Biblical Theme Map

Biblical Theme Map — Acts — English → Ukrainian

Purpose

This document maps the theme structure of the book of Acts — the nine curriculum doctrines (The Holy Spirit and Pentecost, The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles, Repentance and Baptism, The Church as Community, Apostolic Authority and Miracles, Persecution and Bold Witness, Conversion of Paul, Justification apart from the Law, The Great Commission Fulfilled) — and traces how each theme connects backward into the Old Testament, forward into the rest of the New Testament, and sideways into this Language Package’s own Romans/Galatians curriculum. It builds directly on analysis/09_cross_reference_analysis.md and should be read alongside it; citations here use the same normalized format (Book Chapter:Verse).

Part 1 — Acts as Hinge-Book: Overall Narrative-Theological Architecture

Acts occupies a unique structural position in the canon and in this Language Package: it is the narrative bridge between the Gospels (what Jesus did and taught) and the Epistles (what the apostles, and Paul above all, taught the churches to believe and do). Romans and Galatians — the baseline curriculum — are themselves largely products of the events Acts narrates: Paul’s conversion (Acts 9), his commissioning (Acts 13), his defense of justification apart from the Law at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15), and his missionary journeys (Acts 13–21) are the lived history behind the doctrinal letters already translated in this Language Package. Acts therefore functions doctrinally as narrative theology where Romans and Galatians offer systematic/epistolary theology of the same events and convictions.

The book’s own stated thesis (Acts 1:8 — “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth”) functions structurally the same way Romans 1:16-17 functions for that letter: a compact, programmatic statement that the entire book unpacks. This Language Package should teach the parallel explicitly: just as Romans 1:16-17 announces the letter’s argument (the gospel’s saving power for all who believe, Jew and Gentile alike), Acts 1:8 announces the book’s geography and agency (Spirit-empowered witness, expanding outward from Jerusalem to Rome and, by implication, to the whole world). Both texts share the same underlying claim — the gospel’s universal scope — expressed in two different literary modes.

Geographic/missional arc: Jerusalem (Acts 1–7) → Judea and Samaria (Acts 8–9) → the wider Gentile world (Acts 10–28), culminating in Rome, the empire’s own center, with Paul “proclaiming the kingdom of God… with all boldness and without hindrance” (Acts 28:31). This arc is the spine on which every doctrine below hangs.

Part 2 — Theme-by-Theme Map

1. The Holy Spirit and Pentecost

Ukrainian doctrine name: П’ятдесятниця і Святий Дух
Core passage anchor: Acts 2:1-41 (also 1:4-5, 8; 2:38; 4:8, 31; 8:14-19; 10:44-48; 13:2, 4; 15:28; 19:1-7)
OT roots: Joel 2:28-32 (the promised outpouring “on all flesh”); Ezekiel 37:1-14 and 36:26-27 (the Spirit giving life and a new heart); Numbers 11:29 (Moses’ wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets); Genesis 2:7 and 11:1-9 (breath-of-life and Babel-reversal typology).
Forward NT connections: John 14:16-17, 26; 16:7-15 (the promised Paraclete); Romans 8:9-17, 26-27 (the indwelling, interceding Spirit, already Critical/High risk in the baseline); Galatians 4:6 and 5:16-25 (Abba-cry and flesh-versus-Spirit, already Critical in the Galatians extension) — Acts 2 is the historical hinge-event that both John’s promise and Paul’s later teaching presuppose as already having occurred.
Sideways connection to Romans/Galatians: The baseline’s existing Critical flag on Святий Дух (never bare дух) and the Galatians extension’s flag on bare πνεῦμα in Galatians 5:16-25 both inherit directly from Acts 2’s foundational event; Acts supplies the narrative the epistles theologize.
Ukraine-specific tension: П’ятдесятниця/Трійця folk-feast collision (Critical, see 07/08/09); the live Pentecostal/Charismatic-versus-other-traditions debate over “filling” and “Spirit baptism” as separable from conversion (Acts 2:4; 8:14-19; 19:1-7, all Critical).
Risk tier: Critical throughout, per 07/08.

