You have finished two years of biblical Greek—one year of beginning Greek and one year of intermediate Greek—and you don’t want to lose your hard-earned skills; in fact, you may want to even improve your Greek skills. The best way to improve one’s Greek skills is to read Greek! This article will first present some helpful tips for reading through the Greek Testament in a year and then it will present some reading plans.
5 TIPS for Reading through the Greek New Testament in a Year
1. Read 0.5–1 Chapter a Day
There are 260 chapters in the Greek New Testament. Because the four Gospels and the book of Acts have longer chapters than the letters (a total of 117 chapters), I recommend reading half a chapter a day when reading through one of the Gospels or the books of Acts and a full chapter when reading a New Testament letter. That means, you will read through the entire Greek New Testament in 377 days, just over a year.
2. Read Each Chapter Twice
If you have the time, it is a good idea to read each chapter (or half chapter) twice in the same day. Reading through a chapter (or half chapter) twice will solidify the grammar and vocabulary better than reading through it once. When you return to that particular chapter (either the following year or throughout your regular study), your recollection will be much greater! The second read through should be a lot quicker as well.
3. Mark Up Your Bible
Marking up your Bible is extremely helpful when you return to a passage. Find a good notation system that will help you remember and identify key or difficult features the next time you read that passage.
For example, Paul begins Philippians 2:25 with Ἀναγκαῖον δὲ ἡγησάμην (“I considered it necessary”). The verb ἡγησάμην needs a complementary infinitive, which we don’t find until the end of this lengthy verse. For this particular verse, I put a double underline underneath the complementary infinitive πέμψαι so that I can easily locate it the next time I read Philippians. Here is what that verse looks like:
Ἀναγκαῖον δὲ ἡγησάμην Ἐπαφρόδιτον τὸν ἀδελφὸν καὶ συνεργὸν καὶ συστρατιώτην μου, ὑμῶν δὲ ἀπόστολον καὶ λειτουργὸν τῆς χρείας μου, πέμψαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς.
PHILIPPIANS 2:25, emphasis added
As you can hopefully tell, Ἐπαφρόδιτον (Epaphroditus) is the object of the infinitive πέμψαι, yet it comes much earlier in the sentence. Everything between Ἐπαφρόδιτον and πέμψαι is describing Epaphroditus.
4. Write Rare Word Definitions in Your Bible
Not only is marking your Bible with an annotation system helpful, but writing the definitions of rare and difficult words in your Greek New Testament (GNT) is also helpful for future readings. Many rare words are easy enough to define by context, but there are enough squirrely ones that I find difficult to remember. When you come across one of these, write the definition somewhere on that page of your GNT. There is usually enough space at the bottom of the page where you can do this. Be sure not to put a gloss, but a thoughtful and accurate definition that takes the context and meaning into account. Doing this will aid your future readings of that passage.
5. Check Out My General Reading Tips
I have written a post giving more generalized reading tips that may also assist in reading the Greek New Testament. I highly encourage you to check it out HERE and apply any that would aid your reading of the Greek New Testament.
5 PLANS for Reading through the Greek New Testament in a Year
Other than the obvious plan of reading from the beginning of the Greek New Testament (GNT) to the end of the GNT in canonical order (Matthew–Revelation), there are a number of yearly reading plans that may appeal to those wishing to read through the entire GNT in a year. As I mentioned above, I recommend reading one chapter a day when it comes to the NT letters and half a chapter a day when it comes to the Gospels and Acts.
Plan 1: Most Familiar Book to Least Familiar Book
The best books to begin reading are the ones with which you are most familiar. Many readers of the Greek New Testament have taken a few Greek exegetical courses and so are more familiar with those books compared to others. This is a great place to start your reading. For example, I took Greek exegetical courses on the Gospel of John, Romans, Philippians, 1–2 Thessalonians, 1–2 Peter, the Letters of John, and the book of Revelation. For me, then, I would read these books first and then move onto other books by choosing one of the plans below and combining the two plans. This plan builds confidence because you start out with familiar Greek before venturing into more unfamiliar terrain. Eventually, of course, the entire GNT will be familiar terrain! It’s a great day when that happens.
Plan 2: Easiest Greek to Most Difficult Greek
A plan that many choose is reading the books of the Greek New Testament with the easiest (or most manageable) Greek first and then progressing to the books with harder Greek. Ultimately, what is ‘hard’ and what is ‘easy’ is subjective. What I find to be more difficult Greek you may find relatively easy. Generally, books that have ‘harder’ Greek are those books with more difficult grammar, more idioms, and more diverse and rare vocabulary.
