The aim of this is not to give you a structured reading plan. I don’t want to tell you exactly what you have to read and when you have to read it. But equally, the Bible can be quite a daunting book and many feel they need help reading the Bible. It’s pretty long, and parts of it are difficult to understand. It’s hard to know where to start. I wouldn’t start at the beginning. If you do that, you’re unlikely to end up at the end!
My aim is to give you a few pointers and advise you where to begin.
A very brief overview of the Bible…
The first thing to note is that the Bible isn’t one book. It’s a collection of books, or documents, written in different genres. It spans over a huge amount of time. So, you don’t need to read it from beginning to end, but generally, it’s a good idea to read a whole book, and not to ‘dip in’ and read a small section. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up getting something out of context. The exceptions are the books of psalms and proverbs. These are collections of poems and sayings.
The Bible is split into 2 main parts. The Old Testament and The New Testament. The Old Testament contains 66 books, all of which were written before Jesus. This contains books on historical narrative, the law, prophecy, apocalyptic books & poetry and wisdom. The New Testament (27 books) is made up of:
- Four gospels- 4 eye-witness accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus
- Acts, the history of the early church,
- A collection of letters (epistles)
- Revelation (a prophetic, apocalyptic book).
Help reading the Bible: Where to start reading…
Although the Bible is not chronological (it’s organised in genre types – like a library), it tells a consistent unfolding story; a plan of salvation that climaxes in the coming of Jesus Christ. Therefore, I would recommend starting with the gospels – the historical accounts of Jesus.
The Four Gospels: The gospels, although they all tell a similar story, are written by different authors and from different perspectives. Watch this 2-minute video:
In short:
Matthew: Written by a Jewish tax collector. He concentrates on Jesus The King, the promised Messiah. It contains many references to the Old Testament and fulfilment of prophesies.
Mark: This focuses on Jesus being a servant. It’s the shortest gospel.
Luke: Written by a gentile doctor. He writes to intellectuals and focuses on Jesus ‘The Perfect Man’
John: Written by ‘The disciple that Jesus loved’ to everyone. Writes about Jesus as The Son of God. He focuses on Jesus’ divinity.
How do you read a good book?
If you were to read a good book, you wouldn’t just read it for 5 minutes a day. If you did, you might lose the flow of the story. I think it’s important to read the Bible for long enough to see the story unfold. For that reason, I would choose an amount of time (maybe 20 minutes) that’s long enough for you to get into the story. Read for that amount of time each day. Work your way through one of the gospels, then read Acts. This will give you an overview of the life and teachings of Jesus and what happened immediately afterwards. You will see what happened to the lives of the disciples, and how they changed completely after their encounters with Jesus. What you will see is that the Bible is a very honest book. Jesus’ disciples were just like you and me. They made mistakes. The writers didn’t cover things up to make themselves look good.
Which gospel should I start with?
It doesn’t really matter. Where you start could be based on your personality and preference. Which of these fits you the best?
- You may come from a Jewish background or have some knowledge of the Old Testament – Consider starting with Matthew.
- You like to get to the point in as little detail as possible – Consider starting with Mark.
- You like to study, maybe you’re an academic, and you appreciate a detailed account – Consider starting with Luke.
- You’re a deep thinker and interested in philosophy – Consider starting with John.
So, choose your gospel, then go on to Acts. As the video above illustrated, the more gospel accounts you read, the fuller picture you will have of who Jesus is. You may, therefore, want to repeat this, but with a different gospel.
Help reading the Bible: What to do
Each day, find a quiet place and set aside some “you time”. Put your phone on silent.
Start with a quick prayer; just ask God to help you understand. Ask Him what He wants you to learn about Him and about you. Also pray that what you learn in your head, will impact your heart. You’re not just learning about God, but getting to know Him.
Read for 20-30 minutes (start with a gospel, then go onto Acts – this should take a couple of weeks)
If anything stands out, underline it, or write it down.
Afterwards, ask try asking yourself some of these questions. Don’t worry if you can’t think of answers for all of them. Some may not be applicable. Maybe just focus on a couple:
- What are people’s reactions to Jesus?
- Have I met them before? Have they changed? How & why?
- What does the passage teach me about God the Father/ Jesus/ The Holy Spirit?
- What does the passage teach me about mankind?
- Are there are any teaching points? Anything about:
- The afterlife (Heaven, Hell or judgement?)
- How we should live?
- What it means to be a follower of Jesus?
- Did one verse stand out? If so, underline it.
- Does anything in my life need to change?
If you’re a note-taker, jot down your ideas.
Spend a moment bringing your thoughts before God. Talk to Him about what you have learnt and ask Him for help.
