Teaching Tool of Strong Themes

The Teaching Tools of Scripture

The Scripture not only divides itself into its paragraphs by its markers, but it also divides itself into what I call Strong Themes. Recall that a strong paragraph marker {p} indicates the completion of a theme or topic, while an weak marker {s} indicates another facet of the same theme.

The first weak paragraph division in Genesis occurs at the end of Gen 3:15:

Gen 2:4-3:15 {s} Disobedience to YHVH’s command is sin
Gen 3:16 {s} Consequences for the woman (painful toil)
Gen 3:17-21 {p} Consequences for the man (painful toil)

You notice that the distance from one strong {p} paragraph marker to the next, is Gen 2:4-3:21. Since Gen 2:4-3:15 ends in an {s} marker, the next paragraph continues the same theme already begun, just a different facet of it. We do not change to a new theme, in God’s way of thinking, until we have come to the next {p} marker.

Gen 2:4-3:21 {s+s+p} makes a Strong Theme.

Finding the overarching topic of the Strong Theme requires a little bit of chewing on the facet topics and their relationship to each other. In my notes, I have the Gen 2:4-3:21 topic as, Disobedience to God is sin, and carries the consequence of painful toil and death

Gen 3:22 is the start of the next paragraph, which happens to conclude with the weak marker, {s}, so we look for the next {p} marker to find the conclusion of the next Strong Theme:

Gen 3:22-24 {s} Exile from YHVH’s presence is a consequence of sin
Gen 4:1-26 {s} Exile from family is the consequence of sin
Gen 5:1-5 {s} Mortality of Adam
Gen 5:6-8 {s} Mortality of Seth
Gen 5:9-11 {s} Mortality of Enosh
Gen 5:12-14 {s} Mortality of Kenan
Gen 5:15-17 {s} Mortality of Mahalalel
Gen 5:18-20 {s} Mortality of Jared
Gen 5:21-24 {s} Enoch walked with God and did not die
Gen 5:25-27 {s} Mortality of Methuselah
Gen 5:28-31 {s} Mortality of Lamech
Gen 5:32-6:4 {p} The Holy Spirit will not strive with flesh forever

By making Gen 3:22-6:4 a single Strong Theme, God is teaching us about three exiles as a result of sin – Adam’s exile from Eden, Cain’s exile from the presence of YHVH and his family, and mankind’s exile from life or the earth in judgment (“I will blot out man from the earth,” Gen 6:7a). Sin precedes each of these exiles. BUT! In the face of mortality, sin, and judgment, we find that Enoch and Noah walked with God and did not die, but found grace in the eyes of YHVH. Thus the Strong Theme:

Gen 3:22-6:4 {sx11+p} Strong Theme: Exile and death follows from sin and walking in the flesh; life follows from walking with YHVH.

Examples:
Genesis 39 and 40, Judah interrupting Joseph’s narrative
Exodus 6:10-30, Moses’ question and YHVH’s answer
Exodus 9:8-21, Two warnings
Exodus 16:11-36, Strong theme teaches Sabbath rest
Exodus 19:1-20:7, Strong theme reveals reciprocal love
Exodus 26:15-28:5, Strong theme
Leviticus 8:1-10:7, Strong theme puzzle
Numbers 21:4-20, Strong theme revelation
Numbers 21:21-24:25, Strong theme Messianic prophecy
Deuteronomy 17:8-19:10, Justice tempered with mercy

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