We’ve finally made it to the Gospels, Acts, and Romans, on this journey through the Bible. Join me as we take a quick ride past these first several books of the New Testament.
If you’ve followed this trek you’ll know we just made our way through the Old Testament. On the bike ride this brought us to a trestle high above a creek.
The Gospels
The Gospels – Mathew, Mark, Luke, John – are where Jesus came to earth, walked the land, healed the sick, and taught about the Kingdom of God. This is where we encounter the tangible Jesus, living among the people.
Viewed from above
The creek at this point of the bike ride was viewed from the height of a train trestle far above the water below. Matthew’s Gospel starts with a genealogy which at first glance appears far removed from the story of Jesus. Many people are confused by this list of names, still others skip it entirely, and some like me initially get lost in it until we find some familiarity and discoveries in it.
Matthew Mark Luke John
Matthew gives us Jesus’ lineage and Kingdom teaching. The genealogy in the first chapter of this Gospel links Jesus to King David, whose story we discovered in 1 and 2 Samuel in the Old Testament.
Mark walks out the gospel with Jesus on the move in ministry.
Luke shows us the shepherds and a whole lot of “carefully investigated” details. (Luke 1:3)
And John just confused me the first several times I peeked inside. What was this Word stuff right at the beginning of this Gospel? After reading Genesis I recognized the connection to John’s Gospel and the beginning of the Bible.
As I continue to look into these four books of the New Testament that share details of Jesus’ life and ministry, I start to understand a little more about the Gospels and the love of God.
Look around
Once I grew accustomed to riding on gravel I could look around and see my surroundings instead of just the rocks under my bicycle tires.
When I glanced out past the trestle across the vast forest of trees I recognized parts of the trail I had ridden over. This section folded back around so I could see out over a segment of the path on which I had already traveled.
Bigger picture
Taking a step back gave me a more encompassing view of the bike trail.
I hope that if you’ve followed along on this ride that just rolled through the Old Testament that you, too, have started to grasp a bigger picture of what’s in the Bible.
More tunnels
I relished this moment on the ride because soon we were riding through two more tunnels.
Acts and Romans
Tunnels. That’s what the books of Acts and Romans felt like to me at one time.
When I first read Acts it was a cure for insomnia. I couldn’t get through it. Too many details. Too many storylines. After spending more time with my Bible open I began to recognize the names of people in Acts and connect them to other places in Scripture.
Where Gospels leave off
Acts takes up where the Gospels leave off. In fact, Acts is the move of the people in ministry, the early church, after Jesus heads back to heaven (resurrection and ascension) at the end of the Gospels.
Connections to books around it
If we skim Acts we’ll see names from the Gospels and names mentioned in the books of the Bible that follow. No need to spend much time in it now, just note the connections to the books around it. This basic knowledge will help anchor more of the content of the Bible.
Tunnels
I think just being accustomed to riding through several tunnels on the trail helped me travel through these next two.
Although some of the details in Acts were hard to remember, I was starting to grasp more aspects of Scripture so I knew the feeling of being in the dark wouldn’t last.
This tunnel and the next one were not as long as the first few. I think I was able to see the light shining through as I entered one of them.
Having a glimpse of visible light was helpful at this point in the Bible – for the book of Acts and the one that follows, Romans.
Romans
My first glimpse at Romans was probably similar to my experience with Acts. A lot of information that I couldn’t keep track of. This book was different from the Gospels and Acts. Romans is the first of the letters in the New Testament. This one happens to be a letter to the church in Rome written by Paul whose story can be found in Acts. See how these connections work?
The Book of Romans is Paul’s teaching about Jesus. This is another book that becomes clearer to me each time I return to it.
If you are reading along in your Bible, I encourage you not to get bogged down by Acts or Romans. We’ll keep rolling through the New Testament to glance at the next section of letters. Ready?
For a reminder of where we’ve been:
A bike and the Bible – Daniel and the Minor Prophets – part 13
For a refresher on 1 and 2 Samuel (and King David):