Structure of Titus 2

Reading Titus 2 with someone this morning we noticed the following concentric structure:

2 Older Men
         3 Older Women
         4-5 Younger Women
 6 Younger Men 

It is noteworthy that while the older women are to mentor the younger women, there is no corresponding expectation for the older men toward the younger men. Perhaps this explains the concentric structure.

Furthermore, it's also interesting to see the concentric structure in the commands to the older women (2:3), with two positive commands framing two negative commands:

do live reverently
        don't be slanderers
        don't be drunkards
do teach what is good

Perhaps Paul is encouraging the "sandwich technique" of giving feedback to these women, modelling to Titus how to teach older women from his position as a younger man. 

Chiasms in Acts 1

We're starting a year preaching through Acts, and this week is the beginning of all that. There are two chiastic structures in the first chapter which grabbed my eye (undoubtedly there are others). The first is on the micro-scale, while the other encompasses the second of three parts of this chapter.

Acts 1:2

This first one is a syntactical chiasm, which means that to read it logically you need to follow a chiastic structure.

ἄχρι ἧς ἡμέρας
        ἐντειλάμενος τοῖς ἀποστόλοις
                διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου
        οὓς ἐξελέξατο
ἀνελήμφθη.   

If you were to read it out in the written order, it would be: Until the day, having commanded the apostles, by the Holy Spirit, whom (plural) he had chosen, he was taken up.

But by rearranging the clauses by matching the first and last, second and fourth, and then central, gives you the English order: Until the day he was taken up, having commanded the apostles whom he had chosen, by the Holy Spirit. 

Why do this? I would guess to put the concept of the choosing of the Holy Spirit central, as this theme will reoccur often in the book, especially in chapter 2, but also in the choosing of Matthias to replace Judas.

Acts 1:4-8

This second one is what I am now trying to call a concentric or ring structure, which is organised more along thematic lines as follows:

4a Geography (don't leave Jerusalem)
        4a-5 Holy Spirit (you'll receive the promised Holy Spirit just as John spoke of)
                6 Kingdom (which kingdom will this be? cf Kingdom of God in 1:3)
        7-8a Holy Spirit (you will receive power as you receive the Holy Spirit)
8b Geography (You will go out from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth)

Again, why? Well, the book of Acts will work as a travelogue, more or less following the course described in 1:8b, from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. Secondly, the Holy Spirit will be present and directing all the work that happens in evangelism and strengthening. And thirdly, God's kingdom will be continually contrasted with the kingdoms of this earth (in particular Rome), and shown to be not only superior but also eternal and centred around Jesus the king.