The below themes in the Bible present the core narratives found throughout the Scriptures.
By exploring Biblical themes, you gain a deeper understanding of the Bible’s unified story, from Genesis to Revelation.
We will add more articles to the list every month, so return to this page to see more.
Contents
Explore the themes in the Bible
- Exodus theme in the Bible
- Trees in the Bible
- Mountains in the Bible
- The two powers in heaven
- The 3-tier Biblical cosmology
- The seven days of creation: basis for the Creation Week theme in the Bible
- The waters above the firmament
- The firmament in the Bible
- The younger replaces the older in the Bible
- Stars in the Bible
What are the major Bible themes?
- Exodus
- The Cross
- Sacrifice
- Creation
- Sin and the Fall
- Covenant
- Redemption and God’s plan of salvation
- Faith
- Law and Grace
- Love
- Judgment
- Kingdom of God
- Eternal Life
More interesting Bible themes
Below you will find more interesting Bible topics and themes to explore on your own.
- Marriage
- Seed
- Eating
- Birds
- Rocks and stones
- Gemstones
- Gold
- Silver
- Olive oil
- God’s provision
- God’s judgment
- God’s deliverance
- God’s covenants
- God’s promises
- Holiness
- Forgiveness
- Wisdom
- Hope
- Repentance
- Mission
- Suffering
- Resurrection
- Liturgy
- Gospel
Why study Biblical themes?
Major Biblical themes, like the seven days of creation, exodus, and exile, repeat throughout the Bible. Through theme repetition, you will learn the following.
- All in the Scriptures point to Jesus.
- There’s a solid continuum between the Old and New Testaments. They are a coherent whole.
- Your understanding of the Bible goes beyond proof texts. You start to understand contexts, topics, and interconnectivity of Scripture.
- You will understand God’s plan for humanity, to unite man with God, and Jesus’ and your role as a Christian in the plan. You are a part of the Biblical themes.
How do you study the themes in the Bible?
The most common and the best way to study the Biblical themes is to read the Bible daily. Get a routine in which you read the Bible every day, preferably the New and Old Testament, at the same time.
Daily Scripture reading is like brushing your teeth every day. It gives you a good habit, keeps you close to God’s Word, and gives the foundation for further studies.
Below, we list more ways to study the themes in the Bible.
Do a word study
Word study is the bread and butter of deeper Scripture learning. It will help you understand different themes in the Bible.
Word studies are best suited when the Biblical theme you are studying consists of one word or term and forms a concise theme. Good examples of this are “trees in the Bible” or “stars in the Bible.”
You can do a word study with Logos Bible Software or Blue Letter Bible (free). Another good resource for Bible translations is Bible Gateway.
Just type in the word or a verse where the word you want to study appears and see how the Bible uses the word in other contexts.
What you will get by using the software mentioned above is something like
- List of Bible verses about trees
- List of Bible verses about mountains
- List of Bible verses about water
When you have a list of the verses ready, open the verses one by one and study the context of each verse. Don’t just look at the verse; open the chapter and examine the context. If you can’t figure out the context from one chapter, extend your studies to other chapters.
Major themes in the Bible, like Exodus or Creation Week, might be expressed with a single word or term but are not found with that term in the Bible. Once this is the case, you have to study the theme and its elements as a whole.
Read
Read the Bible daily, but read it also so that you concentrate only on the theme you are studying. In addition to the Bible, read commentaries and books about the theme.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many books that concentrate solely on the different themes of the Bible. So, you need to look for one theme here and the other there. However, we have provided some recommendations below on where to start.
Watch videos
Watching videos is an easy and time-efficient way of learning about Biblical themes. However, because of the somewhat passive nature of video watching, videos can give you a false sense of “studying.”
Videos are a good way of staying connected to your studies, but mastering a Biblical theme requires reading, making notes, and writing those notes out to actual content.
When you start studying a new Bible theme, watch a video first without taking notes. List the videos worth learning, then watch them again while taking notes. Save the links for the sound sources that are easy to find later.
Make notes and write
It’s okay just to enjoy the content people have created on Biblical themes. However, mastering any particular theme requires note-taking, deep thinking, and going through multiple sources before you grasp the topic well. Note-making and article writing will help you think deeply about the Biblical themes.
Practice source criticism
Be open but critical of any source that you are using. Practice source criticism for your Biblical theme study and the theology the sources are providing. Every source looks at the themes in the Bible through their lenses, and you need to be aware of this.
Sources for themes in the Bible
James Jordan, Through New Eyes
Seraphim Hamilton’s YouTube channel