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.
Theme progression
- Universal need (1:18-3:20) — every person, Jew and Gentile alike, stands guilty before God. Key terms: sin (günah), universal accountability, resisting the fitrah (born-sinless) assumption.
- Justification by faith (3:21-4:25) — righteousness credited through faith, grounded in Abraham/İbrahim. Key terms: righteousness (doğruluk), justification (aklanma), grace (lütuf), faith (iman).
- New life in Christ (5:1-8:39) — peace with God, union with Christ, life in the Spirit, adoption, assurance. Key terms: peace (esenlik), sanctification (kutsallaşma), adoption (evlatlığa alınma), Abba, assurance (güvence).
- Israel and the nations (9:1-11:36) — God’s faithfulness to his promises, the place of Israel and the nations. Key terms: election (Tanrı’nın seçimi), covenant (antlaşma), unity of Jew and Gentile.
- Transformed living (12:1-15:13) — practical outworking of the gospel in the church and society. Key terms: church (kilise), spiritual gifts (ruhsal armağanlar), kingdom of God (Tanrı’nın egemenliği).
- Closing and mission (15:14-16:27) — Paul’s mission to the nations and personal greetings. Key terms: mission (müjdeleme görevi), fellowship (paydaşlık).
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”), and so the specific Qur’anic counter-claims addressed in one block (e.g. resurrection in block 3) are not silently dropped when the same term reappears later.