Every year I read through the New Testament and every year the order in which I read the books varies. I’ve never established a methodical approach to the endeavor; I usually just move to the next book that I’m excited to start once I finish the previous. This year, I wanted to take some time to establish a plan - a reading outline that would help me stay on track and, more importantly, guide my pursuit for years to come.
There are exactly 260 chapters in the New Testament. I could obviously read a single chapter per day and complete the New Testament earlier in the year, but I also don’t only read the New Testament. I wanted to allow for time during the week to read the Old Testament and extrabiblical books as well. With this in mind, I decided to design the reading regimen around weekly goals, instead of daily. Doing the math, by reading a minimum of five chapters per week, I can read through the New Testament in a year.
Reading five chapters per week is not difficult to do by any means, but when I read the Bible, I purposely read it very slowly. I approach it as one would sit down to enjoy a meal, not as one who has a task to complete. So, reading five chapters per week seemed like the right pace because it aligns closely to my regular practice anyway.
Constraints
There were some considerations I made as I considered the order in which I would read the books. Rather than beginning the year with the book of Matthew and reading straight through to Revelation, the plan follows a different order designed around the following constraints:
- Read one of the four gospels quarterly. I didn’t want an extended period of time to go by without reading the words of the Lord Jesus.
- Read John in December. John is my favorite book in the Bible and saving it for last gives me something to look forward to all year.
- Read Romans in January. I wanted to set the tone for the year by beginning with the richest treatise on the gospel of Christ in the New Testament.
The only other factor in deciding the book order was that I tried to rotate between authors when possible, just for a change in tone. This wasn’t a hard constraint I put in place, but it was something I considered as I designed the plan.
The plan
Here is the plan I’ll be following year-to-year going forward. The plan is also available as a PDF here.
- Week 1: Romans 1-5
- Week 2: Romans 6-10
- Week 3: Romans 11-15
- Week 4: Romans 16, 1 Peter 1-4
- Week 5: 1 Peter 5, Revelation 1-4
- Week 6: Revelation 5-9
- Week 7: Revelation 10-14
- Week 8: Revelation 15-19
- Week 9: Revelation 20-22, Galatians 1 & 2
- Week 10: Galatians 3-6, Matthew 1
- Week 11: Matthew 2-6
- Week 12: Matthew 7-11
- Week 13: Matthew 12-16
- Week 14: Matthew 17-21
- Week 15: Matthew 22-26
- Week 16: Matthew 27 & 28, Colossians 1-3
- Week 17: Colossians 4, Hebrews 1-4
- Week 18: Hebrews 5-9
- Week 19: Hebrews 10-13, Jude
- Week 20: 1 Thessalonians 1-5
- Week 21: 2 Thessalonians 1-3, Acts 1 & 2
- Week 22: Acts 3-7
- Week 23: Acts 8-12
- Week 24: Acts 13-17
- Week 25: Acts 18-22
- Week 26: Acts 23-27
- Week 27: Acts 28, Mark 1-4
- Week 28: Mark 5-9
- Week 29: Mark 10-14
- Week 30: Mark 15 & 16, 1 Corinthians 1-3
- Week 31: 1 Corinthians 4-8
- Week 32: 1 Corinthians 9-13
- Week 33: 1 Corinthians 14-16, Ephesians 1-3
- Week 34: Ephesians 4-6, 1 John 1 & 2
- Week 35: 1 John 3-5, James 1 & 2
- Week 36: James 3-5, Titus 1 & 2
- Week 37: Titus 3, Philemon, 2 Peter 1-3
- Week 38: Luke 1-5
- Week 39: Luke 6-10
- Week 40: Luke 11-15
- Week 41: Luke 16-20
- Week 42: Luke 21-24, 2 John
- Week 43: 3 John, 2 Corinthians 1-4
- Week 44: 2 Corinthians 5-9
- Week 45: 2 Corinthians 10-13, Philippians 1
- Week 46: Philippians 2-4, 1 Timothy 1 & 2
- Week 47: 1 Timothy 3-6, 2 Timothy 1
- Week 48: 2 Timothy 2-4, John 1 & 2
- Week 49: John 3-7
- Week 50: John 8-12
- Week 51: John 13-17
- Week 52: John 18-21