Biblical Theme Map
Biblical Theme Map — Ephesians
Purpose
This document maps the theme-structure of Ephesians — the nine curriculum doctrines assigned to this book — showing (1) how each theme is developed across the letter’s six chapters, (2) how each theme connects backward into the Old Testament and forward into the rest of the New Testament canon, and (3) how each theme connects specifically to the baseline Romans curriculum already translated for this language. It extends, and does not contradict, the doctrine categories and risk tiers already established in the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json and the Ephesians-specific extensions proposed in 08_core_glossary.md.
Macro-Theme: God’s Eternal Plan to Unite All Things in Christ
Ephesians’ controlling idea, stated programmatically in Ephesians 1:9-10, is God’s single, eternal purpose “to unite all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth” — a purpose that is: planned before creation (election/predestination, ch. 1), executed in individual salvation (grace through faith, ch. 2:1-10), executed corporately (Jew and Gentile united in the church, ch. 2:11-22), disclosed as a formerly hidden mystery (ch. 3), and lived out in the church’s gifted ministry (ch. 4:1-16), transformed conduct (ch. 4:17-32), Spirit-filled worship and household life (ch. 5), and spiritual warfare readiness (ch. 6). Every one of the nine assigned curriculum doctrines is a facet of this single macro-theme, not nine independent topics.
Theme Architecture (Letter Structure)
| Section | Chapters | Primary mode | Governing doctrines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Doctrinal foundation: what God has done | 1:1–3:21 | Indicative (declaration) | Election/Predestination; Salvation by Grace through Faith; Unity of Jews and Gentiles; Mystery of Christ Revealed; Church as the Body of Christ |
| Practical outworking: how believers are to live | 4:1–6:24 | Imperative (exhortation), grounded in the indicative | Gifts for Building Up the Church; Walking in Newness of Life; Household Codes; Spiritual Warfare |
This indicative-then-imperative architecture is itself a well-established Pauline pattern shared with Romans (docrine chs. 1-11, ethics chs. 12-16) and must be preserved in any teaching-material framing: obligation always flows from grace already given, never toward grace yet to be earned — the single most important structural safeguard against the transactional (vow-and-offering, merit-accumulation) reading patterns flagged throughout 07_semantic_analysis.md and 08_core_glossary.md.
Theme 1: Salvation by Grace through Faith
Core passage anchor: Ephesians 2:1-10 (esp. 2:8-9)
Development across Ephesians: Diagnosed as universal spiritual death (2:1-3) → resolved entirely by God’s initiative (“but God,” 2:4) → stated as thesis (2:5,8-9) → completed by God-authored good works as fruit, not cause (2:10). Recurs in 1:7 (“redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace”) and in the doxological grace-references bracketing the letter (1:2,6-7; 6:24).
Old Testament connections: Genesis 15:6 (Abraham’s faith credited as righteousness — the same imputation-logic Paul develops at length in Romans 4, presupposed rather than re-argued in Ephesians 2:8-9); Isaiah 61:10 (clothed with garments of salvation, an image of unearned covering); the entire sacrificial system (pointing to a graciously provided covering for sin apart from the worshiper’s own merit).
New Testament connections: Romans 3:21-28; 4:1-8; 11:5-6 (grace/works antithesis, extensively argued); Titus 3:5 (“not because of works done by us… but according to his own mercy”); 2 Timothy 1:9 (“not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace”).
Cross-curriculum connection (Romans): This is Ephesians’ most direct doctrinal overlap with Romans. The baseline package already treats grace (恩典, Critical) and salvation (救恩, Critical) as the two most tightly guarded terms in the entire language package, specifically because of the Wong Tai Sin “有求必應” (whatever you ask, you shall receive) temple-vow exchange model. Ephesians 2:8-9 functions as this curriculum’s equivalent of Romans 1:16-17 — its doctrinal thesis statement — and per the baseline’s cross-document consistency mandate, must receive fixed, invariant Cantonese rendering across every Phase 2 file in which it appears.
Cantonese cultural resonance: The grace-versus-works antithesis of 2:8-9 is the single sharpest available point of contact/contrast with Hong Kong’s dominant religious environment — temple vow-fulfillment (還神還願), Buddhist/folk merit accumulation (功德), and the Wong Tai Sin “whatever you ask, you shall receive” transactional model. Ephesians 2:8-9 should be taught as Paul’s most concentrated, memorable rebuttal of exactly this pattern.
