05 January 2011

Bible Reading Plans-John MacArthur approach

Prior to using the system I now use, I used John MacArthur’s system based on his "How to Study the Bible".  Simply, the Old Testament is read straight through from start to finish. If you read a few chapters per day, you should get through the Old Testament in a year or so.  The New Testament is handled a little bit differently.  MacArthur encourages the reader to read either short books, or sections of longer books (e.g., Romans might be broken up into sections of 5, 5, and 6 chapters) every day for a month.  In other words, you might read the six chapters of Ephesians every day for a month.  I utilized this method for a while, and I find it very beneficial in terms of learning sections of scripture deeply.  I can still recall, for example that 1 Peter 5:8 is about 1/3 of the way down on the right hand page of my Bible. 

Strengths:
  • Encourages in depth study, particularly of the New Testament.
  • It is not on a calendar, so if you fall behind a day, you will not be as likely to give it up.
  • It is more flexible than many of the other programs in that you can determine how much you wish to read. 
Weaknesses:
  • Each day’s readings can take a long time, depending on how much you choose to read.
  • You will not make it through the New Testament in a year, but you might make it in two-and-a-half. 
I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate
on your statutes.-Psalm 119:48

1 comment:

Peter said...

Hi! Thank you for the post!
For the Macarthur plan did you fallowed any suggesting schedule? i mean order to read the books etx.
I did for some books what jeames Gray called "synthetic bible study" and was very helpfull to read a book in one sitting for 20 or more times!
The difficult part was the time...:) Now i try to read every morning through a book 20 times plus in the evening i read all the bible through (1-2 years)