Bible Reading Postcards PDFDownload
Here are some very useful background notes on the four gospels, plus Acts from The Bible Society. These are not my own work. Don’t feel you have to use them. I’ll mention them more later:
Matthew: From The Bible Society’s “Bible Book Club”Download
Mark: From The Bible Society’s “Bible Book Club” Download
Luke: From The Bible Society’s “Bible Book Club”Download
John: From The Bible Society’s “Bible Book Club”Download
Acts: From The Bible Society’s “Bible Book Club”Download
Any Dyslexics or people with reading difficulties?
I’m dyslexic. I know this affects different people in different ways. With me, it’s mainly my ability to retain information that I’ve read. The chance of being able to concentrate whilst reading for 20-30 minutes is slim. I’m unlikely to be able to explain a thing I’ve read to another person. When I read the Bible, I can read short passages for study, that’s fine. But that’s not what we’re doing. We’re reading larger chunks to get an overview. That’s important to do, but for me it’s also tricky. I have an audio version of the Bible and follow the text in my written Bible. I like to have the written word, there nothing like a book in your hands, but having it read out makes it so much easier for me to retain. You have to make sure that the version you have in print is the same as the one in the recording. Some versions of the Bible are easier to read and understand that others. Maybe try the New Living Translation (NLT) or the Contemporary English Version (CEV). I personally use the English Standard Version (ESV) for study, but the New Living Translation (NLT) for reading.
If you get to the end of the reading session and you haven’t taken it what you’ve read in a day, don’t worry. You’re not being tested for an exam! Just re-read it the next day. It doesn’t matter how long this takes, There are no tick boxes with days. It may take 2 weeks, it may take 2 months.
Audio Bibles:
There’s a good selection of audio Bibles on Bible Gateway including:
NIV (for a British accent, search NIVUK), ESV, NLT
Bible Gateway Audio Bible Link
The ESV website has the Bible read out too. They have also created a very useful free app, just search via your app store.
Link to ESV website
If you would prefer to download one onto your phone or laptop, there are a number of versions on the Faith By Hearing website. You can just download a book at a time. The link below takes you to the English versions. They invite you to make a donation, but it is voluntary, and therefore free.
Link to Free Bible Downloads (Faith Comes By Hearing Website)
The Lumo Project
The Lumo Project has produced 4 films by taking each of the New Testament Gospels unedited and unabridged as the scripts. It aims to paint an authentic portrait of the life of Christ. It’s available in many languages. I’ve embedded the English version below. It uses the NIV translation.
The Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel of Mark
The Gospel of Luke
The Gospel of John
Next steps:
I’m hoping that this will have given you a solid foundation in to what the Bible is about and a thirst to find out more. The next step I would suggest, would be to find someone to read the Bible with. This could be just one other person, or it could be via a Facebook group, for example.
Bible Book Club
There’s an excellent and free resource from The Bible Society called “The Bible Book Club” (this is where the earlier PDFs were from). It works like a regular book club, where you read a book independently, then come together to discuss the ideas. Every book of the bible is covered (including the apocrypha). It has background information, tells you where it fits in to the whole story, what type of genre it is and more. It also says how tricky the book is to understand. You could read this section to help you select which book to read next!
I would suggest focusing on the New Testament. Maybe do 2 New Testament books, for every one in the Old Testament – at least to start with.
You could use this resource by yourself, if you didn’t know anyone to do this with, or you didn’t feel able to do this in a group setting.
Link to the Bible Society’s “Bible Book Club”
My general advice would be:
Read your Bible daily
Read a whole book, not just a verse. (Maybe using the Bible Book Club resources to help you).
When reading, have the genre and audience in mind. The Bible is written for you, but not to you.
Don’t worry if there’s a section you don’t understand. Pencil a question mark in the margin of your Bible, or make a note of it. You may well find that you’ll come back to it later and understand it then. Generally, the most important messages are the ones that are easy to grasp.
It may be worth investing in a study Bible. This is one that comes with some notes. Go to your local Christian book shop and ask them for help.
Personal Study:
WordLive from Scripture Union:
WordLive from Scripture Union is a free, online guide, helping you meet with God – through the Bible. Each day uses a new Bible passage with fresh resources to help you start your day focusing on God. It starts with a short prayer, Bible passage and then ends with a respond section. There’s an optional extra “deeper Bible study” afterwards, based on the same passage.
WordLive can be accessed via this link, via their Facebook page, or you can have it emailed to you every day.
Information Link to WordLive
Sign Up Link to WordLive
Word For Today:
This is produced by United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) and written by Bob Gass. It’s often just based on one verse and is a short “thought for the day”. Again, it can be accessed via their website:
Information Link to “Word for Today”
Sign up link to “Word For Today”
Where Next?
Do you know the Christian message? If someone asked you these questions, how would you answer?
What happens after this life, and does death scare you?
Is God pleased with you? Are you a good person?
Is it possible to know if you’re good enough to get to heaven (if it exists)?
If you don’t go to heaven, what happens to you?
Does God really care about you?
Visit this page to explore answers to these questions.