Theme 2: Election and Predestination in Christ
Core passage anchor: Ephesians 1:4-5,11 (core passage 2:1-10 connects via 2:10’s “prepared beforehand”)
Development across Ephesians: Announced at the outset of the letter’s opening doxology (1:3-14): God “chose us” (1:4) and “predestined us” (1:5,11) “before the foundation of the world,” “according to the purpose of his will” (1:11) — establishing that salvation’s entire causal chain originates in God’s eternal, personal decision, not human initiative. Echoed again in 2:10’s “prepared beforehand” (good works God planned in advance for believers to walk in).
Old Testament connections: Deuteronomy 7:6-8 (Israel chosen not for merit but by God’s love); Deuteronomy 32:9 (Israel as God’s inheritance); Genesis 1:1 (“before the foundation of the world” presupposes and echoes the creation account itself); Malachi 1:2-3 (Jacob/Esau election language, later expounded at length in Romans 9).
New Testament connections: Romans 8:28-30 (foreknew, predestined, called, justified, glorified — the same causal chain); Romans 9:11-13 (Jacob and Esau, unconditional election); Romans 11:5,29 (“God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable”); 2 Thessalonians 2:13 (“God chose you as the firstfruits”).
Cross-curriculum connection (Romans): The baseline doctrine registry already assigns “election” (揀選) and “effectual_calling” High risk specifically because of the Cantonese collision with birth-chart astrology (八字) and fatalistic destiny language. Ephesians 1:5,11 intensifies this collision by introducing the new term 預定 (Critical), because “predestined” is even more readily assimilated into impersonal-fate language than “chosen” alone. Teaching materials must present Ephesians 1 and Romans 8-9 as a single, coherent doctrine of God’s personal, loving, pre-temporal purpose — never as two separate or (worse) competing fatalism-adjacent formulas.
Cantonese cultural resonance: This is the theme most vulnerable to unintentional syncretism with 八字注定 (“fixed by one’s birth-chart”) and 命中注定 (“destined by fate”) idiom — both are natural-sounding Cantonese translations that must be explicitly avoided. Teaching must stress the relational, personal, love-motivated nature of God’s choice (1:4-5, “in love he predestined us”) against any impersonal deterministic mechanism.
Theme 3: The Church as the Body of Christ
Core passage anchor: Ephesians 1:22-23 (established immediately after the core passage’s doctrinal foundation); developed through 2:1-10’s individual salvation into ch. 2:11-22’s corporate application
Development across Ephesians: Introduced as Christ’s “body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (1:22-23); developed as the site of Jew-Gentile unity (2:14-16, “one body”); as the object of Christ’s ongoing equipping ministry through gifted leaders (4:4,12,16, “the body of Christ… builds itself up in love”); and as the object of Christ’s self-sacrificial, nourishing love in the marriage analogy (5:23,29-30, “we are members of his body”).
Old Testament connections: Exodus 25:8; 1 Kings 8; Ezekiel 37:27 (God’s dwelling with his covenant people, now realized organically in the church, cf. Ephesians 2:21-22); the “one flesh” language of Genesis 2:24 (echoed structurally in the “one body” ecclesiology, and directly connected via the ch. 5 marriage-Christ/church analogy).
New Testament connections: Romans 12:4-5 (“we are one body in Christ”); 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 (the body-of-Christ metaphor developed at greatest length); Colossians 1:18,24 (“he is the head of the body, the church”).
Cross-curriculum connection (Romans): Romans 12:4-5 already establishes the “one body” metaphor for this language pair. Ephesians extends it with the new term 身體 (body, Medium) and the headship term 元首 (High/Critical). Both curricula’s Phase 2 output must present the same organic, Spirit-united body-image, not a merely administrative/institutional one.
Cantonese cultural resonance: Must be kept distinct from clan/lineage corporate-identity structures (宗族, 祠堂-centered belonging) — the church’s unity is Spirit-given and cuts across, rather than reinforces, existing clan or ethnic boundaries.
Theme 4: Unity of Jews and Gentiles in One New Humanity
Core passage anchor: Ephesians 2:11-22 (immediately following the core passage; 2:1-10’s “we all” [2:3] anticipates this corporate unity)
Development across Ephesians: The universal condition of 2:1-3 (“we all,” “like the rest”) is corporately applied in 2:11-22: the “dividing wall” of hostility is abolished (2:14), one “new man” is created (2:15), both groups now have equal “access” to the Father (2:18) and equal “household”/“citizen” status (2:19), built into one temple (2:21-22). Restated as the specific content of “the mystery” in 3:6 (“the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise”).
