Why isn't the Bible in chronological order?
Here's the answer:
The Bible is put together by type of book—law, history, poetry, and so on.
The Bible is separated into two major sections or testaments. The Old Testament all occurred before Jesus' birth. The New Testament tells the story of Jesus’ life through the beginning of the church. The two testaments are in chronological order. However, within each testament, the books are grouped according to type.
The Old Testament begins with the books of the Law: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Next comes the books of History which teach us about major events in Israel's history. They include: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.
Next are the books of Poetry: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon.
Finally, the Old Testament ends with the Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel) and the Minor Prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi).
The New Testament begins with the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). The gospels tell us about the life and ministry of Jesus. Then we have Acts, which is primarily about church history.
Next we have several letters that Paul wrote to the churches. They include: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.
After Paul's letters we have general letters to churches written by other people: Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude. Finally, the New Testament ends with Revelation, which is a book of prophecy.
The Old Testament spans hundreds and hundreds of years. The New Testament was all written in less than one hundred years! In fact, many of the books in the New Testament were being written at about the same time.
Some people like to read the Bible in the order it is compiled. Other people like to read the Bible in the order the events took place. In fact, people can buy chronological Bibles. It doesn't matter in what order you read your Bible as long as you keep reading and learning from it.
Bible Truth
"God has breathed life into all Scripture. It is useful for teaching us what is true. It is useful for correcting our mistakes. It is useful for making our lives whole again. It is useful for training us to do what is right" (2 Timothy 3:16).
