All the books of the Bible are good to read, but not all are good to start with. Some can be confusing. Is there one book that is easy to read and can get quickly to the point without requiring prior knowledge of Jesus or the Bible?
I realize there can be different opinions and you are free to choose where to start, but I have narrowed it down to One. I would pick the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament.
I will tell you why Mark is a good starting point and then give you some other candidates if you want options. I’ll also include some that are not the best to start with.
Mark
Why is Mark the best book of the Bible to get started with?
If you wanted to know if Christianity is real or if you are already Christian and want to know Jesus better, then start with a book about Jesus.
Mark does not waste time. In the first sentence, He states that Jesus is God. We didn’t have to read a whole book wondering what the point was, Mark, let’s us know upfront and then elaborates on what Jesus did.
The 1st chapter
- Links Jesus to the Old Testament prophets
- Introduced by John the Baptist
- Baptism showing He is the Son of God
- His connection to humanity with temptation
- The calling of the first followers
- Healings that only God could do
- Driving out Evil
- People starting to gain interest
That is just in the first chapter!
Mark doesn’t waste time getting to the point, letting us know Jesus is God, and building up the evidence of things that only God could do, so that we can begin to trust in Jesus, like the people around him who were wondering who He was.
- If you wanted to meet someone, would you read books about them that don’t even mention their name? Mark gets us directly in touch with the Word of God, telling us about Jesus’s life. If we are going to trust Jesus, we have to get to know Him. Mark does that well.
- How long does it take you to read a good novel? Perhaps a few days if you couldn’t put it down. Perhaps faster if you read quickly or blocked out everything else until you were done. The gospel of Mark takes approximately 1 and 1/2 hours to read at normal speaking speed.
I tried it myself last night and even with stopping to re-read a few parts, I was done in under 2 hours. When read that way, it felt like a short story and I wanted more.
- With Jesus meeting a variety of people with real needs and real-life circumstances, it is easier to relate to than some of the other Bible books that have symbolism or a different literary style.
- The first time reading Mark, I suggest reading it straight through like a novel, without getting bogged down in too much detail. There you will discover some things that you wouldn’t realize trying to read a few verses at a time or even a chapter per week in a Bible study.
You can always do other approaches too, this is just a getting started approach. - Being the shortest Gospel about Jesus, it is a great place to get started. In the time it takes you to read a few articles about where to start in the Bible, you can finish Mark and already be onto your next question.
- Once you read Mark, you may want more details about Jesus. That is where Matthew, Luke, and John can make sense. I had some problems with Matthew and John when I first tried reading them, which I will get to in a bit.
After reading Mark in one evening, I felt like that was just a quick introduction and I wanted to find out more.
Where do I Go Next?
Did you already read Mark? Great! If not, no problem, there are a lot of good books of the Bible to read. Here I’ll give some others that I would start with and some reasons why.
Genesis
The highest percentage of Bible Studies starts with Genesis. This makes sense because it is the first book of the Bible. If you are already familiar with Jesus, this is a great place to find out…
- More about Jesus’ background culture
- The reason why we need a Savior
- That God works among very sinful people
- How God is faithful to His people despite their sins
- How God’s plan continues without stopping
My point here is don’t get stuck. When you read it the first time, enjoy the narrative and the main spiritual points the book is trying to convey about people and God.
Some people try to read it like a literal science book and miss the whole point, so that is why it is not my #1 book to start with, but still a great book if you choose to read it. (See the Leviticus difficulties if you choose to start with Genesis)
I admit might have a little bias here. I tried to join a few Bible studies that started with Genesis and they never lasted long enough to reach Jesus. The next Bible study started with Genesis again and I felt like I was repeating myself. If this sounds familiar to you, then you don’t have to repeat Genesis.
Luke & Acts
Choosing Luke or Mark as my #1 place to start was a tough choice. If you want to start with the simplest, easiest, and shortest account of Jesus, then Mark gets the nod at 16 chapters compared to 24 chapters in Luke. Here are some reasons to read Luke…
- If you are looking for more details about Jesus
- If you want a sequel, Luke continues with Acts of the Apostles
- Luke includes extras about Jesus’s birth & childhood.
