Biblical Theme Map
Biblical Theme Map
Romans develops a small number of major themes across its sixteen chapters. Mapping where each theme appears helps keep terminology and conceptual scaffolding consistent across a curriculum that will be taught and translated lesson by lesson rather than as one continuous document — especially important for this Language Package, where later lessons depend on foundational concepts established earlier rather than on any assumed prior literacy.
Theme progression
- Universal need (1:18-3:20) — every person, Jew and Gentile alike, stands guilty before God. Key terms: hřích (guard against the weakened colloquial “what a shame” sense), všeobecná odpovědnost.
- Justification by faith (3:21-4:25) — righteousness credited through faith, grounded in Abraham. Key terms: spravedlnost (guard against the civic/legal-only sense), ospravedlnění (guard against the “excusing an action” sense), přičtená spravedlnost (build from scratch, anchor to Genesis 15:6), milost, víra.
- New life in Christ (5:1-8:39) — peace with God, union with Christ, life in the Spirit, adoption, assurance. Key terms: pokoj (guard against the mere-quiet sense), posvěcení, přijetí za syny Boží, Abba/Otče, jistota spasení.
- Israel and the nations (9:1-11:36) — God’s faithfulness to his promises, the place of Israel and the Gentiles. Key terms: vyvolení (guard against the competitive-selection sense), smlouva (guard against the commercial-contract sense), jednota Židů a pohanů.
- Transformed living (12:1-15:13) — practical outworking of the gospel in the church and society. Key terms: církev (distinct from kostel, the building), duchovní dary, království Boží (guard against the fairy-tale sense).
- Closing and mission (15:14-16:27) — Paul’s mission to the nations and personal greetings. Key terms: misie, společenství.
Use in this curriculum
Each lesson in the Romans curriculum should be tagged with which theme-block it falls under, so foundational conceptual scaffolding introduced in an earlier block (e.g. what “spasení” even means, in block 2) is reinforced rather than re-explained from scratch every time, while still being available for readers who begin partway through the curriculum without having seen the earlier lessons.