Knowledge Library

Biblical Themes

Covenant, kingdom, exile, sacrifice, glory: the threads that hold Scripture together.

Scripture first

Luke 24:44 · Ephesians 1:9-10

God made known the mystery of His will, to gather together in one all things in Christ. The themes are not patterns we impose. They are the shape of one story with one end.

What this shelf holds

  • Long threads followed from their first appearance to their fulfilment.
  • Doctrine taught from the passages that establish it rather than from a summary.

How to use it

  • Follow a theme in canonical order at least once. Development is most of the lesson.
  • Let the clear passages govern the obscure.

What this cannot settle

A theme can be pressed until every passage is made to serve it. Where a text is not about your theme, leave it alone.

Search biblical themes

This searches only what sits on this shelf: its reference works and its entries. Leave the field empty to see everything it holds.

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22 entries on these shelves

Reference works

Each of these is named so you can open it and check us. Each carries what it is good for and what it cannot decide.

Every entry below is labelled with the kind of evidence it is, so a lexicon is never mistaken for the text and a commentary is never mistaken for a conclusion Scripture has drawn.

  • Commentaries on the Bible

    Theological interpretationOffered for weighing, not for receiving · John Calvin, 1540 to 1564 · Public domain

    Close exposition of most of the canon, alert to the flow of the author's argument.

    Use forFollowing the logic of a passage sentence by sentence.

    CautionReformed throughout and openly so. Where he settles a disputed doctrine, note it as one historic reading among others.

  • An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments

    Theological interpretationOffered for weighing, not for receiving · Matthew Henry, 1710 · Public domain

    Devotional and pastoral exposition of the whole Bible.

    Use forApplication that stays close to the text and presses it on the conscience.

    CautionPastoral rather than technical. It rarely weighs textual or historical questions, and it moralises where the text is silent.

  • Nave's Topical Bible

    Biblical cross-referencesSupports the text, never settles it · Orville J. Nave, 1897 · Public domain

    Around twenty thousand subjects with the verses that speak to each one.

    Use forGathering the whole biblical witness on a topic before drawing any conclusion.

    CautionThe topic headings are a human arrangement. Read the passages in their own context, not as a list of proofs.

  • The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Theological interpretationOffered for weighing, not for receiving · Compiled, attributed to Thomas Scott and others, 1836 · Public domain

    Roughly half a million cross references, verse by verse, with almost no comment.

    Use forLetting Scripture interpret Scripture: the closest thing to a map of the Bible's own connections.

    CautionA reference is a suggestion, not an argument. Some links are verbal rather than theological; test each one in context.

Entries on this shelf

Audela's own entries for this kind of study. Each one is taught from the passages that use it and links into the chapter studies, topics and questions that go furthest with it.

  • Born again

    ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

    A birth from above, worked by the Spirit, not by effort

  • Covenant

    ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

    A binding relationship God establishes and keeps

  • Deception

    ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

    Being led to believe what is not true about God or about oneself

  • Desire

    ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

    Wanting, which Scripture treats as neither automatically sinful nor automatically safe

  • Justification

    ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

    God declaring the guilty righteous through Christ

  • Kingdom of God

    ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

    God's reign, announced by Christ and entered by new birth

  • Kingdom of Heaven

    ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · 2 named sources behind anything that is not the biblical text

    Matthew's way of naming the same reign of God

  • New Creation

    ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

    God making all things new, beginning inside his people

  • Redemption

    ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

    Being bought out of slavery at a price

  • Responsibility

    ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

    Each person answering for what they did, even when tempted or deceived

  • Resurrection

    ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

    Bodily rising from the dead, first Christ and then his people

  • Salvation

    ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

    Being rescued by God from sin, judgement and death

  • Sanctification

    ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

    Being set apart for God, and made holy over a lifetime

  • Temptation

    ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

    Being drawn toward evil, which Scripture never traces back to God

  • The Holy Spirit

    ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

    God himself present with and in his people

  • The Incarnation

    ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

    God the Son taking on real human flesh in Jesus Christ

  • The Word became flesh

    ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

    God took a real human body and lived among us

Back to Scripture

The order of authority

Scripture · Biblical cross references · Original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek · Historical, cultural, geographical and archaeological background · Trusted biblical reference works · Explanation and application

Read how Audela weighs each rung

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