2. The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles

Ukrainian doctrine name: Євангеліє для юдеїв і поган (народів)
Core passage anchor: Acts 2:5-11, 39 (the multi-national Pentecost crowd; “those far off”); developed fully in Acts 10 (Cornelius), 11:18, 13:46-48, 15 (Jerusalem Council), 22:21, 26:17-23, 28:28.
OT roots: Genesis 12:3; 22:18 (blessing to all nations through Abraham’s seed); Isaiah 49:6 (light to the Gentiles); Isaiah 56:3-8 (inclusion of the excluded, e.g., eunuchs); Amos 9:11-12 (the restored, now-inclusive tent of David); Genesis 11:1-9 (Babel, reversed at Pentecost).
Forward NT connections: Romans 1:16 (“to the Jew first and also to the Greek,” already the baseline’s universal_scope_of_gospel doctrine, High risk); Romans 3:29-30; 9-11 (unity_of_jews_and_gentiles, High risk, given Ukraine’s antisemitic-violence history); Galatians 3:28 (neither_jew_nor_greek, already High risk in the Galatians extension).
Sideways connection: This is the single most direct doctrinal through-line from Acts into the baseline curriculum. Acts 10’s Cornelius narrative and Acts 15’s Jerusalem Council are the lived events that Romans 9-11 and Galatians 2-3 theologically process. Teaching material should present them as one continuous argument across three books.
Ukraine-specific tension: погани’s derogatory modern drift (High, inherited); народи preferred in mission-scope contexts; antisemitism-history sensitivity carried forward unchanged from the baseline.
Risk tier: High throughout; Critical at the Acts 15/Galatians 2 intersection (justification apart from the Law, below).

3. Repentance and Baptism

Ukrainian doctrine name: Покаяння і хрещення
Core passage anchor: Acts 2:38, 41 (the doctrinal center of the whole curriculum); recurring throughout: 3:19; 8:12-13, 36-38; 9:18; 10:47-48; 16:15, 33; 19:1-5; 22:16.
OT roots: Ezekiel 18:30-32; 36:26 (the call to “turn” and receive a new heart); ritual washing/purification imagery (Leviticus; Numbers 19); the Genesis flood and Exodus Red Sea crossing as later-recognized water-deliverance types (developed explicitly in 1 Peter 3:20-21 and Romans 6:3-4, outside this Acts book itself but doctrinally adjacent).
Forward NT connections: Romans 6:1-11 (already in the baseline curriculum) supplies the fullest theological exposition of what baptism means (union with Christ’s death and resurrection) for the event Acts narrates as a practice.
Sideways connection: Acts 2:38’s покаяння/хрещення pairing should be taught as the narrative enactment of the baptismal theology Romans 6 later expounds; this Language Package should cross-reference the two documents explicitly in Phase 2 lesson material.
Ukraine-specific tension: покаяння’s collision with sacramental Confession (Critical); хрещення’s collision with Хрещення Руси’s civilizational weight and near-universal infant-baptism practice (Critical, the single highest-stakes term in this curriculum per 08). Household-salvation narratives (Acts 16:15, 31-34) intersect this same tension (High).
Risk tier: Critical.

4. The Church as Community

Ukrainian doctrine name: Церква як спільнота
Core passage anchor: Acts 2:42-47 (the four marks: teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer; radical sharing); developed at 4:32-35; 6:1-7; 11:19-26 (Antioch); 13:1-3; 15 (the Council as the church discerning together); 20:17-38 (elders/shepherding).
OT roots: Exodus 19-24 (Israel constituted as a covenant assembly, qahal, at Sinai — the typological backdrop for Pentecost’s “new Sinai” constituting of the church, per 09’s typology section); Deuteronomy’s repeated vision of a worshiping, sharing covenant community; Psalm 133 (the blessing of unity).
Forward NT connections: Romans 12:3-8 (one body, many members, already in the baseline curriculum); 1 Corinthians 12 (outside this curriculum but the classic parallel passage).
Sideways connection: The baseline’s existing Critical church_as_gods_people doctrine (церква as universal people of God, never one jurisdiction) receives its clearest narrative embodiment in Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-35 — a voluntary, Spirit-generated community, explicitly distinguished (per 07/08’s ἅπαντα κοινά entry) from Soviet forced collectivization.
Ukraine-specific tension: церква’s acute jurisdictional contestedness (OCU/UOC/UGCC), inherited unchanged and reinforced by Acts’ frequent use of the term (highest raw occurrence count of any Critical term in the book, per 08); ламання хліба’s proto-eucharistic ambiguity (High); старійшини/єпископи’s institutional-collision risk at Acts 20 (Critical).
Risk tier: Critical.

