WHAT BOOK OF THE BIBLE WOULD ZACH BEGIN WITH AND WHY?

So I get asked the question a lot: If this is your first time reading the Bible, what book would you start with? And why?

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Now typically when you ask other people this question they will most likely say John or Matthew. They’re the typical two that everyone thinks will make you believe in Jesus just by reading them. But I disagree.

Matthew is the perfect book to read for the first time, if you’re Jewish, and have a strong understanding of the Old Testament. If not ehhhhh.
John is perfect if you believe there is a God. It’s one of the most important books in my opinion, but you have to first believe that there is a supernatural God.

So, what if you’re still skeptical? Then where do you begin?

Well, the Bible is laid out into two main sections. The first is called the Old Testament and the second is called the New Testament. At the beginning of the New Testament there are four books, which look like chapters, and they’re called the Gospels. They’re Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And in those books is where we learn about Jesus.

So if I were looking into the Bible, not really sure if God is real yet, I would start by reading Luke and then the book of Acts.

You see, the Gospel of Luke was written by a doctor named Luke. And, since he was a doctor, he was fascinated in the miracles that Jesus performed because they went against all human reasoning and what his practice as a doctor would say.

And Luke actually wrote a second book called the book of Acts, which is kind of like a part two to the Gospel of Luke. Acts looks at the start of the church, diving into the missionary journeys of a guy named Paul and really how this Gospel of Jesus Christ spread all over the world.

If you don’t know what translation of the Bible to read, since there are so many of them, I’d pick something easy to understand for your first time around. My two suggestions would be the New Living Translation which is abbreviated as the NLT or I’d go with my personal favorite, the Passion Translation which you can look up as TPT.

So, Luke and Acts are my two choices if I were to read the Bible for the first time.