How to Start Reading the BibleWhere to Begin and a Simple Plan

Opening a Bible for the First Time

A Bible is a large book, and the first time you hold one it can be hard to know where to put your finger. You do not have to start on the first page and read straight through. You do not need to know the order of the books, either; the contents page at the front is there for every reader, and people who have read the Bible for fifty years still use it.

What you need is a place to begin, a little time each day, and a willing heart. This page gives you all three: what the Bible is, which books to read first and why, how to read them, what to do when a passage is hard, and a simple plan for your first weeks.

The Bible speaks of itself as a light for the next step, not a floodlight over the whole road. You will not understand everything at once. You will understand enough to take the next step.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Psalms 119:105
KJV

One thing will help from the first day. References are written as book, chapter and verse. Mark 1:15 means the book of Mark, chapter 1, verse 15. The chapters are the large numbers in your Bible; the verses are the small ones.

What the Bible Is

The Bible is sixty-six books bound together. The first thirty-nine make up the Old Testament, written before Jesus was born. The last twenty-seven make up the New Testament, written after his death and resurrection by those who knew him or knew his apostles. Some books are history, some are poetry and songs, some are wise sayings, some are the words of prophets, and some are letters to churches and to friends. There is more on how these different books fit together elsewhere in the library.

Many hands wrote it over many centuries, but it has one Author. Paul told Timothy that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God¹. The word Paul used means God-breathed, and it stands only in this verse of the New Testament. The same passage tells you what the Bible is for: it makes a person wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, and it furnishes the believer for every good work.

And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

2 Timothy 3:15-17
KJV

Because it has one Author, the Bible tells one story. God makes the world good. Man turns from God, and sin and death come in. God promises a Saviour and chooses a family, then a nation, to carry that promise. The prophets keep it alive through centuries of failure. Then the Son of God is born, lives, dies for sinners and rises again. His church carries the news to the ends of the earth, and the last pages look forward to a new heaven and a new earth.

Jesus himself taught his disciples to read the Old Testament this way. On the road to Emmaus, after his resurrection, he walked with two of them and showed them that the whole of Scripture was about him.

And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Luke 24:27
KJV

That is the key to reading the Bible well. Every part of it, in one way or another, leads to Jesus Christ. So the best place to begin is where he is seen most plainly.

Where to Begin: A Gospel First

The first four books of the New Testament are called the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Each one tells the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Begin with one of them. Before you read what God promised, read about the One in whom the promises are kept.

Mark

Mark is the shortest Gospel, sixteen chapters, and it can be read through in a little over an hour. It wastes no time. There is no account of the birth of Jesus; by the fifteenth verse he is preaching in Galilee: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15). The word straightway, or immediately, appears in about forty of its verses, and the book moves from one scene to the next at that pace.

All through Mark one question is asked: who is this man? The disciples ask it in a boat after he stills a storm. Peter answers it halfway through the book. Jesus then tells them why he came: "For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). Begin at Mark 1, and for an overview of the whole book see An Introduction to the Gospel of Mark: Jesus the Servant.

John

Read John next. It is longer, twenty-one chapters, and quieter in its pace. John records fewer events and more of what Jesus said: long conversations, teaching in the temple, and his words to his disciples on the night before he died. It also tells you in so many words why it was written.

But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

John 20:31
KJV

Read John with that sentence in mind. Each sign and each saying is set down so that you might believe, and believing, have life. Begin at John 1, and see An Introduction to the Gospel of John: Jesus the Son of God.

Faithful Christians give different advice here. Some would have a new reader start with John, because of that stated purpose. Others prefer Luke, the fullest account, or Matthew, which stands first and joins the Old Testament with the New. Any Gospel is a good door. This page suggests Mark and then John: Mark because it is short enough to finish in your first two weeks, and John because it shows you most fully who Jesus is.

Then Genesis, Psalms and Proverbs Alongside

Once you have read a Gospel or two, go back to the beginning. Alongside your main reading, keep two books from the Old Testament open: one for prayer and one for daily wisdom.

