How do I read the Catholic Bible in Chronological Order?
This is one of the most difficult questions that a Catholic may ask.
It is a very serious question and one that has caused much debate among Christians for centuries.
When you are asked to read the Bible in this manner, it is almost as if you are being told to blindly follow and not really have any idea what you are doing. Is that wise? Probably not.
When you are learning how to read the Catholic Bible in chronological order, it will be easier for you to understand what is taking place. This helps keep things orderly and keeps you from making the same mistake that so many have made in the past. You can easily see how the Church, for example, began with the Resurrection of the Lord. We know that this is true because the Bible tells us about His coming in the flesh. The Church believes that He was raised from the dead, and the Book of Acts does not change this.
So how to read the Catholic book of faith, or the Bible in chronological order is not a very difficult question to answer, at least from what I can see. But this question has been bothering some people. In other words, some have asked how to read the Catholic Bible from the wrong perspective, which would make the idea of the Bible being infallible simply foolish. This argument is not entirely valid, and if one were to use this line of reasoning they would certainly be committing a sin against the Church. It is not as though there is some un-revealed mystery that the Church cannot simply disclose itself, but rather any such attempt shows an extreme lack of understanding on their part.
Books of the Bible in Chrological Order
Below is a table of the books of the bible in order of when they were composed.
| Book | Author | Date Of Composition | Place Of Composition |
| 1 Thessalonians | Paul | 51 | Corinth |
| 2 Thessalonians | Paul | 51 | Corinth |
| 1 Corinthians | Paul | 54 | Ephesus |
| 2 Corinthians | Paul | 57 | Macedonia (Philippi?) |
| Galatians | Paul | 57 | Macedonia (Philippi?) |
| Romans | Paul | 57 | Corinth |
| Hebrews | Paul | 60 | Caesarea |
| Colossians | Paul | 61 | Rome |
| Ephesians | Paul | 61 | Rome |
| Philippians | Paul | 62 | Rome |
| 1 Peter | Peter | 63 | Rome |
| 2 Peter | Peter | 64 | Rome |
| James | James | Early 60s | Jerusalem |
| Matthew | Matthew | 60s | Antioch |
| Mark | Mark | 60s | Rome |
| Philemon | Paul | 66-67 | Rome |
| 1 Timothy | Paul | 66-67 | Rome |
| Titus | Paul | 66-67 | Rome |
| 2 Timothy | Paul | 66-67 | Rome |
| Luke | Luke | 70s | Rome? |
| Acts | Luke | 70s | Rome? |
| Jude | Jude | 80s | ? |
| 1 John | John | 80s | Ephesus |
| 2 John | John | 80s | Ephesus |
| 3 John | John | 80s | Ephesus |
| Revelations | John | 96-98 | Patmos, Ephesus |
| John | John | 98-110 | Ephesus |
The Church is infallible is simply a basic human truth. If God wanted to make something infallible, it would be so without any effort on our part.
We are the authors of our own salvation, and we freely decide how and when we will be saved. What God says is only partially correct, depending upon our interpretation, and we have the option of accepting or rejecting it.
God does not magically give us His word in the sense of an infallible book, therefore we are under no obligation whatsoever to take it on faith.
If you are going to try and learn how to read the Catholic Bible from its proper chronological order, then you may very well find that your understanding of the Bible will become a little strained.
In other words, you will begin to see some discrepancies. For instance, you will notice that the Catholic Church claims that salvation is exclusively through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, while the Protestants claim that salvation is through the grace of God alone.
When you add to that the problem of interpretation, it becomes clear that the Catholic understanding of how the Bible should be read can be a little difficult. However, it does have a point.
How to read the Catholic Bible from its correct chronological order is to treat it as though it were a legitimate book, written by a single pontificate, rather than a collection of documents arranged by the Popes.
This means that you will have to take every papal pronouncement on its face at face value, treating each papal act as though it happened yesterday. It is this that will allow you to read the Catholic Church in its true light. After all, the Bible was written by one man, and each man writes with a particular slant in his mind.
- Some people want to read the whole Bible from beginning to end (from the Book of Genesis to the Book of Revelation).
- Such plans require reading thirty or more minutes each day, or one or more chapters each day, throughout the year.
- This is probably not the best method for beginners, since the Old Testament (OT) is so long and many parts of it are quite difficult;
- but it could be a good practice for people who are already familiar with much of the Bible, and wish to see how it all fits together.
Once you have learned how to read the Catholic Church in its true chronological order, you may also want to know how to read other religious documents from this tradition. The basic method for doing this is simple enough: look for the words “in time,” “in pace,” and “in the right time.” (Be sure to include the word “in” whenever you see these expressions.) Any papal pronouncement, whether it is a theological treatise or exhortation, must always come with a reason given to why it was written, a reason that cannot be dismissed as mere idle superstition.
If you study how to read the Catholic faith using the methods discussed here, you will soon find that your understanding of Catholic teaching will broaden and deepen.
You will begin to see the meaning of the various events and sayings within the pages of the Bible a whole new way. This can only be good news for the Catholic Church!
