Christology, Chiasm, and the Concept of Faith in Hebrews 10:19-39 41 A. The Overall Structure. Again, in this section (10:26–31), the author util- izes chiasm at the conceptual level to convey the consequence of forsaking Christ. This structure can be displayed as follows: 1 For if we willfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful pros- pect of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries (10:26–27). 2 Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy “on the testimony of two or three witnesses” (10:28). 2´ How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? (10:29). 1´ For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (10:30–31).28 In the center of the chiasm (2 and 2´), the author makes a contrast between the judgment under the old covenant and that under the new covenant: the contrast is between the violation under the Mosaic law (2) and the rejection of the Son of God under the new covenant (2´). In the outer layers (1 and 1´) the author also describes the judgment of God; however, the description of sin is more general than the one in the center layers (2, 2´). Moreover, layer 1’ and layer 1 are parallel to each other, in that they confirm the certainty of God’s judgment with the citation of the Old Testament passages (Dt. 32:35, 36; Ps. 135:14, 27). A brief analysis of the passage justifies the contention that the author developed his thoughts with a chiastic structure in mind. B. Faith and Christology. In this second major section (10:26–31), the author of Hebrews continues to encourage the readers to hold fast the faith which they had when they first believed. The question that needs to be answered here is whether or not this calling for the renewal of faith is Christologically oriented. A careful examination of 10:26–31 indicates that the passage is full of descriptions of the crucified Son of God. First of all, the Christological emphasis of faith can be noticed from the description of sin in 10:26–27. The author begins 10:26a with the expression “if we continue to sin deliberately after having received the full NRSV is used for translation. 28