Genesis

Genesis is the book of beginnings. It tells how God made the heavens and the earth, how man fell into sin, and why the world needs the Saviour you met in the Gospels. It also holds the first promises: that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head (Genesis 3:15), and that God would bless Abraham so that "in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Genesis 12:3). The rest of the Bible is the story of how those promises were kept. Its fifty chapters are mostly narrative and easy to follow. Begin at Genesis 1, and see An Introduction to Genesis: The Book of Beginnings.

Psalms

The Psalms are the prayer book and song book of the Bible: one hundred and fifty prayers that give words to joy, grief, fear, guilt, trust and praise. Read one each day beside your main reading. When you do not know how to pray, pray a psalm. The first psalm is a good door into all the others, because it describes the person whose delight is in the law of the LORD. See Understanding the Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible.

Proverbs

Proverbs is wisdom for ordinary days: work, money, words, friendship, anger and the home. Its thirty-one chapters fit the days of a month, a chapter a day. It opens with its foundation: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Proverbs 1:7). See An Introduction to Proverbs: The Wisdom of God.

Then Acts and Romans

The Gospels end with the risen Lord sending his disciples into the world. The book of Acts tells what happened next. The Holy Spirit is poured out at Pentecost, the church is born in Jerusalem, and the gospel travels outward to Samaria, to the Gentiles and at last to Rome. Its twenty-eight chapters are history, and they read quickly after the Gospels. Acts opens by recalling an earlier book written to Theophilus, the same man the Gospel of Luke is addressed to (Luke 1:3; Acts 1:1), so the story runs straight on. See An Introduction to the Acts of the Apostles: The Birth of the Church.

Then read Romans. Acts tells you how the gospel spread; Romans explains what the gospel is. Paul sets it out in order: all have sinned, God justifies the ungodly by faith in Christ, the believer is given new life by the Spirit, and that life is lived out in love. It is denser than the books before it, so take it slowly.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Romans 1:16
KJV

See An Introduction to Romans: The Power of the Gospel. After Romans, read the rest of the New Testament, and then the Old Testament from Exodus onward. In time you will have read the whole Bible, and every part will make more sense because you began with Christ.

How to Read: A Little Each Day

When Joshua took up the leadership of Israel, God did not tell him to read the law once. He told him to keep it in his mouth and think on it day and night.

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Joshua 1:8
KJV

The word translated meditate² means to murmur, and by extension to ponder. It is the same word used of the blessed man in Psalm 1:2, who meditates in the law of the LORD day and night. Biblical meditation is not emptying the mind. It is filling it with what God has said and turning that over, sometimes half aloud, until it settles in. Matthew Henry, writing on Psalm 1, described it this way: "To meditate in God's word is to discourse with ourselves concerning the great things contained in it, with a close application of mind, a fixedness of thought, till we be suitably affected with those things and experience the savour and power of them in our hearts." And he gave the reason it comes naturally to those who love God: "for what we love we love to think of."

So read a little, and read every day. One chapter, read slowly and thought over, will do you more good than ten chapters skimmed. Ten or fifteen minutes is enough to begin. Pick a time you can keep, whether early in the morning, at lunch or before you sleep, and keep it.

The believers in the town of Berea are remembered for exactly this. When Paul preached to them, they did not take his word for it. They went to the Scriptures every day to see whether what he said was true.

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

Acts 17:11
KJV

The word for searched³ means to scrutinise, to examine closely. Henry drew the lesson plainly: "Searching the scriptures must be our daily work." The Bereans read with ready minds, they read carefully, and they read daily. You can do the same.

Read prayerfully

The Bible is God's word, and its Author is present when you read it. Before you begin, ask him to help you understand. The psalmist's prayer is short enough to learn by heart.

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

Psalms 119:18
KJV

After you read, pray again, this time about what you have read. If a verse showed you something to thank God for, thank him. If it showed you a sin, confess it. If it gave you a promise, ask him to keep it.

