Where Do I Begin?
My Recommendation for the First Book of the Bible a New Believer should read.
Recently, I came across a Christian “Influencer” who gave suggestions about what the first book of the Bible a new believer should read. Naturally, I reflected on their answer, as well as the answer I’ve given to a few in the past, and ended up disagreeing with both. To make it clear, the disagreement is not wholesale or to say they don’t know what they’re talking about, but rather, from their answer, I thought it was not refined enough. Meaning, they gave too many options that the entire answer becomes unhelpful, or they gave the reader a “Bible in 365 days” plan, which is also unhelpful. Additionally, this is a trickier question to answer because there isn’t really a single right answer. But I will answer the question now that I have a lot more experience and opinions than I did previously.
It is also important to state, before I begin answering the question, that I am answering this question based on an adult asking the question. This is from the perspective of an independent and rational person coming to the faith on their own and looking to understand the effects that have just occurred in their life. Second, this is independent of the question of which translation. The idea is that this believer has come to faith and been plugged into a church. In the church, they were gifted a Bible, and this is the text that they will begin their journey with. And finally, third, this person has a limited understanding of Christianity. This will make more sense in the write-up.
1. The Gospel According to Mark.
Why the Gospel of Mark? First, what many of these “Influencers” get correct is that the new believer should read the gospels. What they get incorrect is which gospel. They often write that one should read the Gospels in the order they are in the canon or point them to one of the most difficult Gospels for understanding (explained later in this post). Instead, I believe the correct answer is Mark’s Gospel. As a new believer, they should know what Jesus said and did. They need to know the life of Jesus because it is a life we are to follow, and it is the person and being of Jesus that we must place our faith in. Therefore, reading a gospel is the best first step, and it is Mark that provides this purpose the easiest.
And that’s simply because Mark is unrefined, concise, and straight to the point. His target audience is the Romans, and the ancient Romans are very much like the Westerners of the 21st century. Mark covers the primary events that the other gospels include, but without a lot of what I consider to be the “distracting extra bits.” These are the genealogies, the extensive Old Testament quotations, and the assumption that there is a familiarity with the Jewish context. The Romans have no clue about 1st-century Judea, and neither do we. Therefore, Mark begins with Jesus’ ministry, presents Jesus’ character, and then focuses on Christ’s death as prophecy. Mark shows Jesus as a strong person and not a weak victim. And he does so without his readers being lost in parables or Jewish traditions. And it’s short. A new believer can finish it in less than an hour.
2. Epistle to the Romans.
If this new believer grew up in a post-Christian environment where they are familiar with the life of Jesus but their limited knowledge is the why of Christ, then I think they can skip the gospel and first read Romans. Yes, I know that many would state that Romans is probably too robust or complex for a new believer to read. But after studying Romans many times over, I think the complexity of Romans comes after you’ve begun to mature in the faith. It’s when you start developing doctrinal convictions and engaging in the larger theological discussions that Romans becomes your primary source of wrestling over meaning and context.
But for everyone else, meaning the first-time readers, Romans is quite simple in what Paul is explaining. Romans addresses the issue of sin, man, and salvation most straightforwardly. Likewise, Romans provides the purpose of Christ and the importance of unity and Christian fellowship. If someone knows the story of Christ, has come to the faith, and is trying to answer or reinforce why Christ is the ONLY way, then Paul’s epistle answers it over and over again without getting into a multitude of tangents. That will come later once they have studied many other books and developed in the faith; then they will see Romans as the behemoth that it is.
The Gospel According to Mark or Romans is my answer. After that, the sky is the limit for where they may go. But I think I should also address some common mistakes in this answer before ending this article. Once again, I answer these in good faith, and these are my opinions, but I feel that I have validity in them.
Common Mistakes:
1. The Gospel According to John.
I think a lot of people are drawn to recommending John first because it has some of the best one-liners or memory verses. It has the popular John 3:16, John 1:1, and John 8:58. It also has some memorable passages, such as the Woman at the Well, the Adulteress Forgive, and the Good Shepherd Discourse. But we would be fooled to say that a new believer could read John with such understanding as just these few verses. John’s verses are repetitive and can often be confusing and complex. He uses a lot of Old Testament analogies and illustrations and places the dialogue in specific contexts related to Feasts or specific events.
From what I’ve learned through my studies, including from my various Seminary professors, is that John is a lot more theologically and linguistically complex than the average reader gives him credit. The thoughts that John puts into a few words exceed what we tend to even consider, and his repetition of phrasing is for particular purposes that sound just like redundant banter. And while I mention Romans above, John doesn’t have the same baseline understanding. If you are exposed to a lot of debates and apologists, you will often see that it is John who is used on both sides of the debate. It shows that John is both often misunderstood and robust in defending almost anything within the orthodox. But the misconceptions are more prevalent among groups that are trying to defraud Christian orthodoxy, like Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, and Muslims. They latch onto John because he sounds simple, especially when taken out of context. Remember, John is the author of Revelation, so why would his writing of one being any less complex than his writing of the other?
2. The Old Testament.
Yes, eventually every Christian needs to read the Old Testament unless we want them to fall into the heresy of Marcionism. But as a new believer, reading the OT first will not help them understand Christ or Christianity any more than if they first just trusted the New Testament’s authors’ use of the OT. I, myself, thought that I needed to work from the front cover in order to understand, and all it ended up doing was having me become very familiar with Genesis and then getting dissuaded around Leviticus or Deuteronomy. I stunted my own growth because I didn’t know how to read the OT with Christ in view. After I read Hebrews, only then was I able to see how the Pentateuch applied to the Christian faith. Therefore, remind the new ones to anticipate reading the OT, but that they should get a good idea of the NT first.
3. Revelation of Jesus Christ.
I don’t think anyone recommends that you read Revelation first or really early on. But I think it is important to tell them to read Revelation in two ways. First, read it after they’ve read some of the prophets. Particularly, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah. They’ll help with a lot of the imagery. Second, to read Revelation not as a road-map of events, but that its purpose is to show that Christ is ultimately victorious. To read it in any other way is probably develop anxiety over a text that is not meant to cause great distress. Personally, I read Revelation with a Partial-Preterist perspective, so I have very little anxiety over the tribulation period, but even those Church Fathers who studied the text from a Futurist view did not seem overly worried about life either. It’s because their source of faith was in Christ, who is portrayed as the conqueror of death and Satan, and not simply a warrior whose outcome is unsure.
I hope these recommendations help someone in the future. Or maybe it has sparked your own thoughts and ideas. If that is the case, I would like to know. If you were asked by a new believer what they should read first, what book of the Bible would you recommend?