Based on my own reading of the GNT, my seminary/Bible college friends and colleagues, and my students, the writings of John seem to be the easiest, followed by the writings of Paul, then James, Peter, and Jude’s letters, followed by the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, and concluding with Hebrews and Luke-Acts. Below is a suggested reading plan from easiest Greek to hardest Greek.
| 1 John |
| 2 John |
| 3 John |
| Gospel of John |
| Revelation |
| 1 Thessalonians |
| 2 Thessalonians |
| Philippians |
| Colossians |
| Ephesians |
| Galatians |
| Romans |
| Titus |
| Philemon |
| 1 Timothy |
| 2 Timothy |
| 1 Corinthians |
| 2 Corinthians |
| James |
| 1 Peter |
| 2 Peter |
| Jude |
| Gospel of Mark |
| Gospel of Matthew |
| Hebrews |
| Gospel of Luke |
| Acts |
I find it helpful to pair books with similar terminology. For example, I paired Galatians and Romans because there is significant overlap in vocabulary, which is why I put Romans before Titus.
Plan 3: Shortest Book to Longest Book
Another option is to begin reading the shortest Greek New Testament book and progressively make your way up to the longest. This would put some of John’s books toward the end of your reading plan, but that can add a nice reprieve part way through the year, especially if you struggled with a particularly difficult book. Below is the reading plan from the shortest book to the longest based on word count (you can also do it by chapter count, but there are many books that are the same chapter length).
| Bible Book | Greek Word Count | Bible Chapter Count |
|---|---|---|
| 3 John | 219 | 1 |
| 2 John | 245 | 1 |
| Philemon | 335 | 1 |
| Jude | 461 | 1 |
| Titus | 659 | 3 |
| 2 Thessalonians | 823 | 3 |
| 2 Peter | 1,099 | 3 |
| 2 Timothy | 1,238 | 4 |
| 1 Thessalonians | 1,481 | 5 |
| Colossians | 1,581 | 4 |
| 1 Timothy | 1,591 | 6 |
| Philippians | 1,629 | 4 |
| 1 Peter | 1,684 | 5 |
| James | 1,742 | 5 |
| 1 John | 2,141 | 5 |
| Galatians | 2,230 | 6 |
| Ephesians | 2,422 | 6 |
| 2 Corinthians | 4,477 | 13 |
| Hebrews | 4,953 | 13 |
| 1 Corinthians | 6,829 | 16 |
| Romans | 7,111 | 16 |
| Revelation | 9,851 | 22 |
| Mark | 11,303 | 16 |
| John | 15,631 | 21 |
| Matthew | 18,346 | 28 |
| Acts | 18,449 | 28 |
| Luke | 19,481 | 24 |
For those who wish to read the longest book to the shortest, simply reverse the above table.
Plan 4: Author-Centred Approach
The author-centred plan groups all the New Testament books based on author. You then read through everything an author wrote before moving onto the next author. We will take it a step further, however, and also group the books according to related authorship. For example, Luke was Paul’s travelling companion, so I will put Paul’s writings next to Luke’s writings. I will also put Peter’s writings with Mark’s Gospel because they were companions. Reading everything by one author before moving onto another helps reading because authors generally keep the same (or similar) writing style with similar idioms and vocabulary.
Below is the author-centred reading plan, but keep in mind that you can start with any group you like.
| Book | Author |
|---|---|
| Mark 1–2 Peter | John Mark Peter the apostle |
| Luke Acts Hebrews | Luke (I understand Luke to be the author of Hebrews) |
| Romans–Philemon | Paul the apostle (Luke and Paul travelled together, which is why I put him after Luke’s writings). You could also group together Paul’s undisputed letters and his disputed letters if you desire. |
| John 1–3 John Revelation | John the apostle |
| James Jude | Jude claims to be the brother of James, which could be the James of the Letter from James. |
| Matthew | Matthew the apostle |
Plan 5: Chronological Order
The last plan is to organize the New Testament books according to chronology. There are two ways to do this. First, you could organize them based on content chronology. This plan would put the Gospels first, Acts second, then the letters according to when they were written, concluding with Revelation since it focuses on Jesus’ return and the coming of the New Jerusalem.
Second, you could organize the NT books based on the date when they were written. Because the dating of the New Testament letters is quite difficult, I’m not going to provide any table. However, you the reader are more than capable of discerning the dates and creating your own reading plan.
Concluding Thoughts
The most important aspect of reading the GNT is reading the GNT. Even if you don’t read it in a year, strive to be in it every day. Once I committed to reading my GNT every day, my ability and knowledge increased quickly and dramatically. Now that I am teaching Greek at Bible College, I am able to open my GNT and guide my students through almost any passage for examples of what we’re learning. So, keep reading, keep reading, keep reading!