5-Day Bible Reading Program
Work your way through the entire Bible or New Testament by reading blocks of scripture just five days a week. The chronological approach to the program is designed to make the story of the Bible easier to absorb. Use the checklists to track your weekly progress.
5-Minute Bible
The 5 X 5 X 5 plan calls for five minutes a day, five days a week to read through the New Testament. The other “5” represents the ways to dig deeper while reading — underlining key words and phrases, paraphrasing the text, asking and answering questions about it, defining the big ideas, and making personal applications of what you read.
Discipleship Tools
Pick from among several Bible-reading plans here based on your schedule and preferred study habits. The options include a 31-day plan for New Christians, a 90-day New Testament experience and a literary approach that divides the Bible into genres.
Four-Step Plan
Gospel Coalition editor Joe Carter said this plan, based on an article by theologian Fred Sanders, transformed his life. The four steps are: 1) Choose a book of the Bible; 2) read it in its entirety; 3) repeat step two 20 times; and 4) repeat the process for all books of the Bible. Carter recommends starting with shorter books, reading at your normal pace and choosing an appropriate Bible version, among other tips.
English Standard Version
The website for the English Standard Version of the Bible includes several reading plans in multiple formats. Readers can print plans such as “Every Day in the Word,” subscribe via RSS feed or email, or get them on their mobile devices.
Ligonier Ministries
Choose from among more than a dozen Bible-reading plans on this list. Examples include “Every Word in the Bible” (one chapter a day for three years), the Blue Letter Bible Historical Plan (organized as they would have been read in Old and New testament times), and “The Legacy Reading Plan” (emphasizes specific books and chapters each week).
One Year Bible Online
Don’t wait until Jan. 1 to start your annual reading plan. Use the customization tool to set a starting date that begins today, using either the chronological plan or the annual plan that features daily readings from the Old and New testaments, as well as from Proverbs and Psalms. Get reminders via Facebook and Twitter.
Read the Bible in a Year
Print this list to keep your Bible-reading plan simple. It requires you to read a few chronological chapters each day from the Old and New testaments.




The New Testament church exists in two senses: 1) the overall body of Christ that includes all saints around the world, from all time; and 2) the individual assemblies of Christians who worship and work together for periods of time in specific locations. In both forms, the people are the church.
Commentaries
Commentaries include the uninspired reflections of men who often read the Bible through their own preconceived filters based on their religious backgrounds. This list includes commentaries by denominational founders and religious scholars who may lack a complete understanding of the gospel truth. Consider their views carefully in the context of the actual Word of God. For more detailed insights into the value of commentaries, download Chris Reeves’ PowerPoint presentation “Commentaries: Their Use and Abuse.”
Complete Bible
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown published their commentary in 1871. It is commonly known as the Jameison-Faussett-Brown Commentary. StudyLight describes it as “a detailed, yet not overly technical, commentary of the Bible that holds to the historic teachings of orthodox Christianity.”
A British Methodist theologian, Adam Clarke took 40 years to complete his commentary on the Bible. He wrote nearly 1,000 pages in the original eight volumes, which reinforced the teachings of Methodist founder John Wesley. Clarke’s commentary played a central role in Methodist theology for two centuries.
Explanatory Notes upon the Old and New Testaments
John Wesley, who along with his brother Charles founded the Methodist movement, turned to writing about the Bible when he was too sick to travel and preach about it. Wesley tackled the New Testament first, publishing his Calvinistic interpretation of it in 1755 and supplementing that commentary with his notes on the Old Testament in 1765.
Most Bible scholars know this six-volume collection by its informal title, Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary. Henry started writing it in 1708 and only made it to Acts by the time he died in 1714. Scholars who shared his Presbyterian worldview finished the work. The abridged version, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary, is contained within one volume.
English Baptist John Gill, an adherent of Calvinism, penned separate commentaries on the testaments between 1746 and 1763. He started with three volumes of discussion about the New Testament and later added six more volumes on the Old Testament.
Continue reading →