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Appendix 1: The Chiastic Structure of Luke-Acts
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Appendix 1: The Chiastic Structure of Luke-Acts Chiasm was a commonplace literary structure in antiquity in which an author arranged the elements of a text in inverted parallelism. The name chiasm derives from the Greek letter chi (which is made like the English letter “x”) because chiastic structure follows the pattern of the letter x: In antiquity, a chiasm could be as short as two lines or as long as an entire document. Within a chiasm, the parallel elements could be as short as lines or as long as paragraph. For convenience, scholars label the corresponding elements of the chiasmus by the letters A and A’ (pronounced “A” and “A-prime”), B and B’, C and C’, etc. and arrange them as follows: A B C C’ B’ A’ Scholars print the text in this visual pattern on the page so that readers today can easily identify the chiastic element. Ancient texts were not laid out this way. They were written or spoken from start to finish. Chiasmus was such an ingrained phenomenon in antiquity that listeners or readers could identify the presence of a chiasmus without special visual or auditory prompting. The central element of the chiasmus (C and C’ above) reveals the most important concern of the chiasm. The elements that precede the central element lead to the central concern. The elements that follow the central element draw out the implications of that concern. I believe the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts is a giant chiasmus in which the Gospel provides the elements A through GGGG and Acts provides elements GGGG’ through A’. The elements of Luke-Acts are in a relationship of synthetic parallelism: the elements in the Gospel tell the story of the manifestation of the Realm through the ministry of Jesus while the comparable elements in Acts show how these themes play out in the life of the church. The main theme of Luke-Acts is that God has begun the final and full manifestation of that Realm through the ministry of Jesus. The Realm will come 209 finally and fully only when Jesus returns. Before that event, God must complete the promises God made to Sarai and Abram to bless gentiles. According to Luke, God’s way of doing so is to welcome them into the Realm. Acts tells the story of God using the church as means of reaching out to gentiles and incorporating them into the movement toward the Realm. However, the community to whom Luke wrote was beset by conflicts both within the church and between the church and outside groups. Luke wrote the Gospel and Acts to empower the community to witness by assuring it that God through Christ was in control of the movement of history. The chiastic structure of Luke-Acts embodies this purpose in literary expression. The central element of the chiasmus is the ascension of Jesus (see GGGG and GGGG’ below). The Gospel shows that God was controlled the birth of Jesus in Judaism, and guided the ministry of Jesus in announcing the Realm through the conflicts that led to his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. The ascension confirms that God was working through the ministry of Jesus to manifest the Realm and to create a community to witness for we see Jesus at the right hand of God. Acts draws out the implications of the fact that God is at work through the Jesus movement to extend the community of the Realm into the gentile world. Just as God guided the ministry of Jesus and brought him safely to resurrection and ascension, so God guides the church as it witnesses to the Realm in its seasons of conflict. The parallel elements in the chiasm of Luke-Acts enrich one another. The elements in the Gospel point to themes and developments in the elements in Acts. The elements in Acts presuppose the parallel elements in the Gospel. The commentary proper explains in more detail how awareness of the parallel elements illumines our understanding of them. Ordinarily the elements of a chiasmus would be presented on the page as they are above. Because of the length of biblical material examined here, and because of page space constraints, I set out the elements of the chiasmus in two parallel columns. A. Luke 1:5-25. The story of the final manifestation of the Realm begins in a Jewish atmosphere. A’. Acts 28:23-31. The story of the final manifestation of the Realm ends by...