I hope you are already enjoying your start to 2015 as we read through the Scriptures together. Some of you have already come up to me to ask me insightful questions about the stories you’ve been reading.

One church member suggested that I write up the answers to the various questions from our reading. This blog is designed to do just that. I will be blogging answers to your questions from our Bible reading.

What does it mean to read the Bible “chronologically”?

So you’ve decided to read through the Bible in a “chronological” fashion. What in the world does that mean?

Chronological Reading of the Bible

Well, there are at least two ways in which we can think chronologically about the Bible. First, we can think about the chronological order in which the texts of the Bible were written.

For example, it is widely understood that the books of 1 & 2 Chronicles were written toward the end of the Old Testament period even though these books describe events that occurred many years earlier. So, these two books provide a type of commentary about how we should think about these events.

NOTE: For a technical and detailed discussion about the difference between “text” and “event” you can read the Introduction to John Sailhamer’s book, The Pentatuech as Narrative.

A second way in which a person may read through the Bible in a chronological fashion is to read the Bible in the order that the events themselves took place. So, for example, while reading through the books of 1 & 2 Kings, the reader would also read many Psalms that were written during this period of history.

As a church this year (2015), Potomac Heights Baptist Church (PHBC) is reading through the Bible in the latter chronological fashion.

Are all chronological reading plans the same?

There are many ancient records that help us determine the order of the ancient events from the Bible. There are, of course, the records from the Bible itself, but we also have access to many different ancient histories that were written by ancient secular historians. With the use of these different sources, it is a fairly straightforward task to determine the actual chronological order of the events of the Bible.

There are, however, some areas in which we do not have accurate records with respect to timeline. For example, some people date the book of Job prior to the lifetime of Abram (Abraham) so in some chronological reading plans, the book of Job is read after Genesis 11 and before Genesis 12. Other plans place the book of Job at a different place.

PHBC is using the plan that places Job before the lifetime of Abram (Abraham).

Make sure to slow down a bit and enjoy the reading. This is not a race to see who will finish first. Let’s enjoy this ride together.

For His Glory,

Pastor Brian