What Are the Bible's Key Themes?

Jesus Is the Common Theme

In my new book, I begin by looking at the theme of eschatology or "the end." So I want to start by asking the question, How does knowing the end of the story influence the way we think about the story now? And not just how does the end influence the way we think about it now, but how has the end actually been brought into the present? That reality frames the whole book.

From there, we talk about God. Obviously God is the central character in the Bible, so I walk through how God's character is revealed and developed—if we can put it that way—as the message of the Bible unfolds from Genesis to Revelation.

And then I begin to look at some of the key structural themes:

Covenant: how God makes covenants with his people that provide a structure for redemptive history.
Kingdom: how God advances his saving reign through these covenants.
Creation: how God begins with creation and he promises one day to make all things new again.

The Whole Message of the Bible in 16 Words

Chris Bruno

This accessible overview of biblical theology traces the development of sixteen key themes from Genesis to Revelation, showing how each theme contributes to the one main storyline of Scripture.

So what I'm really doing with each of these is showing how the message of the Bible centers on Jesus, who is the Yes and Amen to all of God's promises.

Chris Bruno (PhD, Wheaton College) serves as assistant professor of New Testament and Greek at Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He previously taught Bible and theology at Cedarville University and Northland International University and served as a pastor at Harbor Church in Honolulu, Hawaii. Chris and his wife, Katie, have four sons.