New Testament Reading Plan

Introduction

The purpose of this reading plan is to take you through the whole New Testament. You will read every word of it, and with no human intervention, no human comment on the contents. All this plan will do is arrange a logical sequence, so that each book is read in the historical context in which it was written.

The New Testament is a collection of books, written from soon after the life on earth of Jesus Christ, by the men He empowered to spread the Good News. Each book was written for a specific purpose, with none of the writers ever supposing that later generations would want to establish an authoritative collection. We do not know to what extent they were aware of the importance of what they were writing, for far more important to them was the living testimony of the first generation of actual witnesses of the earthly deeds, teaching, death and resurrection of the Lord they loved. Only when this generation was beginning to pass on did the church realise that a written record would be so important.

Please read the New Testament in a modern translation, especially one written with no single denominational endorsement, but recognised as an open-to-all attempt to render the original Greek into accurate and readable English. Try to read as much as you can in any session, ideally a whole book at a sitting. This may mean setting aside an hour or two every time. Do not worry about what you find to be puzzling. Just read on, with the prayer that the Lord will give you understanding in due course.

It is easy to approach the New Testament as a collection of proof-texts. Many sects have been established on this basis. Very soon after I became a Christian in my early twenties, I resolved to read the whole New Testament, without pause for anything other than eating and sleeping. It took three days, and I doubt if I will ever fully realise how important this 'whole view' has been to rest of my Christian life. So the invitation is to take a whole view - though it may not be possible to do so in just three days. My sequence then was start (Matthew) to finish (Revelation) but I think there is a better way. Hence this reading plan, and the few historical background comments. But if you complete it, you will have read every word. May this knowledge empower you, as nothing else can, to understand the mind of the Lord, and to draw ever nearer to Him in faith.

Explanation

The plan begins with the life of our Lord, and two of the gospels are to be read first. The second has its own continuation, the Acts of the Apostles, and while reading this (split into five parts) each of Paul's letters will be introduced, at approximately the point in the narrative of Acts that it is likely they were written. Thus one will have read the account of what Paul did when in Corinth before reading the two letters he wrote to the church he founded there. Then we will turn to the writings of Peter, and introduce the gospel (Mark's) which is probably based on his testimony. Then on to the other lesser writers of letters (James and Jude) as a lead in to those books obviously aimed more at the Jewish segment of the early church: the letter to the Hebrews and the gospel of Matthew. Finally the letters of John (the last survivor of 'the Twelve') and his vision of the end times.

Each book will be introduced with a short historical comment. But there are no comments about the content. Just read each book with as open a mind as you can muster, forgetting everything other humans have told you, and listening only for the inner voice as you read.

The Sequence

The Gospel of John

[The most intimate of the four gospels, by a writer who describes himself as 'the disciple whom Jesus loved']

The Gospel of Luke

[Luke was a scholar and a historian, as his introduction makes clear, as well as a companion of Paul on some of his missionary travels]

The Acts of the Apostles

[A continuation of Luke's gospel]
Part One (the church in Palestine) chapters 1-12
Part Two (the first missionary journey and the controversy over Gentile converts) chapter 13 v1 - chapter 15 v35

The Letter of Paul to the Galatians

[Written because of the issue about the Gentile converts]

The Acts of the Apostles

Part Three (the second missionary journey) chapter 15 v36 - 18v22

The First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians

The Second Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians

[Two letters to a newly founded church]

The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians

The Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians

[Follow up by letters dealing with the problems Paul's young church in Corinth was encountering]

The Acts of the Apostles

Part Four (the third missionary journey) chapter 18v23 -21v16

Paul's Letter to the Romans

[The only letter Paul wrote to a church he had never been to himself, so it has more doctrine and less practical teaching]

The Acts of the Apostles

Part Five (Paul's arrest, trials, and imprisonments) chapter 21v17 - the end

Paul's Letter to the Ephesians

Paul's Letter to the Philippians

Paul's Letter to the Colossians

[All written while in prison - to churches Paul knew well]

Paul's Letter to Philemon

The First Letter of Paul to Timothy

The Letter of Paul to Titus

The Second Letter of Paul to Timothy

[Letters to individuals - co-workers of Paul and the last letters Paul wrote before his execution]

The First Letter of Peter

The Second Letter of Peter

[Peter - so prominent in the gospels and the early chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, writing shortly before his death in Rome]

The Gospel of Mark

[Mark - an early companion of Paul (and mentioned in 2 Timothy) is thought to have based his gospel on the preached testimony of Peter, recording his words in the knowledge that Peter's death was imminent]

The Letter of James

The Letter of Jude

[Both were brothers - some would say half-brothers - of Jesus]

The Letter to the Hebrews

[No one knows for sure who wrote this letter, but some have guessed at Paul, Barnabas, or Apollos, who are all mentioned as active workers in the Acts of the Apostles and elsewhere]

The Gospel of Matthew

[Matthew was one of 'the Twelve' and the gospel has a very much more Jewish slant than the others]

The First Letter of John

The Second Letter of John

The Third Letter of John

The Revelation given to John

[We began with John and this reading plan ends with John, the last of 'the Twelve' to survive, and writing possibly as late as sixty years from the time he met Jesus as a young fisherman on the shore of the Sea of Galilee]

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