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
Ephesians 1:1-9 (16th Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,952
Ephesians 1:16-19; 3:19-21 (At the Beginning of Instruction) 1 min 3,575
Ephesians 1:16-23 (28th Saturday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,759
Ephesians 1:22-2:3 (17th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,764
Ephesians 1:7-17 (16th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,126
Ephesians 2:11-13 (29th Saturday after Pentecost) - 4,424
Ephesians 2:14-22 (24th Sunday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,464
Ephesians 2:19-3:7 (17th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,218
Ephesians 2:4-10 (23rd Sunday after Pentecost) 1 min 5,255
Ephesians 3:8-21 (17th Wednesday after Pentecost) 2 mins 4,431
Ephesians 4:1-7 (25th Sunday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,898
Ephesians 4:14-19 (17th Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,733
Ephesians 4:17-25 (17th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,155
Ephesians 4:25-32 (18th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,128
Ephesians 4.7-13 (Sunday After the Theophany) 1 min 5,126
Ephesians 5:1-8 (Saturday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,204
Ephesians 5:20-26 (18th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,193
Ephesians 5:20-33 (For Marriage) 1 min 10,752
Ephesians 5:25-33 (18th Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,110
Ephesians 5:33-6:9 (18th Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,532
Ephesians 5:8-19 (Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 5,529
Ephesians 5:9-19 (26th Sunday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,374
Ephesians 5:9-19 (Saint) 1 min 4,711
Ephesians 5:9-21 (For Every Need and For Giving Thanks) 1 min 4,768