<p>Topological defects occurring in nonlinear classical field theories are described by a system of second-order differential equations. A breakthrough was made in 1976 by E. B. Bogomoln’yi who demonstrated that in several field theories these equations can be reduced to first-order provided the coupling constants take on particular values. One of the examples involved a string in the Abelian Higgs model which is equivalent to the Abrikosov flux line of the Ginzburg-Landau theory of superconductivity. In a similar vein, in the 1966 textbook <i>Superconductivity of Metals and Alloys</i> P. G. de Gennes explained how to reduce the second-order Ginzburg-Landau equations to first-order at a particular value of the Ginzburg-Landau parameter by a method due to G. Sarma. We analyze the two ways of arriving at the first-order Sarma-Bogomol’nyi equations and conclude that while they both rely on the same operator identity, Sarma’s method is free of the assumption that there is a topological defect. The implication is that Bogomol’nyi equations found in other field theories may be a source of a wider range of solutions beyond topological defects.</p>