Old Testament connections: Genesis 12:1-3 (Abrahamic promise that “all the families of the earth” would be blessed through him); Isaiah 49:6; 56:6-8 (the nations gathered to worship at God’s house); Isaiah 57:19 (peace to far and near, directly quoted in 2:13,17); Zechariah 8:20-23 (many nations seeking the LORD in Jerusalem).
New Testament connections: Romans 3:29-30 (“Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not also the God of Gentiles?”); Romans 9-11 (extended treatment of Israel and the nations, including the olive-tree image of 11:17-24); Acts 10-11,15 (the Jerusalem council’s affirmation of Gentile inclusion); Galatians 3:28 (“neither Jew nor Greek… one in Christ Jesus”); Revelation 7:9 (the multi-national multitude before the throne).
Cross-curriculum connection (Romans): Baseline doctrine “unity_of_jews_and_gentiles” is already High risk in the Romans registry, precisely because “this doctrine directly challenges any lingering local/outsider or clan-based hierarchy” in Hong Kong culture. Ephesians 2:11-22 is this curriculum’s fullest, most concentrated exposition of that same doctrine and should be cross-taught with Romans 11:17-24’s olive-tree passage as two expressions of one unified biblical teaching, not treated as separate topics.
Cantonese cultural resonance: As documented in 07_semantic_analysis.md, this doctrine must resist assimilation into Cantonese insider/outsider or clan-village distinctions (外江佬, 鄉下人) — the text’s own force is to abolish, not merely soften, such distinctions.
Theme 5: The Mystery of Christ Revealed
Core passage anchor: while not textually present in 2:1-10 itself, this theme is the letter’s distinctive contribution and directly explains why the core passage’s grace-for-all-without-distinction logic (2:1-3, “we all”) is now possible and openly proclaimed
Development across Ephesians: Introduced in the opening doxology (1:9, “the mystery of his will”); given its fullest exposition in ch. 3 (3:3-9, the mystery specifically identified as Gentile co-heirship, “hidden for ages in God” but “now” revealed to Paul and, through him, to the apostles and prophets, and through them, to the church, and — startlingly — even “to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places,” 3:10); applied typologically to marriage in 5:32; and named again as the content of gospel proclamation itself in 6:19 (“that I may… boldly proclaim the mystery of the gospel”).
Old Testament connections: Daniel 2:18-19,27-30,47 (God as the one who “reveals mysteries,” the closest OT terminological precedent); Isaiah 49:6 (Gentile inclusion foreshadowed though not yet fully disclosed); Amos 3:7 (“the LORD… reveals his secret to his servants the prophets” — the general principle that God discloses hidden purposes to his prophetic messengers).
New Testament connections: Romans 11:25 (“I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery… ”— Paul’s own use of the same term for Israel’s partial hardening and future restoration, a close structural parallel to Ephesians’ “mystery” of Gentile inclusion); Romans 16:25-26 (the mystery “now disclosed… to bring about the obedience of faith among all nations” — directly echoing baseline doctrine “obedience_of_faith,” High); Colossians 1:26-27; 2:2-3 (the mystery as “Christ in you”); 1 Corinthians 2:7-10.
Cross-curriculum connection (Romans): Romans 11:25 and 16:25-26 already use μυστήριον in a closely related sense (Israel’s future and the nations’ obedience of faith). Whatever Cantonese rendering Romans Phase 2 output used for μυστήριον in those verses (if translated) must be checked and harmonized with 奧秘, the term proposed here — this is a Critical-risk consistency point given how central “openness versus esoteric secrecy” framing is to correctly teaching this term in Cantonese.
Cantonese cultural resonance: As documented extensively in 07_semantic_analysis.md and 08_core_glossary.md, this is arguably the single highest-stakes new doctrine in the entire Ephesians curriculum for a Hong Kong audience, given the density of “secret, fee-gated, initiate-only knowledge” frameworks in local religious/commercial culture (密宗 esoteric Buddhism, 風水秘訣 trade-secret feng shui knowledge, fortune-telling’s paid hidden insight). Every occurrence requires explicit teaching that biblical “mystery” is the opposite structure: once-hidden, now-freely-announced-to-everyone truth.