5. Apostolic Authority and Miracles

Ukrainian doctrine name: Апостольська влада і чудеса
Core passage anchor: Acts 2:43 (“signs and wonders done by the apostles”); developed at 3:1-10; 4:8-31; 5:1-16; 6:8; 8:6-13; 9:32-42; 14:3; 19:11-12; 28:3-9.
OT roots: Exodus 4:1-9; 7-12 (Moses’ signs before Pharaoh, the paradigm for divinely-attesting миracles); Elijah/Elisha narratives (1-2 Kings) as the prophetic-authenticating-miracle pattern.
Forward NT connections: Romans 15:19 (already in the baseline, “signs and wonders” attesting Paul’s own ministry); 2 Corinthians 12:12 (outside this curriculum, the classic “signs of a true apostle” text).
Sideways connection: The baseline’s power_of_god_for_salvation doctrine (Romans 1:16, Medium risk) and mission doctrine both connect to Acts’ signs-and-wonders triad; teach as the same divine дynamis operative in both proclamation and attesting acts.
Ukraine-specific tension: знамення і чудеса’s collision with secular/post-Soviet “чудо” usage and folk-occult чарівництво/чаклунство (Simon Magus, Acts 8; both High).
Risk tier: High.

6. Persecution and Bold Witness

Ukrainian doctrine name: Переслідування і сміливе свідчення
Core passage anchor: Acts 4:1-31; 5:17-42; 6:8-8:1 (Stephen); 12:1-19 (Peter, James); 14:19-22; 16:19-40; 21:27-23:35; developed throughout the missionary journeys.
OT roots: The persecuted-prophet tradition (1 Kings 19; Jeremiah 20, 26, 38; Daniel 3, 6) as the OT type Stephen himself invokes (Acts 7:52, “which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?”).
Forward NT connections: Romans 8:35-39 (already in the baseline’s assurance_of_salvation doctrine, High risk — “who shall separate us”); this Acts material supplies the lived, historical referent behind Paul’s own confident language of suffering-with-assurance.
Sideways connection: Paul’s own persecution narratives in Acts (9:23-25; 14:19; 16:22-24; 21:30-36) are autobiographical background to Galatians’ repeated references to Paul’s suffering “for the cross of Christ” (Galatians 6:12, 17) and his marks/scars (already logged in the Galatians extension as marks_of_jesus).
Ukraine-specific tension: свідок/мученик’s non-reproducible Greek wordplay (High); мученик’s deep positive resonance with 20th-century Soviet-era religious persecution and current wartime losses (High, an asset if handled with care); сміливість/παρρησία’s collision with generalized wartime-courage discourse requiring explicit Spirit-anchoring (High).
Risk tier: High.

7. Conversion of Paul

Ukrainian doctrine name: Навернення Павла
Core passage anchor: Acts 9:1-31 (full narrative); retold at 22:3-21; 26:9-23.
OT roots: Exodus 3 (Moses’ call); Isaiah 6 (Isaiah’s call); Jeremiah 1 (Jeremiah’s call) — the classic prophetic-commissioning type (see 09 Part 3, item 9).
Forward NT connections: Galatians 1:11-24 (already Critical in the Galatians extension, Paul’s own first-person account of this same event, defending his apostleship as “not from man”); Philippians 3:4-11 (outside this curriculum, Paul’s fullest personal theological reflection on his conversion).
Sideways connection: This is the second-most-direct narrative-to-epistle bridge in the whole Language Package after Acts 15/Galatians 2: Acts 9 narrates the event; Galatians 1 is Paul’s own theological and autobiographical defense of it. Teaching material should present both texts side by side.
Ukraine-specific tension: навернення itself is low risk (07/08); the doctrine’s sensitivity lies instead in “chosen instrument”/обрання’s inherited High-risk caution against доля/фатум readings, and in the reflex (already flagged in the baseline’s pauls_apostleship doctrine) whereby “apostolic authority” language may be unconsciously heard through the lens of the acutely live OCU/UOC/UGCC jurisdiction question.
Risk tier: High.

8. Justification apart from the Law

Ukrainian doctrine name: Виправдання поза законом
Core passage anchor: Acts 13:38-39 (the book’s only explicit forensic-justification vocabulary); Acts 15:1-29 (the Jerusalem Council, the book’s fullest narrative treatment).
OT roots: Genesis 15:6 (imputed righteousness, cited in Romans/Galatians though not directly in Acts — see 09 Part 4’s explicit non-match caution); Habakkuk 2:4 (“the righteous shall live by faith,” cited in Romans/Galatians though Acts 13:41 cites a different Habakkuk verse — see the same caution); Genesis 17 (the circumcision covenant, background to Acts 15’s controversy).
Forward NT connections: This is the most direct doctrinal identity between Acts and the baseline curriculum: Acts 15 and Galatians 2 are widely understood to narrate/interpret the very same historical meeting and controversy. Romans 3:21-4:25 (justification, imputed_righteousness, already Critical in the baseline) is the systematic exposition of the doctrine Acts 13:39 states in a single verse and Acts 15 defends narratively.
Sideways connection: Mandatory cross-reference: any Phase 2 lesson on Acts 13:38-39 or Acts 15 must explicitly link to Romans 3-4 and Galatians 2-3, using identical [TM] виправдання, благодать, віра, діла закону, обрізання terminology throughout.
Ukraine-specific tension: inherits the baseline’s and Galatians extension’s full Critical apparatus — the absence of a developed forensic-declaration category in Orthodox/Greek Catholic soteriology, and діла закону’s collision risk with обряд-positive piety, apply identically here.
Risk tier: Critical.

