Scripture Readings - New Testament Readings

New Testament Readings

The books of the Bible which contain the revelation of God since the coming of Christ: the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the seven General Epistles, the fourteen Epistles of Saint Paul, and the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse).

The center of the New Testament part of the Bible is the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John who are called the four evangelists, which means those who wrote the gospels. Gospel in Greek is ‘evangelion’ which, as we have seen, means the “glad tidings” or the “good news.”

In the New Testament scripture there is also the book of the Acts of the Apostles, written by St. Luke. There are fourteen letters called the epistles (which simply means letters) of the Apostle Paul, though perhaps some, such as the Letter to the Hebrews, were not written directly by him. Three letters are also ascribed to the Apostle John; two to the Apostle Peter; and one each to the Apostles James and Jude. Finally there is the Book of Revelation, also called the Apocalypse, which is ascribed to St. John as well.

For the Orthodox, the Bible is the main written source of divine doctrine since God Himself inspired its writing by His Holy Spirit (see 2 Tim 3:16 and 2 Pet 1:20). This is the doctrine of the inspiration of the Bible, namely that men inspired by God wrote the words which are truly their own human words—all words are human!—but which nevertheless may be called all together the Word of God. Thus, the Bible is the Word of God in written form because it contains not merely the thoughts and experiences of men, but the very self-revelation of God.

The center of the Bible as the written Word of God in human form is the person of the Living Word of God in human form, Jesus Christ. All parts of the Bible are interpreted in the Orthodox Church in the light of Christ, since everything in the Bible leads up to Christ and speaks about Him (Lk 24: 44). This fact is symbolized in the Orthodox Church by the fact that only the book of the four gospels is enthroned on the altars of our churches and not the entire Bible. This is so because everything in the Bible is fulfilled in Christ.

Reading Read Time Hit Count
II Corinthians 8:16-9:5 (13th Tuesday after Pentecost) 2 mins 3,814
II Corinthians 8:7-15 (13th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,810
II Corinthians 9:12-10:7 (13th Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,294
II Corinthians 9:6-11 (18th Sunday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,630
II John 1:1-13 (Friday after the Prodigal Son) 2 mins 4,867
II Peter 1:1-10 (33rd Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,320
II Peter 1:10-19 (Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ) 1 min 5,090
II Peter 1:20-2:9 (Monday after Publican and the Pharisee) 1 min 5,372
II Peter 2:9-22 (Tuesday of the Publican and the Pharisee) 2 mins 4,884
II Peter 3:1-18 (Wednesday after Publican and the Pharisee) 2 mins 5,110
II Thessalonians 1:1-10 (25th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,018
II Thessalonians 1:10-2:2 (25th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,710
II Thessalonians 2:1-12 (25th Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,885
II Thessalonians 2:13-17; 3:1-5 (25th Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 5,207
II Thessalonians 3:6-18 (25th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,247
II Timothy 1:1-2; 8-18 (27th Friday after Pentecost) 2 mins 4,022
II Timothy 2:1-10 (St. Demetrius) 1 min 6,649
II Timothy 2:11-19 (33rd Saturday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,007
II Timothy 2:20-26 (28th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,435
II Timothy 3:1-9 (Saturday after the Publican and the Pharisee) 1 min 5,769
II Timothy 3:10-15 (4th Sunday before lent) 1 min 6,120
II Timothy 3:16-4:4 (28th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,942
II Timothy 4:5-8 (Sunday before Theophany) - 5,909
II Timothy 4:9-22 (28th Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,047