastic arrangement:

1. "Until Heaven and Earth pass away" and "Until all is accomplished" are not two possibilities for when the Law will pass away, but two descriptions of the same event. In other words "all" will not be accomplished until heaven and earth pass away.
2. Verses 13-16 are meant to exemplify a kind of righteous behavior that glorifies God. This righteousness is juxtaposed with that of the scribes and Pharisees in verse 20, which serves only to glorify men.
3. The Beatitudes in verses 2-12 concern the inner character of the perfectly righteous man, while the "You have heard it said" statements in verses 21-48 are specific instructions on how to become that righteous man. Both sets of statements are examples of literary anaphora, a form of parallelism in which the first word or phrase is repeated in each statement in order to connect them together.
4. Verses 17-20 are usually treated as a discrete passage with a complete message in itself, but this misunderstands Yeshua's real message. The Beatitudes are Torah. Letting the light of your righteous deeds shine before men in order to glorify your Heavenly Father is Torah. So long as there is a need for peacekeepers, for mercy, for endurance of persecution, there is a need for the Law. Only when the need for those qualities has vanished--when wickedness, covetousness, and hatred have been abolished--will the Torah, also known as the Law of Moses, no longer be necessary to teach and convict mankind.