9. The Great Commission Fulfilled

Ukrainian doctrine name: Виконання Великого Доручення
Core passage anchor: Acts 1:8 (thesis statement); Acts 2 (the first fulfillment, multi-national Pentecost); traced through the whole book to Acts 28:31 (the closing note, gospel proclaimed “without hindrance” in Rome itself).
OT roots: Isaiah 49:6 (light to the nations, quoted at 13:47 and 26:23); Isaiah 2:2-4 and Micah 4:1-3 (nations streaming to God); Psalm 22:27; 67; 96:3 (missionary Psalms envisioning all nations’ worship); Genesis 12:3 (the Abrahamic promise’s global horizon).
Forward NT connections: Romans 15:19-24 (already in the baseline’s kingdom_mission and mission doctrines, Paul’s own account of having “fulfilled the gospel of Christ” from Jerusalem to Illyricum and his onward hope toward Spain) — Acts narrates the earlier stages of exactly the missionary expansion Romans 15 describes Paul as, by that later point, largely having completed in the eastern Mediterranean.
Sideways connection: Acts 1:8’s Jerusalem→Judea/Samaria→ends-of-earth structure and Romans 1:16’s Jew→Greek structure are complementary halves of one biblical-theological claim about the gospel’s necessary, unstoppable universal reach; this Language Package should teach them as two expressions of a single conviction.
Ukraine-specific tension: місія/благовістя’s wartime chaplaincy and displaced-persons resonance (High, inherited); the doctrine’s hope-affirming, deliberately open-ended tone (Acts 28:31’s “unhindered”) is a genuine pastoral asset for a wartime readership and should be allowed to land with full force, per this Language Package’s tone requirements.
Risk tier: High.

Part 3 — Threads Running Through the Whole Book (Beyond the Nine Named Doctrines)

The word of God growing and multiplying (Acts 6:7; 12:24; 19:20) — a recurring editorial refrain marking narrative sections; low risk, but a useful structural marker for lesson-segmentation in Phase 2, tying to the baseline’s church_as_gods_people and mission doctrines.
Joy amid suffering (Acts 5:41; 13:52; 16:25, 34) — persecution consistently produces rejoicing, not despair; a pastorally significant thread for a wartime readership, to be handled with the same care as the baseline’s assurance_of_salvation caution against collapsing spiritual joy into a promise of circumstantial safety.
Spirit-directed itinerancy (Acts 8:29; 10:19-20; 13:2, 4; 16:6-10; 20:22-23) — the Spirit as active missionary agent, not merely an experienced power; reinforces the Holy Spirit and Pentecost doctrine’s centrality across the whole book, not only in Acts 2.
Households as units of response (Acts 10, 16, 18) — recurring but doctrinally unresolved regarding baptismal practice (see 09’s household_salvation entry, High risk); present descriptively, not as settled proof for either paedobaptist or credobaptist positions.
The reversal of Babel and the dignity of every mother tongue (Acts 2:5-11) — a thread with particular resonance for Ukrainian readers given this Language Package’s own baseline note on the Ohienko translation’s role in Ukrainian linguistic self-assertion; Pentecost dignifies native language as a vehicle of the gospel, a point that can be affirmed without reducing the doctrine to a statement about Ukrainian-language identity alone.

Part 4 — Cross-Reference to Existing Language Package Documents

This theme map presupposes and must be read together with:

analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md — verse-by-verse and chapter-by-chapter lexical/doctrinal analysis underlying every theme above.
analysis/08_core_glossary.md — the full term inventory (Section A: baseline reuse; Section B: new Acts terms) supporting every citation above.
analysis/09_cross_reference_analysis.md — the full OT/NT citation matrix and rendering-consistency rules this theme map draws on, especially Part 4’s mandatory cross-document consistency rules (Joel 2:32/Romans 10:13; Deuteronomy 21:22-23/Galatians 3:13; Genesis 12:3, 22:18/Galatians 3:8, 16; Isaiah 6:9-10/Romans 11:8; and the Habakkuk 1:5 vs. 2:4 distinction).
The baseline translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, and doctrine_risk_registry.json, whose established renderings and risk tiers this document extends and never contradicts.

Prepared to inform the forthcoming Acts 11_doctrine_analysis.md and 12_ai_translation_requirements.md extensions, consistent with the PRD Phase 1 full-book coverage mandate.

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