Biblical Theme Map

Romans develops a small number of major themes across its sixteen chapters. Mapping where each theme appears helps keep terminology consistent across a curriculum that will be taught and translated lesson by lesson rather than as one continuous document.

Theme progression

1. Universal need (1:18–3:20) — every person, Jew and Gentile alike, stands guilty before God. Key terms: sin (পাপ), universal accountability.
2. Justification by faith (3:21–4:25) — righteousness credited through faith, grounded in Abraham. Key terms: righteousness (ধার্মিকতা), justification (ধার্মিক বলে গণ্য হওয়া), grace (অনুগ্রহ), faith (বিশ্বাস).
3. New life in Christ (5:1–8:39) — peace with God, union with Christ, life in the Spirit, adoption, assurance. Key terms: peace (শান্তি), sanctification (পবিত্রীকরণ), adoption (দত্তকপুত্রতা), Abba (আব্বা).
4. Israel and the nations (9:1–11:36) — God’s faithfulness to his promises, the place of Israel and the Gentiles. Key terms: election (ঈশ্বরের মনোনয়ন), covenant (নিয়ম), unity of Jew and Gentile.
5. Transformed living (12:1–15:13) — practical outworking of the gospel in the church and society. Key terms: church (মণ্ডলী), spiritual gifts (আত্মিক বর), kingdom of God (ঈশ্বরের রাজ্য).
6. Closing and mission (15:14–16:27) — Paul’s mission to the nations and personal greetings. Key terms: mission (সুসমাচার প্রচার), fellowship (সহভাগিতা).

Use in this curriculum

Each lesson in the Romans curriculum should be tagged with which theme-block it falls under, so terminology introduced in an earlier block (e.g. “justification” in block 2) is reinforced rather than re-explained from scratch when it recurs in a later block (e.g. block 3’s “assurance of salvation”). Given this curriculum’s dual Hindu-heritage/Muslim-heritage audience, block 1’s universal-accountability language and block 4’s unity-of-Jew-and-Gentile language deserve extra reinforcement, since both challenge inherited communal-identity assumptions from either religious background.