Yeah, I don’t think it’s uncommon to feel overwhelmed or put off by some of the books of the Bible when reading for yourself the first time. But what may feel like a confusing mess is actually very important, rich, and consistent, and it all culminates in Christ.
My recommendation would be to slow down if we’re feeling overwhelmed or confused. For example, if we read a text and don’t understand the meaning of it and only see it as random, violent, or offensive, we can be sure we’re not understanding it as we should.
It can be helpful to study the outlines and the context of the books before leaping into them, so we have some kind of framework for what’s going on. So, for example, the Lutheran Study Bible with notes is very helpful for this. It also points out Law and Gospel, and shows us how everything points to Christ.
Reading the Bible is in a way a chicken-egg situation. That is: The NT must be understood in light of the OT, and the OT must be understood in light of the NT. Now, God’s Word is able to communicate truth to us regardless of where we pick it up, so there’s really no wrong place to read. However, to help make sense of things, maybe I can suggest reading the Bible with commentary in this order:
1. Luke — This is perhaps the most orderly Gospel account. It’s maybe the easiest Gospel to understand for us gentiles. This is to say, we don’t have to be experts in the OT to understand it.
2. Acts — You can think of Acts as the sequel to Luke. These two books go together and they give us the Gospel and the history of the New Testament Church.
3. Romans — This is another text that is written with us gentiles in mind, and here Paul very clearly lays out for us God’s Law and Gospel, and that we are justified by faith apart from works. In other words, Paul explains everything a Christian needs to know regarding our salvation in some detail.
4. John — Here we get a deeper look into who Christ is, namely God in flesh. And this is perhaps a good leaping point into the OT.
5. Genesis — It can be helpful to think of Genesis as the prologue to the entire Bible, but specifically also the prologue to Exodus.
6. Exodus — Exodus sets the scene for the whole Bible. I think if we understand Genesis and Exodus — namely, the promise and the foreshadowing of a Saviour — the rest of the Bible begins to make more sense.
In short, maybe start with just a few NT books and go through them slowly. They reference many OT books, so you’ll be able to learn OT passages and themes just by studying the NT books. Basically, the OT promises Christ and the NT gives us Christ. So, with this in mind it can be easier for us to understand the Bible if we read the NT first and then the OT.
God bless!