Ask three questions

As you read each passage, ask three simple questions.

1. What does it say? Who is speaking, to whom, and what happens? Before you look for a lesson, be sure you know what the words say.
2. What does it mean? What does it show about God, about Jesus, about people? Why did God put it in his book? Read it in the light of what comes before and after it.
3. What does it ask of you? Is there a command to obey, a promise to trust, a sin to turn from, an example to follow or to avoid, or a truth about God to worship him for?

The third question is the one most easily skipped, and it is the one Scripture presses hardest.

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

James 1:22
KJV

When you are ready for more questions, 10 Questions to Ask When Reading a Bible Passage takes this further. For now, three are enough.

When a Passage Is Hard

You will come to passages you do not understand. Every reader does. The apostle Peter said of Paul's letters that there are in them "some things hard to be understood" (2 Peter 3:16). If an apostle could say that, you need not be discouraged when you find it so.

Here is what to do.

• Keep reading. Mark the verse, write down your question, and go on. Many questions are answered a few verses or a few chapters later.
• Let the plain passages explain the hard ones. The Bible is its own best interpreter. What is said briefly in one place is often said fully in another, and the cross-references in the margin of many Bibles will point you there.
• Hold on to what you do understand. What you most need to know, about God, sin and salvation through Christ, is said clearly and often.
• Ask for help. God gives teachers to his church. Ask a pastor or a Christian friend who has read the Bible longer than you have.

The Ethiopian official in Acts 8 was reading the prophet Isaiah in his chariot on the road home from Jerusalem, and he did not understand it. God sent Philip to him.

And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.

Acts 8:30-31
KJV

John Chrysostom, preaching on this passage, pointed out how much the man valued the Scriptures. He asked his hearers to consider "what a great effort it was not to neglect reading even while on a journey, and especially while seated in a chariot." He did not wait until he understood before he read. He read, he asked, and he was answered. Philip began at that very scripture and preached Jesus to him.

Remember too that the risen Lord did for his disciples what no teacher could: "Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures" (Luke 24:45). He still does. Chrysostom compared the Scriptures to grains of incense that give out more fragrance the more they are handled: "the more you devote yourself to studying them, the more you are able to discover the treasure hidden in them."

A Simple Plan for the First Weeks

Here is a plan for your first eighteen weeks. Each day, read one chapter from the main book and one psalm or one chapter of Proverbs. That is usually ten to fifteen minutes.

A day's reading might look like this.

1. Pray the prayer of Psalm 119:18, in those words or your own.
2. Read the day's chapter slowly. If something puzzles you, write it down and keep going.
3. Read the day's psalm, or the day's chapter of Proverbs.
4. Ask the three questions: what does it say, what does it mean, what does it ask of me?
5. Choose one verse to carry with you through the day, and pray about what you read.

Some passages will take longer: a long chapter, or Romans, where Paul packs much into a few lines. Take two days over a chapter when you need to. The plan exists to help you read, not to grade you.

If you miss a day, do not try to catch up by reading four chapters at once. Pick up where you left off. If you miss a week, do the same. God's mercies are new every morning, and so is the invitation to open his word. After eighteen weeks, read the rest of the New Testament, keep going in the Psalms, and then turn to Exodus. When you want to go further, How to Study the Bible for Yourself is the next step.

A Lamp for the Next Step

You do not need to understand the whole Bible before you begin. Matthew Henry, writing on Psalm 119, said the word of God "is a lamp which we may set up by us, and take into our hands for our own particular use." It is given to direct your feet, one step at a time, in the right way.

Timothy knew the holy Scriptures from a child, and Paul said those Scriptures were able to make him wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. That is where every page is leading: to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who gave his life a ransom for many and rose again. Open a Gospel today. Ask God to open your eyes. Read a chapter, think on it, and do what it says. Then come back tomorrow, and the next day. That is how every reader of the Bible has begun.