Where to Start Reading the Bible

My daughter loves to read, as do I. But that wasn’t always the case for her.

If you’ve ever taught someone to read, you know there’s nothing simple about literacy. You can’t expect someone to master all the pronunciation rules for the letter E just by showing them a flashcard. It can and does take years to differentiate all the 14 complicated ways to say E in English.

When my daughter was learning to read, her progress was slow. She often appeared angry, frustrated or discouraged, and she didn’t want to practice together. Reading, after all, is a feat of persistence in the face of delayed gratification. When you’re struggling with the silent E, you aren’t thinking years ahead to independent reading and the joy of discovering The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson. You’re just trying to sound out the word hope.

Reading the Bible can feel like this too, especially when you’re just getting started. Should you open to page one and read from cover to cover?

Honestly, I wouldn’t.

The best way to immerse yourself in Jesus’ story is to start reading in the New Testament — the second half of the Bible chronicling Jesus’ ministry, the start of the Church and more — and branch out from there. I’d start reading the Bible with the Gospel of John, and here’s why.

Navigating the New Testament

The books of the New Testament are arranged by genre: Gospels, history, letters and prophecy. Even if you read them A to Z, so to speak, you wouldn’t necessarily be reading them in the order they occurred or were written. Each one has a unique time, place, author, audience, purpose and writing style.

The Gospels

The New Testament Gospels are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, named after the followers of Jesus who wrote them. 

Think of them like four biographies of Jesus. Jesus himself never changes, but the views presented of him differ slightly. The authors witnessed different events of Jesus’ life and wrote about the Gospel, which means good news, to different groups of people.

Because of this, each gospel has a unique way of describing Jesus.

• Matthew was written to a primarily Jewish audience and portrays Jesus as the Messiah, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.
• Mark was written for newer believers who were facing persecution and describes Jesus as a servant.
• Luke was specifically addressed to a non-Jewish, or Gentile, audience, and emphasizes Jesus’ humanity.
• John was written for a general global audience and emphasizes Jesus’ divinity as the Son of God.

All these portraits taken together only get us started on the path of getting to know Jesus. The more we read them and the other books of the Bible, the more we discover.

Start Reading in John

The entire Bible is God’s Word, so there’s no such thing as a bad starting place. That said, here are some reasons why I suggest the Gospel of John as a spot to begin reading the Bible.

First, John writes for readers who need some words or contexts explained. 

Unlike Matthew, John does not expect his audience to be familiar with Jewish law and history. For instance, the first time John uses the word rabbi, he adds that it means teacher. When John describes Jesus’ behavior at a festival, he explains that the last day of the feast is the most significant day, giving further weight to what Jesus says and does.

The book is full of these helpful insights for readers who are further from the culture and circumstances of first-century Israel.

Next, John models a mindset we should share. 

John refers to himself as the disciple Jesus loved. At first glance, this seems like a strange way for John to say the word I. It can sound uncomfortably competitive to our modern ears. Jesus’ love isn’t exclusive, however; Jesus doesn’t love John the most. And just because Jesus does love John doesn’t mean he loves other people less. There’s no competition for Jesus’ love because it will never run out or dry up. 

John probably calls himself loved by Jesus because that is how he identifies himself. “Hi, I’m John, and Jesus loves me!”

Other New Testament writers also do this. Paul and James both describe themselves by their core identity as a servant of God. This mindset is valuable for anyone who is starting to read the Bible. Being loved by Jesus is our core identity too. 

Finally, love is the overarching theme of the Gospel of John.

The word love and its variations appear more than 50 times in John. One of the most famous verses about love comes from John: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

John also contains this important instruction about love: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” No matter how long we’ve been following Jesus, whether an hour, a day or a lifetime, we need to dwell on God’s love and practice showing it to others.

On a practical level, John is 21 chapters long, which means it would take you exactly three weeks to read at a pace of one chapter per day. John makes a wonderful introduction to Jesus — and to building a habit of reading the Bible.

Or Just Start Reading

Other excellent places to start reading the Bible include any of the other Gospels. Try reading Luke and Acts back-to-back; they have the same author and follow the same narrative about the growth of the early Church. The book of Romans explains the theology of the Gospel, including details about sin, suffering, righteousness and redemption. I recommend starting with the Gospels, Acts and Romans.

Whenever you circle back to the Old Testament, Genesis does make a good beginning point. It demonstrates that redemption has always been God’s plan.

You might also consider adding in some Psalms. And Exodus through Deuteronomy. Oh, and Ruth. And don’t forget Daniel! And Isaiah and Esther and Job and...

There are so, so many amazing parts to God’s story. I’m truly excited for you to discover the intricate, intimate Word of God.

Why I Read the Bible

As a new believer, I started reading the Bible because I thought it was just something believers did. Over time, family, teachers and mentors guided me through enough verses that I began to grow more knowledgeable about the Bible. To put it another way, I was finally reading independently.

I’ve been following Jesus for more than 30 years. I’ve read the Bible several times and even had the privilege of studying it as a college student but there’s still so much more for me to learn about Jesus.

Scriptures like Hebrews 4:12 tell us that the Bible is a living document. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, we’re able to read it again and again and still learn new things each time. Different seasons we’re in give us a new perspective of passages we may have read a dozen times before. While we can memorize Scripture, and we should, we will always learn something new about God and ourselves when we spend time reading it. Now as one whom Jesus loves, I read the Bible because it has become a journey of enjoyment. Not only is reading the Bible an essential expression of my faith and obedience to Jesus, but it’s also genuinely exciting to walk with God.

During the course of writing this blog, I listened to John again three times. The first time, I played it straight through, which took a little over two hours. That was when I heard the word love over and over.

The second time, I listened to a few chapters at a time, which made me notice again that about half the book focuses on the last week of Jesus' life and the short amount of time he spent on earth after his resurrection. I love the last verse that tells us Jesus did so many things during that time that there aren’t enough books in the world to write it all down. I can’t wait to hear those stories someday.

The third time, I played it in the car while my daughter and I were driving around town. We were shaking our heads with incredulity about the Pharisees’ treatment of the man whom Jesus healed from blindness — they were angry and didn’t believe the man; going so far as to call him a liar and sinner. We laughed out loud when the healed man asked the Pharisees if they wanted to become disciples of Jesus too. We talked about how we would respond if we were watching those events unfold — curious and eager to learn the truth about Jesus.

When I first started reading the Bible, I wasn’t thinking ahead to the joy of reading John with my daughter or the ways that I would grow. But now that I have been reading the Bible for the past 30 years, I can say without hesitation that God’s Word will pull you in and hold you fast.