ViaCrucis
Confessional Lutheran
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As far as a reading plan of the Bible goes, for someone new or just really getting started in trying to digest it:
Begin with either the Gospel of Mark or Luke. Mark is the shortest of the Synoptic Gospels (the "Similar" Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke) and is more quick paced. I am, however, more partial to Luke here, for a couple reasons: 1) Luke is the first part in the two part work of Luke-Acts, which means one can very easily transition from Luke to the Acts of the Apostles; and 2) Luke is a bit richer than Mark in terms of content, and it also seems to have been written for a more general audience than Matthew, as Matthew assumes a Jewish audience more acquainted with the Jewish Scriptures. So my vote would be begin with Luke, though Mark would also be good.
The point here is to read and get acquainted with Jesus' story, what He said and what He did, after all Jesus is the object of our Christian faith.
After this, I would recommend reading the Acts of the Apostles, which as already noted is the sequel to the Luke's Gospel. The word "Acts" here simply means "Deeds" the "Things done", thus it is an account of the deeds of Jesus' Apostles, how the early Christian Church got its start through the work of Jesus' followers. The Acts of the Apostles introduces us to the person of St. Paul of Tarsus, who began as a zealous, but misguided, Pharisee who was deeply hostile to the fledgling Christian movement until his conversion. After which becoming one of Christianity's biggest champions, spreading Jesus' message across the ancient world among Jews, Greeks, and Romans.
Becoming acquainted with Paul is good, because it means one is now more familiar with the most prolific writer of the New Testament. Of the 27 books of the New Testament, 13 of them were written by St. Paul.
At this point, St. Paul's letter to the Church in Rome, i.e. Romans, is good for a lot of reasons. Romans has often been considered one of the crown jewels of the New Testament, it is a breathtaking letter in which Paul in addressing the Christian Church in Rome covers a great deal of ground theologically. Want to understand Paul's theology? Read Romans.
After Romans, there are a lot of directions one could go. It might be useful to read Genesis to get an acquaintance with the story of Abraham and God's promises to Abraham. And the Exodus of God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt and giving them a covenant and promise that they would be His people and He their God, the giving of the Torah that they should observe as part of their covenant with God. These are things which Christians understand ultimately lead to, and point to, Jesus.
The Psalms are another choice, sometimes called Israel's hymn book, it is a collection of songs and poems written across many centuries and deal with the circumstances of life, and are a robust expression of human emotion confessed to God.
Those are just some possibilities. But I would definitely recommend this order starting out: Luke, Acts, and Romans.
-CryptoLutheran
Begin with either the Gospel of Mark or Luke. Mark is the shortest of the Synoptic Gospels (the "Similar" Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke) and is more quick paced. I am, however, more partial to Luke here, for a couple reasons: 1) Luke is the first part in the two part work of Luke-Acts, which means one can very easily transition from Luke to the Acts of the Apostles; and 2) Luke is a bit richer than Mark in terms of content, and it also seems to have been written for a more general audience than Matthew, as Matthew assumes a Jewish audience more acquainted with the Jewish Scriptures. So my vote would be begin with Luke, though Mark would also be good.
The point here is to read and get acquainted with Jesus' story, what He said and what He did, after all Jesus is the object of our Christian faith.
After this, I would recommend reading the Acts of the Apostles, which as already noted is the sequel to the Luke's Gospel. The word "Acts" here simply means "Deeds" the "Things done", thus it is an account of the deeds of Jesus' Apostles, how the early Christian Church got its start through the work of Jesus' followers. The Acts of the Apostles introduces us to the person of St. Paul of Tarsus, who began as a zealous, but misguided, Pharisee who was deeply hostile to the fledgling Christian movement until his conversion. After which becoming one of Christianity's biggest champions, spreading Jesus' message across the ancient world among Jews, Greeks, and Romans.
Becoming acquainted with Paul is good, because it means one is now more familiar with the most prolific writer of the New Testament. Of the 27 books of the New Testament, 13 of them were written by St. Paul.
At this point, St. Paul's letter to the Church in Rome, i.e. Romans, is good for a lot of reasons. Romans has often been considered one of the crown jewels of the New Testament, it is a breathtaking letter in which Paul in addressing the Christian Church in Rome covers a great deal of ground theologically. Want to understand Paul's theology? Read Romans.
After Romans, there are a lot of directions one could go. It might be useful to read Genesis to get an acquaintance with the story of Abraham and God's promises to Abraham. And the Exodus of God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt and giving them a covenant and promise that they would be His people and He their God, the giving of the Torah that they should observe as part of their covenant with God. These are things which Christians understand ultimately lead to, and point to, Jesus.
The Psalms are another choice, sometimes called Israel's hymn book, it is a collection of songs and poems written across many centuries and deal with the circumstances of life, and are a robust expression of human emotion confessed to God.
Those are just some possibilities. But I would definitely recommend this order starting out: Luke, Acts, and Romans.
-CryptoLutheran
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