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 consistent across a curriculum that will be taught and translated lesson by lesson rather than as one continuous document — a particularly important discipline for Santali, where consistent reuse of this Language Package’s provisional vocabulary is the only way that vocabulary can mature toward a settled standard over time.
Theme progression
- Universal need (1:18-3:20) — every person, Jew and Gentile alike, stands guilty before God. Key terms: sin (pap), universal accountability.
- Justification by faith (3:21-4:25) — righteousness credited through faith, grounded in Abraham. Key terms: righteousness (joto calak), justification (joto calak mente bay jokhon), grace (bina goro emok kana), faith (biswas).
- New life in Christ (5:1-8:39) — peace with God, union with Christ, life in the Spirit, adoption, assurance. Key terms: peace (santi), sanctification (pobitro hoc’oen), adoption (honpon leka em), Abba (Abba).
- Israel and the nations (9:1-11:36) — God’s faithfulness to his promises, the place of Israel and the Gentiles. Key terms: election (Isor reyag bachao), covenant (katha em), unity of Jew and Gentile.
- Transformed living (12:1-15:13) — practical outworking of the gospel in the church and society. Key terms: church (kolisiya), spiritual gifts (atma reyag dan), kingdom of God (Isor reyag raj).
- Closing and mission (15:14-16:27) — Paul’s mission to the nations and personal greetings. Key terms: mission (khobor khon reyag kami), fellowship (joto thang).
Use in this curriculum
Each lesson in the Santali 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”). Because salvation and grace are both conceptual-gap terms for a Sarnaism-background reader, block 1-2 should carry extra explanatory weight before block 3’s assurance language is introduced.