Theme 6: Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God
Core passage anchor: foreshadowed in 2:2’s “ruler of the power of the air” — the same cosmic-adversary figure who reappears fully armed-against in ch. 6
Development across Ephesians: The cosmic-conflict backdrop is introduced early (1:21, Christ exalted “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion”; 2:2, the “ruler of the power of the air” governing the pre-conversion life; 3:10, the church’s unity itself is a display of God’s wisdom “to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places,” implying these powers are spectators/targets of the gospel’s demonstration) and receives its climactic, explicit treatment in 6:10-20 (the whole armor of God, arrayed against “rulers… authorities… cosmic powers over this present darkness… spiritual forces of evil”).
Old Testament connections: Genesis 3:15 (the protoevangelium — enmity between the serpent and the woman’s offspring, the first announcement of this cosmic conflict); Job 1-2 (Satan as the accuser operating with limited, permitted authority before God’s throne); Daniel 10:13,20-21 (angelic/demonic princes contending over the nations); Isaiah 11:5; 59:17 (the messianic figure’s own armor of righteousness and salvation, now given to the church, cf. Part 4 of 09_cross_reference_analysis.md); Zechariah 3:1-2 (Satan as accuser, rebuked by the LORD).
New Testament connections: Romans 8:38-39 (“neither… rulers… nor powers… will be able to separate us from the love of God” — the baseline’s own “assurance_of_salvation” doctrine, already High risk, directly touches this same cosmic-powers vocabulary); Colossians 2:15 (“he disarmed the rulers and authorities… triumphing over them”); 1 Peter 5:8-9 (the devil as a roaring lion, resisted by firm faith); Revelation 12:7-9; 20:1-3,10 (the final, decisive defeat of Satan).
Cross-curriculum connection (Romans): Romans 8:38’s “rulers… powers” language and the baseline’s “assurance_of_salvation” doctrine (High) should be cross-taught with Ephesians 6:10-20: both passages assert that these cosmic powers, however real, cannot ultimately touch a believer secure in Christ. This connection should be made explicit in teaching materials rather than left implicit, since it directly reinforces the Ephesians 6 doctrine that these powers are already-defeated (Ephesians 1:20-21).
Cantonese cultural resonance: As documented extensively in 07_semantic_analysis.md, this is the single highest cross-cultural collision zone in the letter given Hong Kong’s active folk engagement with the unseen spiritual world (feng shui remedies against malevolent forces, ghost-month taboo observance, temple protective-deity invocation, Daoist talismans and exorcism). Every occurrence of this doctrine requires human theologian review and explicit teaching that (a) these are real personal evil beings, (b) already defeated under Christ’s authority, (c) engaged only through prayer and the God-given armor, never folk-ritual means.
Theme 7: Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships
Core passage anchor: grounded doctrinally in the mutual-submission principle of 5:21, itself an outworking of the Spirit-filled, grace-transformed life the core passage (2:1-10) establishes as the foundation of all Christian conduct
Development across Ephesians: Introduced by the governing principle “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (5:21); applied to wives and husbands (5:22-33, patterned explicitly on Christ’s self-sacrificial love for the church, and explicitly called a “mystery,” 5:32); to children and parents (6:1-4, quoting Exodus 20:12/Deuteronomy 5:16, re-grounded “in the Lord”); and to servants/bondservants and masters (6:5-9, grounded in both parties’ equal accountability to their true heavenly Master, 6:9).
Old Testament connections: Genesis 2:24 (the creation-ordinance of marriage, quoted in 5:31); Exodus 20:12/Deuteronomy 5:16 (the fifth commandment, quoted in 6:2-3); Deuteronomy 6:6-7 (parental instruction of children); Deuteronomy 10:17/2 Chronicles 19:7 (God’s impartiality, background for 6:9); Malachi 2:14-16 (God as witness to the marriage covenant, background for treating marriage as covenantal, not merely contractual).
New Testament connections: Colossians 3:18-4:1 (a close structural parallel household-code passage); 1 Peter 2:18-3:7 (parallel servant/master and husband/wife instruction); 1 Corinthians 7 (Pauline marriage teaching); Titus 2:1-10 (household-order instruction for the church).
