If you want to grow in your understanding of the Bible, one of the most helpful things you can do is learn from people who have spent years studying, teaching and explaining it.
The books and resources below are thoughtful, accessible and deeply helpful. Each one approaches Bible reading slightly differently – but all of them will help you move from confusion to clarity, from occasional reading to confident understanding and from mere reading to application.
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God’s Big Picture – Vaughan Roberts
One of the biggest challenges when reading the Bible is understanding how all the different parts of the Bible fit together.
This brilliant book solves that problem by walking through the big story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.
Roberts argues that, while the Bible may look like a disparate collection of 66 books, written by multiple authors, over thousands of years, in multiple languages and multiple genres… it is, in fact, ONE book, written by ONE author (God!) on ONE subject: Jesus Christ and the salvation God offers through him, and with ONE overarching theme: the kingdom of God.
Roberts explains how the whole Bible tells one unified story of God’s plan to restore his people under his rule. And he uses the theme of “the kingdom of God” to structure the whole book:
- The pattern of the kingdom
- The perished kingdom
- The promised kingdom
- The partial kingdom
- The prophesied kingdom
- The present kingdom
- The proclaimed kingdom
- The perfected kingdom
God’s Big Picture is incredibly readable, full of “aha” moments, and will quickly give you a complete overview of the Bible and how everything hangs together, which will dramatically enrich your reading of Scripture and help you better understand how any passage of Scripture fits into the rest of the Bible.
Key quotes:
“The fact that the Bible is one book should have big implications for the way we read it.”
“The Bible is about God’s plan of salvation: his promise to restore his kingdom, and then the fulfilment of that promise through his Son Jesus.”
Best for:
- Readers who feel confused by the Bible
- Anyone who wants to understand the big picture of Scripture
- Christians who want to see how the Old and New Testaments connect
BUY IT HERE >>> God’s Big Picture
The Bible Course – The Bible Society & Andrew Ollerton
The Bible Course does something very similar to God’s Big Picture, but turns it into an entire course – with an accompanying guidebook.
It illustrates how all the books, characters and events in the Bible are part of one big story that centres on Jesus Christ.
The Bible Course is especially good for new Christians, and anyone (Christian or not) who has never really read the Bible or who just finds the Bible really confusing.
(If you’ve been a bible-reading Christian for a while, you will probably prefer God’s Big Picture)
The Bible Course is structured into eight sessions. The first introduces the Bible, and the remaining seven cover the seven major sections – or “stories” – of the Bible:
- Genesis: The story begins
- Exodus: The story of freedom
- Kings: The story of power
- Exile: The story of loss
- Jesus: The story of rescue
- Acts : The story of mission
- Revelation: The story completed
The Bible Course is great to do with an a small group / homegroup / midweek group type setting… but you can absolutely do it on your own.)
The videos themselves are completely free, but you have to pay for the accompanying handbook.
Key quotes:
“If you take a text out of context, you’ll be left with a con.”
Best for:
- New Christians / anyone exploring the Christian faith
- Christians who have never really read the Bible
- Homegroups / midweek groups / small groups
GET IT HERE >>> The Bible Course
The Bible Recap – Tara-Leigh Cobble
If you want to read the whole Bible but feel intimidated by the idea, I highly recommend The Bible Recap by Tara-Leigh Cobble.
This is essentially a daily reading plan, taking readers through the entire Bible in one year using a chronological format.
What makes The Bible Recap especially helpful is that each “day” includes a short summary and explanation of the passage you have just read. These explanations help you understand the bigger picture and connect the different parts of Scripture.
Tara-Leigh Cobble’s writing and speaking style is very engaging. I especially love the way she weaves in modern analogies and language to help you better understand what you’ve just read.
One thing I would say is that this plan involves a lot of reading – sometimes you might be reading four, five or even eight (!) chapters in one day: a pace that will almost certainly be too fast for some people.
This plan is also in chronological order – brilliant for giving you a better understanding of how the Bible fits together as a whole, but it does mean lots of jumping about, which again, might not be to everyone’s tastes. (If you like the idea, but want less reading to do, see The Bible Revealed, below.)
It’s also worth bearing in mind that, just because this is set up as a year-long Bible reading plan, doesn’t mean you have to use it in that way. You could follow the structure, but go through it more slowly… or you can just use it as a useful reference – reading or listening to the appropriate section of The Bible Recap after you have read any part of the Bible.
