The purpose of this site is to help you or someone you care about read for yourself key portions of the New Testament without the confusion of dealing with a whole Bible or a whole New Testament. These selected readings – even if all are read -- are a fraction of the length of the New Testament. These readings are exact extracts from the New Testament. The translation used is the World English Bible (also known as the WEB), which is a free updated revision of the American Standard Version (1901).
These readings are available in book form at AMAZON Books for $7. This format is especially recommended for giving to a friend or relative who may be willing to read a small book even though they don’t have a strong enough interest to attend church or deal with a full Bible. A Kindle version is available at Kindle Store for $3. These two resources contain almost exactly the material below.
NOTE: The selections from the New Testament below
occasionally need a bit of explanation or orientation for the readers not
familiar with the New Testament. Such comments are always in italics, and in parenthesis, like this: (This is a comment). We have tried to
eliminate any denominational opinion in all this explanatory material. Where
appropriate, we indicate that material had been deleted with this symbol: ( . . . )
If you want to review the major events of the Old Testament before reading the New Testament selection, we have provided a Synopsis of the Old Testament. Feel free to skip this!
The first few chapters of Matthew
provide background material on the birth and youth of Christ that is not found
in the other Gospels of Mark, Luke, and John: Read Matthew 1-3
Now here is the major reading we
have selected in the New Testament, which is most of the book of Luke: Read Portions of Luke
The last of the four Gospels,
John, includes a number of incidents that are not
included in Matthew, Mark, or Luke. You can read these here: Read Portions of John.
Reading
about the early church
Acts picks up at the ascension of
Christ to heaven, and follows the Christian leaders’ struggle to understand how
to teach both Jewish and Gentile believers to follow Christ in their
lives. Read Acts 1-15.
The Apostle Paul wrote thirteen
epistles which are included in the New Testament. They constitute a great deal
of the detailed doctrine of Christianity. We next present a portion of his
first letter, which was addressed to Roman Christians. Near the end of Romans
Paul summarizes a number of matters regarding how
Christians should live. The reason this is important is because in Acts the
Apostles realized that the Old Testament law was no longer the primary guide
for believers, as obeying it does not gain salvation… acceptance of Jesus
Christ as one’s Lord is what saves us. Read Paul’s summary advice to believers
about how to live: Read
Romans 12&13
Next we present one of Paul’s presentations of basic
Christianity: that we are saved by God’s grace, not because we have earned
salvation by our works. Read the book of Ephesians.
In his epistles like Romans and Ephesians, Paul emphasizes
that we are saved by faith, not works. Some early believers took excessive
liberty from that fact, not understanding that a saving faith should change a
person, transforming them from living in the flesh to living in the spirit.
James’ purpose in his short epistle seems to be to counteract that excessive
liberty with a realistic view of what God expects of a person who has received
His eternal saving grace. Read James
The New Testament ends with the book of Revelation, written by John (this may be the same John who wrote the Gospel of John above). This is a complex book which speaks mostly in symbols after the first three chapters. We have included some extra explanatory comments in this book, in italics and parentheses, as usual. Read Portions of Revelation