Cross-curriculum connection (Romans): Romans does not contain an extended household-code section, so this theme is substantially new territory for this language pair, though it draws on baseline terms already established for other purposes — 主 (Lord, Critical, must be sharply disambiguated from 主人, human master), and the obedience-of-faith root 順服 (baseline High-risk compound 因信而生嘅順服) which underlies but must be distinguished from the new term 彼此順服 (mutual submission, High) and 孝敬 (honor parents, High).
Cantonese cultural resonance: As documented extensively in 07_semantic_analysis.md, this is the theme most densely entangled with existing, still-influential Cantonese/Confucian cultural structures: the Three Cardinal Guides (三綱, especially 夫為妻綱, husband as guiding principle of wife), filial piety (孝順/孝敬), and — with acute contemporary relevance — Hong Kong’s large foreign domestic-helper population in relation to the servant/master passage. Every occurrence of headship (元首) in the marriage context, and every occurrence of the servant/master passage, requires human theologian review and explicit anchoring in the mutual-submission (5:21) and mutual-accountability (6:9) principles that govern the entire section.
Theme 8: Gifts for Building Up the Church
Core passage anchor: connects to the core passage via 2:10’s “good works” — the corporate outworking of which is the gifted ministry of ch. 4
Development across Ephesians: Christ’s ascension is presented as the occasion for his giving gifts — specifically gifted persons/offices (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers) — to the church (4:7-11, quoting/adapting Psalm 68:18), for the explicit purpose of equipping the saints for works of service, building up the body, and bringing it to unity and maturity (4:12-16).
Old Testament connections: Psalm 68:18 (directly quoted, adapted from “received gifts” to “gave gifts”); Numbers 11:16-17,25 (the Spirit distributed among the seventy elders for shared leadership, an early precedent for Spirit-distributed ministry gifts); Isaiah 11:2 (the Spirit of wisdom, counsel, and might resting on the messianic figure, background for Spirit-given capacities more broadly).
New Testament connections: Romans 12:6-8 (spiritual gifts distributed for building up the body — the baseline’s own “spiritual_gifts” doctrine, Medium risk); 1 Corinthians 12:4-11,28 (a more extensive gift-list, including different categories); 1 Peter 4:10-11 (gifts as stewardship of God’s varied grace).
Cross-curriculum connection (Romans): The baseline doctrine “spiritual_gifts” (屬靈恩賜, Medium) already exists for Romans 12:6-8’s individual-ability sense of χαρίσματα. Ephesians 4:7-11 introduces a distinct but related sense — gifted persons/offices given to the church, not individual abilities distributed within it. Per 08_core_glossary.md, this nuance must be flagged with a translator note at every Ephesians 4:7-11 occurrence so as not to conflate the two related-but-distinct doctrines when cross-teaching Romans 12 and Ephesians 4 together.
Cantonese cultural resonance: Comparatively lower collision risk than most other Ephesians themes; the main caution is keeping “gifts” free of any merit-earned-ability framing (avoid 神通/法力, per baseline “spiritual_gifts” caution) and keeping the specific church-office terms (傳福音者, 牧者, 教師) read as ecclesial offices rather than secular professional roles.
Theme 9: Walking in Newness of Life
Core passage anchor: Ephesians 2:10’s “created… for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” is the letter’s first occurrence of the περιπατέω (“walk”) motif that structures all of chs. 4-6
Development across Ephesians: The “walk” (περιπατέω) motif recurs programmatically: “walk” in the good works God prepared (2:10); “walk” no longer as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds (4:17); “walk” in a manner worthy of one’s calling (4:1); “walk” in love (5:2); “walk” as children of light (5:8); “walk” carefully as wise, not as unwise (5:15). Undergirding this ethical “walk” is the individual “old self/new self” renewal of 4:22-24 (echoing Genesis 1:26-27’s imago Dei) and the Spirit-filling of 5:18.
Old Testament connections: Genesis 1:26-27 (the “new self” created “after the likeness of God,” directly echoed in 4:24); Deuteronomy 5:33; 8:6; 10:12-13 (“walk in all his ways,” the OT’s own covenant-obedience “walk” idiom); Ezekiel 36:26-27 (a new heart and new spirit enabling one to “walk in my statutes” — the closest OT precedent for Spirit-enabled ethical renewal, rather than self-directed reform); Micah 6:8 (“walk humbly with your God”).
