The Word of God
The overriding theme of the plays is the Word of God, and the way in which this was given to mankind through individuals and through the interpretation of the Word through scriptures and Bible accounts from the Gospels. By separating each of the major segments of both Old and New Testaments into individual vignettes or plays, the anonymous author has created individual "lessons" that enable the performers to share God's word with the audience of the plays. Performing the entire Old and New Testament together also enables performers to show how the Word of God spans the Creation of the world to the Ascension, in progressive steps, so that each member of the audience is able to understand it.
Temptation
One of the main themes of the play is temptation and this is introduced early by the selection of the temptation of Eve as one of the individual plays that are performed. Eve's temptation is shown to cause the fall from grace of mankind as a whole and is therefore established as one of the most important themes in the plays.
Sacrifice
There are many examples of the theme of sacrifice in the plays, throughout their span. The first example is that of Abraham who is willing to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, because God has asked him to. We also see sacrifice on the part of Noah who realizes that he must potentially sacrifice his own life so that he is able to carry out God's instructions. The main example in the play as a whole of this sacrifice is that of Christ who sacrifices his own life so that man may live, knowing that he will be betrayed and crucified, but not attempting to change this or to escape from what he knows is his inevitable death.
Faith and Piety
One of the themes of the plays is the necessity to have faith and to live a pious existence. The plays are presented as a whole so that the audience can see God's plan for mankind and so that they can re-affirm their belief and understand the way in which they are being guided to act. The plays also strengthen the Church from a political standpoint and indeed managed to maintain in the same way until the religious revolution that was brought about by the strong divide between Protestantism and Catholicism centuries later.
