Acts 20:17-38 is Paul's farewell speech to the presbyters (elders) of Ephesus. The discourse proper (18b-35) is prepared for and concluded by narrative elements in 17-18a and 36-38 respectively. The discourse itself can be divided into the following parts:

• 18b-21. The captatio where the speaker invites the interest of the listeners to the speech by appealing to the common memories that bind them to the speaker;
• 22-24. The reason for the departure is given.
• 25-31. The last will and testament of the speaker. This is the heart of the farewell speech.
• 32-35. Final words of commendation.

In 1 Corinthians 12-14, Paul addresses the problem of division in the community of Corinth. The divisions brought about by a misdirected appreciation of the evangelists who worked among them is related to the way the members of the Corinthian community look at spiritual gifts. In other words, because some Corinthians regard an evangelist as more gifted than another, they associate themselves with this one, thus leading to a situation where Paul can accuse them of creating cliques:

1 Peter 3:15-18 is found in the context of 3:13-18, the beginning of the third part of 1 Peter which is on the topic of Persecution. The previous sections have dealt with the dignity and status of the baptized and its consequences for their daily lives. The author now deals with a matter that he had alluded to in his opening berakah regarding the various trials/temptations that the baptized have to face.

1 Peter 2:20b¹-25 is given as the theological motive for the attitude that baptized house slaves should have towards the suffering they experience as they go about their daily lives. Understood within the context of a family code for Christians^a, in an epistle that takes into consideration the situation of Christians in a world that is hostile to them, these passages can also become an inspiration for any Christian placed in a context where he/she faces the reality of unjust suffering on a daily basis.

1 Peter 2:1-10 closes the first part of the epistle about the Dignity of the Christian Vocation and its Responsibilities. 2:11 starts a new section with the plural noun which breaks the series of participles characterizing 1:3-2:10. 2:10 creates an inclusion with 1:3 based on the mention of "mercy".

1 Peter 1:3-12 is the opening berakah of the epistle. A berakah is a blessing addressed to God . In 1 Peter, it sets the theological motive for the rest of the epistle which has three main parts (Dalton, "First Epistle of Peter" in NJBC) : The Dignity of the Christian Vocation and its Responsibilities (1:3-2:10), The Witness of Christian Life (2:11-3:12), and The Christian and Persecution (3:13-5:11). The sub-section constituted by 1:3-12 is set apart from 1:13 by the word Dio, (dio) "therefore", which begins another sub-section on the vocation to holiness (1:13-2:10).

1 Peter 1:13-25 draws of the consequences of the preceding verses (vv. 3-12) to the life-style of the Christian community. Christians have been given a new birth (v. 3) into a heavenly inheritance (v. 4) through the gospel proclaimed to them (v. 12). For a little while they will be in the midst of diverse tribulations, but they are preserved by God until the moment when Christ is revealed. So now they are exhorted to have their minds prepared with hopes perfectly fixed "on the grace offered" to them until the manifestation of Jesus Christ.

The phrase "you of little faith" appears as just one word in Greek: oligopistos (singular, oligopistov) and oligopistoi (plural, oligopistoi). The word appears in Matthew five times: 6:30, 8:26, 14:31, 16:8. In Mt. 17:20, one finds the cognate "smallness of faith", oligopistis (in context, appearing in the accussative on account of the preceding dia, hence, oligopistian). In Luke 12:28, the word oligopistoi appears in a saying that the Lucan gospel shares with Matthew's. The word then is characteristically Matthaean, appearing not only in sayings but also in narratives.

Psalm 118:22 is one of those OT verses that has a special meaning for the development of the early church's Christology. The verse appears in the Synoptic tradition as Jesus' self-identification before the religious leaders of Jerusalem. It is quoted in conjunction with the parable of the tenants (cf. Matthew 21:33-45, Mark 12:1-12, Luke 20:9-19):

The stone rejected by the builders
has become the cornerstone.