It is believed that Luke and Acts were both parts of one scroll that was later split into two books. Both were written by Luke to a disciple named Theophilus ‘lover of God’. Luke’s Gospel reveals the events of Jesus’ life, while Acts reveals what happened to His Church with the Apostles.
Note: You can also start with Mark then read Acts, but if you want to read the sequel by the same writer, start with Luke, then Acts.
Matthew
I won’t say any Gospel is a bad place to start. They are all good. Matthew originally wrote to a Jewish audience so his literary style may be confusing to a first-time reader.
I‘ll give you a tip on how to start Matthew as this stopped me in my tracks and I thought if the rest of the book was like this I may not continue.
Matthew starts with a long list of names that you may find boring or difficult to pronounce. Just remember that Matthew was writing to a Jewish audience and had to prove to them that Jesus came from the promised line of the Messiah in the Old Testament.
The Messiah had to come from the line of David, the line of Judah. If Matthew could not show proof, a Jewish reader would call him a fake. He provides the proof with the genealogy list of names.
After that, the narrative of the book is easier to read. It has similarities with Mark and Luke but also fills in some details they don’t have.
- Note: Matthew, Mark, and Luke are sometimes called synoptic Gospels because they have overlapping similarities in places, although have unique parts as well.
John
I remember someone recommended the Gospel of John as a starting place for me to read the Bible. The fist chapter confused me and stopped me in my tracks for a long time. I wish I had known 1 thing…
Helpful Tip: Remember that the term ‘the Word’ is used to refer to ‘Jesus’. I didn’t know that when I first tried to read John. Once I knew, I replace it while reading and it made more sense.
Let’s compare the two… Here is the text with ‘the Word’…
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
now replacing ‘The Word’ with ‘Jesus’…
In the beginning was Jesus,
and Jesus was with God,
and Jesus was God.
That helped me get unstuck and able to continue reading John.
Today John Chapter 1 is one of my favorite chapters, with Verse 14 revealing that Jesus came into the world as a person.
And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us
John is not synoptic with the other Gospels, so if you want to read more about Jesus but Mathew, Mark, and John are too repetitive for you, then try John.
Not Paul’s letters
Nothing against Paul here, his letters were great additions to the Bible, but just not the best place to start reading the Bible. That is not just my opinion, but the Apostle Peter…
2 Peter :16
15 …consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, also wrote to you,
16 speaking of these things as he does in all his letters. In them there are some things hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures.
Peter is not deriding Paul’s letters here, just that they are not for the ignorant, or someone who is just beginning and could end up with distorted ideas.
In the 2nd century, Marcion is an example of this. He focused mainly on Paul’s letters and fell into heresy. (c 144 AD)
Some of Paul’s concepts need to be balanced with other books of the NT so they are not the first place to start, but good later.
Not Leviticus
Leviticus is likely the #1 reason people stop reading the Bible. People are usually are looking to continue the chronological narrative styles of Genesis and Exodus and are in for something completely different when they get to Leviticus as it gets into all kinds of laws that have no meaning to someone new to the Bible.
Helpful Tip: Without having to read all of Leviticus, the book is dealing with the sins of worshipping false Egyptian gods in the time of Moses. (Exodus 32 The Golden Calf). Leviticus contains a series of laws to try and rehabilitate sinful, unclean people who are worshipping false gods.
When Jesus comes, He is the Savior and restores people to a point where they don’t need the additional laws anymore, which were only meant to rehabilitate, not be permanent.
Not Numbers
Some similar reasons to Leviticus. It does not follow the straightforward narrative of Genesis and Exodus. It does have some narrative that ties into chronological events but also gets into details about the census of the people and ways to carry out the Levitical laws.
This is all useful for the reader, showing how God works with real people, in real situations, within real events, but just not the best place to start.
Conclusion
Whether you start with Mark or another book… I would say read the Bible in prayer. Ask God for assistance or tell Him that you want to be closer to Him. His words in Scripture are deeper than a novel. When you read the Bible, you are listening to Him, not only about events in the past but how it affects your life today.
Who knows, you might have started in some other book and kept going so that is great! This is just a suggestion for someone who has not gotten started or got stuck like me.
Enjoy reading Scripture!
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Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.