As a new Christian or somebody simply looking into Christianity, the prospect of reading the whole Bible is daunting. The good news is you only need to read a small section initially, as I explain in this post.
Christianity revolves around the teachings of Jesus and his death and resurrection. It was his sacrifice on the cross that paid the ransom for all mankind’s sin and simply believing that he was, and is, the son of God is how we are saved.
This is called Justification and is granted to us as a free gift of grace from God through faith. It is not based on anything we earn or work towards and is available to anyone, regardless of how “good” or “bad” we may see ourselves.
While the Bible is a massive document, spanning 66 books and over a thousand pages long, you can learn what God is offering by simply reading one of the Gospels and the first two chapters of Acts. I recommend reading Mark, as it is the shortest.
Bible Translations
The most respected translation or version, is the New King James Version (NKJV) which is in modern English. The easiest version to understand is the New Living Translation (NLT) which is especially designed for newcomers.
You can use software versions that work straight in your browser from the Logos Website. You can choose from many translations and it even comes with commentaries that help explain each verse – and it’s completely free.
Old Testament Background
To understand how the Bible arrived at the Gospels, we need a basic understanding of the Old Testament. Luckily, Logos will give you links to visit, but here is a very short summary. God created heaven and earth at the beginning of the Bible.
Adam and Eve were the first two humans and lived in “The Garden of Eden”. They were told not to eat the fruit of one particular tree, “The Tree of Knowledge”. But Satan, the Devil, convinced them that it was quite okay to eat the fruit.
The consequence was sin. And the punishment was the loss of immortality. This “original sin” was then passed down to every human being, meaning we have a “sinful nature” as humans. Man became so sinful that God decided to wipe out virtually all of his creation and do a restart, by flooding the world in the story of “Noah’s Ark”.
Many years later, he gave Moses the “Ten Commandments” as rules by which God’s chosen people, the Israelites, or simply Israel, should live by. This became known as the “Law of Moses”. A large part of the Old Testament concerns how Israel kept drifting away from God and he kept bringing them back through wars and persecution they had to undergo.
Various prophets predicted the coming of Christ, or what they called the “Messiah”. This spanned many centuries and Israel was expecting the Messiah to come as a King and rule over Israel, freeing them from their enemies. The priests who were looking for him were called the “Pharisees”.
When Jesus did come, at the beginning of the New Testament (NT), it was the Pharisees that did not accept him as the Messiah. He was not the all-powerful King they had expected, but simply a carpenter, who was more interested in the sick and poor than being a ruler. The Israelites or Jews, are still waiting for their “King” to come.
So, that is a very simplified summary of the Old Testament (OT), but will help you understand what is being spoken about in the Gospels. And, as I said, Logos will enable you to see the relevant links to the OT verses.
Future Reading
When you decide to read more of the Bible, I would suggest you read the letters or Epistles, in the NT. The order they appear in the Bible is not chronological, so I suggest you read them in this order:
1 Thessalonians (Corinth 50 AD)
2 Thessalonians (Corinth 51 AD)
Galatians (Syrian Antioch 50-52 AD)
1 Corinthians (Ephesus 52 AD)
2 Corinthians (Macedonia 55 AD)
Romans (Corinth 56 AD)
Philemon (Rome 60-61 AD)
Colossians (Rome 60-61 AD)
Ephesians (Rome 60-61 AD)
Philippians (Rome 60-61 AD)
Hebrews (Rome 61 AD)
1 Timothy (Macedonia 61-64 AD)
Titus (Macedonia 61-64 AD)
2 Timothy (Rome 65 AD)
These Epistles were written to the early church as it spread throughout Asia, Greece and Rome in the first century. They give guidance on how Christians should live and how the church should operate. They will give you a much better idea of what being a Christian is all about.
You could then, one day, tackle the OT to get more of an understanding of the history of the Jews, God’s “Chosen People”. Jesus was born as a Jew when he took on earthly form, and introduced a new “covenant” that superseded the “Law of Moses”, freeing both Jew and Gentile from the burden of the Law.
By the time Jesus came, the Pharisees had added hundreds of extra rules to the original ten given to Moses! So many, that he said no one could possibly obey them all, which is why he called the Pharisees hypocrites.
Take it Slowly
This post has been about not having to read the whole Bible to understand Christianity. As I said in the beginning, just read Mark and the first two chapters of Acts. The suggested, future reading is just that – for later!
Take your time and let the good news of the Gospel sink in. Then slowly move on to the Epistles. Don’t put yourself under so much pressure you miss the main message! The Apostles spread the good news of the Gospel wherever they taught. There was no New Testament in those days. Keeping the Gospel message pure and simple was their primary goal and that still applies to us today.
We have the NT because we don’t have access to the Apostles anymore. We learn the Word of God from the Gospels and the Epistles they left for us today. But filling your head full of knowledge is not going to get you any more saved than you first are. We start as babes in Christ and grow over time. Studying the Bible is a lifelong journey, not something to be done in 90 days!