New Testament connections: Romans 6:4 (“we too might walk in newness of life” — the baseline’s own doctrine “christian_identity_in_christ,” High risk, and the closest verbal/thematic parallel in the whole Romans curriculum); Galatians 5:16,25 (“walk by the Spirit”); Colossians 3:1-17 (a close parallel put-off/put-on structure); 2 Corinthians 5:17 (“if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation”).
Cross-curriculum connection (Romans): Romans 6:4’s “walk in newness of life” is the direct verbal and conceptual parallel to this entire Ephesians theme, and should be cross-taught as the same doctrine. The baseline’s “sanctification” (成聖, High) and “christian_identity_in_christ” (High) doctrines govern this theme; the new Ephesians terms 行事為人 (walk/conduct, Low), 舊人/新人 (individual old/new self, Medium), and 更新 (renewed, Low) must be rendered consistently with however Romans 6 Phase 2 output has already rendered “newness of life,” and consistently across all of Ephesians’ own recurring “walk” occurrences (2:10; 4:1,17; 5:2,8,15) per 07_semantic_analysis.md’s own instruction.
Cantonese cultural resonance: Primary caution is distinguishing Spirit-wrought renewal from (a) the secular self-reform idiom 重新做人 (“turning over a new leaf,” used of morally reformed offenders) and (b) the Confucian self-cultivation-toward-sagehood ideal (君子/聖人 attainment through effort) — both already flagged as adjacent risks in 07_semantic_analysis.md and 08_core_glossary.md.
Cross-Curriculum Theme Connections Summary Table
| Ephesians theme | Romans parallel doctrine (baseline) | Consistency requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Salvation by Grace through Faith | grace (Critical); salvation (Critical); faith (High) | Ephesians 2:5,8 must render identically to each other; both consistent with baseline Romans grace/salvation terms. |
| Election and Predestination in Christ | election (High); effectual_calling (High) | New term 預定 must harmonize with any Romans 8:29-30 rendering of “predestined.” |
| The Church as the Body of Christ | church (Medium) | New term 身體 must harmonize with Romans 12:4-5 “one body” rendering. |
| Unity of Jews and Gentiles | unity_of_jews_and_gentiles (High) | Ephesians 2:11-22 and Romans 11:17-24 must present one coherent doctrine, not divergent vocabularies. |
| The Mystery of Christ Revealed | (no direct baseline doctrine; new) | Harmonize 奧秘 with any existing Romans 11:25/16:25-26 μυστήριον rendering. |
| Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God | assurance_of_salvation (High) | Cross-teach Ephesians 6:10-20 with Romans 8:38-39’s “rulers… powers” language. |
| Household Codes | obedience_of_faith (High, root term only) | 彼此順服/孝敬 draw on but must be distinguished from baseline 因信而生嘅順服. |
| Gifts for Building Up the Church | spiritual_gifts (Medium) | Flag the persons/office sense (Eph 4:7-11) as distinct from Romans 12:6-8’s individual-ability sense. |
| Walking in Newness of Life | christian_identity_in_christ (High); sanctification (High) | Harmonize with Romans 6:4 “walk in newness of life” rendering; apply consistently across all Ephesians “walk” occurrences. |
Summary of Full-Book Coverage
Every chapter of Ephesians has been mapped to at least one of the nine curriculum doctrines, with explicit Old Testament roots, New Testament parallels, and Romans-curriculum cross-references documented for each:
- Chapter 1 — Election/Predestination; Church as Body of Christ (introduced).
- Chapter 2 — Salvation by Grace through Faith (2:1-10, core passage); Unity of Jews and Gentiles (2:11-22); Church as Body/Temple (2:21-22).
- Chapter 3 — The Mystery of Christ Revealed (primary chapter for this doctrine).
- Chapter 4 — Gifts for Building Up the Church (4:1-16); Walking in Newness of Life (4:17-32).
- Chapter 5 — Walking in Newness of Life (5:1-20); Household Codes (5:21-33, marriage).
- Chapter 6 — Household Codes (6:1-9, children/parents, servants/masters); Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God (6:10-20).
No chapter is without assigned doctrinal load-bearing content; all nine curriculum doctrines are fully traced from their Old Testament roots through their New Testament development to their specific Ephesians expression and their Romans-curriculum cross-reference.
See 09_cross_reference_analysis.md for the full quotation/allusion/typology matrix underlying this theme map. See 07_semantic_analysis.md and 08_core_glossary.md for term-level definitions and Cantonese renderings referenced throughout.