Understanding the Bible Thematically

Is There Only One Way to Study the Bible?

There are two ways to do biblical theology.

You can trace the story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation in one continuous narrative. In my first book, The Whole Story of the Bible in 16 Verses, I was trying to trace that big story by looking at sixteen key “trees” in the overall forest that is the story of the Bible.

In The Whole Message of the Bible in 16 Words, I'm taking a second approach to biblical theology—a thematic approach. Instead of looking at the whole story in one shot, I'm looking at sixteen key themes and tracing how each theme develops throughout the message of the Bible.

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.

For example, the theme of covenant: you can see throughout Scripture that God makes covenants. He makes a covenant with Adam and Eve in the garden, he makes a covenant with Abraham, he makes a covenant with Moses and Israel, he makes a covenant with David, and he makes promises and establishes a new covenant in and through Jesus. We can trace that one theme throughout the Bible.

In this book I've chosen sixteen themes in order to take a thematic approach to biblical theology.

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.