Resources for going deeper
Where to check things yourself, not just take this site's word for it.
- Bible Gateway — Read any passage across dozens of translations side by side, free
- Blue Letter Bible — Original-language tools (Greek and Hebrew) for readers who want to go a level deeper
- Society of Biblical Literature — The main scholarly society for biblical studies, for readers who want peer-reviewed scholarship rather than commentary
This site reads the four Gospels directly and names where traditions interpret a passage differently; it is not affiliated with any church, denomination or ministry and does not claim to speak for one.
The Christian calendar's Jesus-centred seasons
A few points in the year most Christian traditions mark, though the exact dates and observances vary by tradition.
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| Advent (four Sundays before Christmas) | A season of preparation in many Western traditions, looking toward the birth of Jesus |
| Christmas (25 December in most Western traditions; 7 January in most Orthodox traditions using the Julian calendar) | The traditional commemoration of Jesus' birth |
| Lent (roughly six weeks before Easter) | A season of reflection and, in many traditions, fasting, observed ahead of Holy Week |
| Holy Week and Easter (date varies each year, calculated from the lunar calendar; Western and Orthodox dates often differ) | The commemoration of the final week of Jesus' life, his crucifixion, and the resurrection claim central to Christian faith |
Always confirm current dates with the official source — they move.
Checklists you can work through
Before you draw a conclusion from a passage
- Read the whole surrounding section, not just the quoted verse
- Check which Gospel it's from and whether the other Gospels record it differently
- Note the translation you're reading and check one other if the wording feels significant
- Ask what the original audience would have understood, not just your first response
- Check whether this is a point of broad agreement or genuine disagreement across traditions
- Separate what the text says from what a tradition has concluded it means
Starting a regular reading habit
- Pick a realistic amount of time, not an ambitious one you'll abandon in a week
- Choose one Gospel to start with rather than jumping between all four
- Decide in advance what to do when you miss a day — resume, don't restart
- Keep a translation you find genuinely readable, not the one you feel you should use
- Write down one question or observation per session, even a single line
- Revisit a passage you've already read rather than always moving forward — repetition is not wasted time
Common mistakes when reading the Gospels
Harmonising the four Gospels into one flat story
Read each Gospel as its own account first, and notice deliberately where they differ — the differences are often informative, not a problem to smooth over
Treating a parable's moral as the whole point
Sit with the detail and the original audience's likely response before reducing a story to one sentence
Quoting a verse with no reference to the passage around it
Read at least the surrounding paragraph — several famous lines (like 'be perfect') mean something different in context than isolated
Assuming one tradition's reading is 'what the Bible says' rather than one reading of it
Where a passage is genuinely contested, name that it's contested and see what more than one tradition says
Skipping the parts of a passage that are uncomfortable
The Gospels don't flatter their audience uniformly; the parts that sit awkwardly are often the ones worth the most attention
Treating a single translation's wording as the only possible one
Compare two or three translations (NIV, ESV, NRSV are all widely used) for any passage that seems to hinge on a specific word
Glossary
The words that get used as if everyone already knows them.
Gospel
One of the four earliest connected accounts of Jesus' life and teaching in the New Testament — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
Synoptic Gospels
Matthew, Mark and Luke, so called because they share a similar structure and can be read side by side ('synoptic' means 'seen together')
Parable
A short illustrative story, usually drawn from ordinary life, used to teach a point that isn't always fully explained in the text
Messiah / Christ
'Anointed one' — Messiah in Hebrew, Christ in Greek — a title with specific expectations in first-century Judaism that the Gospels present Jesus as redefining
Son of Man
The title the synoptic Gospels record Jesus using of himself most often, with roots in a figure from Daniel 7 given authority and an everlasting kingdom
Sermon on the Mount
The block of Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5-7, including the Beatitudes, on subjects ranging from anger to prayer to love of enemies
Beatitudes
The opening lines of the Sermon on the Mount, each beginning 'Blessed are...', describing a set of reversed values
Passion
The traditional term for the suffering and death of Jesus, from the Latin for 'suffering'
Resurrection
The central Christian claim that Jesus rose bodily from the dead after crucifixion, on the third day
Canon
The officially recognised collection of books that make up the Bible for a given tradition
NIV / ESV / NRSV
Common modern English Bible translations — New International Version, English Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version — that sometimes render the same passage differently
Evangelist
In this context, one of the four Gospel writers — Matthew, Mark, Luke or John — not a preacher in the modern sense of the word