One of my favourite things about The Bible Recap is that it is available in multiple formats to suit your favourite learning style. You can find this plan on the Bible App, but it’s also available on YouTube, as a podcast and as a physical book: The Bible Recap by Tara-Leigh Cobble.
Key quotes:
“Reading the story in order and paying attention to the context helped me make sense of the verses that appear to contradict each other.”
“He’s where the joy is!” (IYKYK!)
Best for:
- Christians who want to read the Bible in one year AND understand it
- Anyone who wants to read the Bible chronologically
- Those who have tried reading the Bible in one year before, but failed
BUY IT HERE >>> The Bible Recap
The Bible Revealed – Philip Yancey & Brenda Quinn
If you want a year-long Bible reading plan that takes you from Genesis to Revelation in one year, but doesn’t involve reading 3+ chapters of the Bible a day, The Bible Revealed is for you!
It kind of does a similar thing to The Bible Recap, giving you a passage of Scripture to read each day, followed by a short explanation of what you’ve just read.
The big difference between The Bible Recap and The Bible Revealed, is The Bible Revealed does not have you read the whole Bible in a year, but rather it cherry picks the most important passages of the Bible to help you get a good overview of the Bible as a whole, without such a weighty reading commitment. (Typically, you’ll read 20-40 verses, not 3-8 chapters!)
Obviously, you’ll miss out quite a lot of the Bible! But it’s a great introduction to reading the whole Bible, and it still gives you a really good overview of the Bible and how it all fits together. If you’re new to Bible reading, a really good option would be to read The Bible Revealed in your first year and The Bible Recap in your second year.
And again, as with The Bible Recap, you can also use The Bible Revealed as a useful reference to dip in and out of, even if you are not using this as a daily reading plan.
Another great feature of The Bible Revealed is that, every few “days”, instead of a daily reading with commentary, you get a “reflection” which offers reflections on the previous few readings with practical applications for daily life.
Key quotes:
“Such an overview plan is no substitute for mastering the entire Bible, of course, but it may help lower the barriers and point the way down a path for further study.”
“The Bible is a gift from God who speaks to us each time we open its cover and read. So let’s begin!”
Best for:
- New Christians / Christians who have never read the whole Bible
- Those who want to read the Bible in one year but struggle with the reading requirements of a “normal” Bible in one year plan
- Anyone who wants to see how the Bible fits together as a whole
BUY IT HERE >>> The Bible Revealed
The Bible Project – Tim Mackie & Jon Collins
This is not a book, but it’s one of the best Bible learning resources available online.
The Bible Project produces beautifully animated videos explaining the context, structure and main themes of each book of the Bible.
I highly recommend you watch The Bible Project video for each book of the Bible before you start reading that book.
Best for:
- Visual learners
- Those who seek to better understand how verses and passages fit together
- Anyone who wants a quick overview of a book in the Bible
LEARN MORE >>> The Bible Project
The NIV Life Application Study Bible – Tyndale House
If you want a study Bible that explains difficult passages and theological concepts as you read, this is one of the best available.
The most valuable feature of The NIV Life Application Study Bible is, by far, the 10,000+ study notes, which are found at the bottom of nearly every page of the Bible. These study notes help you understand context, culture, history, places, difficult to understand passages and tricky theological concepts, as well as how different passages of Scripture relate to each other.
The NIV Life Application Study Bible also includes:
- Profiles of key Bible characters
- Introductions and overviews for each book of the Bible
- More than 500 maps & charts
- Timelines
- Cross references
Essentially, it’s kind of like having a team of Bible scholars sitting next to you and quietly helping you as you read the Bible!
There are, of course, lots of Study Bibles available on the market. But The NIV Life Application Study Bible is, in my opinion, one of the very best because of its focus on “application”. It doesn’t just explain to you the culture, history, context etc. of any given passage, it also gives you tips about how to actually put what you have just read into practice in your own life.
It also has something I’ve never seen in any other Bible – a whole section in between the Old and New Testaments explaining what was happening in the 400 years of silence between the two!
Key quotes:
“God urges us to apply his Word, but too often we stop at accumulating Bible knowledge.”
“The words of Scripture cry out to us, ‘Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.’ (James 1:22) The Life Application Bible shows you how to do just that.”
Best for:
- Christians who want to go deeper than surface level when reading the Bible
- Readers who want help understanding difficult passages
- Anyone who wants help to put the Bible into practice
BUY IT HERE >>> The NIV Life Application Study Bible
NOTE: If you prefer a different Bible translation, there are several other Life Application Study Bibles available:
