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 (죄), universal accountability, distinguished from bad luck (액운) or loss of face (체면 손상).
2. Justification by faith (3:21–4:25) — righteousness credited through faith, grounded in Abraham. Key terms: righteousness (의), justification (의롭다 하심), grace (은혜), faith (믿음) — each requiring explicit disambiguation from loyalty-ethics or shamanistic-exchange readings.
3. New life in Christ (5:1–8:39) — peace with God, union with Christ, life in the Spirit, adoption, assurance. Key terms: peace (화평), sanctification (성화), adoption (양자), Abba (아빠), power of God (능력), holy spirit (성령) — the last two requiring careful separation from shamanistic power/spirit vocabulary.
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 (선택), covenant (언약), 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 (교회), spiritual gifts (은사), kingdom of God (하나님의 나라).
6. Closing and mission (15:14–16:27) — Paul’s mission to the nations and personal greetings. Key terms: mission (선교), fellowship (교제).

Use in this curriculum

Each lesson should be tagged with which theme-block it falls under, so terminology introduced in an earlier block (e.g. grace’s shamanistic-exchange disambiguation in block 2) is reinforced rather than re-explained from scratch when it recurs later (e.g. block 3’s power of God and Holy Spirit, which need their own separate shamanism disambiguation).