If the best book to read is the Bible, then the next best books (and resources) are those that help us read, understand, meditate on and delight in the Bible. Of course, the two primary God-given resources are, firstly, the Holy Spirit Himself as the Revealer of truth (1 Corinthians 2:10-13), and, secondly, a local church fellowship where the Bible is faithfully taught and eagerly discussed (1 Timothy 3:15), but there are many other great ‘secondary’ resources. If I had to choose a football (or cricket) XI out of these, here are my top picks which I think every Christian should use. That being said, please bear in mind that this is, of course, somewhat subjective; your mileage may vary and different resources may help at different times in the Christian life. 

You may think a couple of things are missing: I’ve not included a concordance as, whilst very useful, I feel it’s much more beneficial in the long run to get to know the Bible well ourselves so that we learn and remember where certain verses are and make the connections ourselves. I’ve also not recommended any Study Bibles, as whilst their notes can be helpful, rather than thinking through the meaning of a passage ourselves and how it points us to Christ, we can grow too dependent on their notes and let them do the thinking. For this reason, I would generally recommend ‘vanilla’ Bible reading, only referring to secondary resources or Christian friends once we’ve had a go at trying to work out the meaning for ourselves first.

For suggestions on where to buy some of the books listed here second-hand, see Where to buy Christian books.

1. Murray M’Cheyne’s Bible reading plan

The Scottish preacher Robert Murray M’Cheyne (1813-1843) devised this daily Bible reading plan, which the Welsh preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones commended to all he met. Rather than just reading favourite passages again and again, M’Cheyne wanted all Christians to read ‘the whole counsel of God’ (Acts 17:11) and go right through the entire Bible yearly, omitting nothing, covering the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms twice.

The original one-year version entails four chapters per day (two each morning and two each evening), whereas D. A. Carson’s modified version is a slightly slower pace with two chapters per day on average, covering the OT in two years and NT and Psalms each year, allowing more time for meditation. I’ve used both versions and always found them very balanced, timely and helpful to keep me on track; often the day’s OT and NT passages relate to each other. 

2. An online interlinear Bible

The Bible is the inspired and infallible word of God, as it was originally given in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. For that reason, to be able to discern the best English translation to use, all Christians would do well to make use of online resources such as biblehub.com. Bible Hub acts like an interlinear Bible, providing the original text, word-by-word, alongside English translations and commentaries. You can search to see how else a particular word is translated.

For those who want a more powerful tool, I would very much recommend stepbible.org. STEP allows you to add the original text version of your choice alongside a multitude of English versions across multiple panels. For instance, you can compare the Textus Receptus with a more recent Greek New Testament, or the Septuagint with the Hebrew and Calvin’s commentaries thrown in, and so on. STEP gives a detailed analysis and powerful search functionality for each original word.

3. Matthew Henry’s commentaries on the whole Bible

Matthew Henry (1662-1714) was a great Nonconformist preacher and writer; his commentaries are his magnum opus. I’ll admit that I haven’t read these cover to cover, and I doubt I ever will, but then that’s not necessarily the point of Bible commentaries. Reading Matthew Henry’s commentaries will bring you so much closer to the Lord Jesus. Every page is Christ-centred in a way that I’ve never found in any other commentary. His commentaries have stood the test of time and are adored the world over for this very reason. I should note that – despite an absolutely hoofing effort – Matthew Henry never actually finished his commentaries (turns out the Bible’s a big book and there’s a fair bit you can say about it!), so only Genesis-Acts were actually written by Henry, and the remaining commentaries were compiled by his friends based on his remaining notes.

I would recommend the unabridged six-volume Hendrickson set, but a single-volume edition also exists.

4. JC Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Simple yet profound, I don’t think anyone can better J. C. Ryle (1816-1900) for homely, practical devotional thoughts on Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Ryle writes in a Christ-exalting way that is both enriching for the heart and convicting of the need to ‘be holy, for [God is] holy’ (1 Peter 1:16). Excellent as a day-by-day devotional to keep us close to the Christ of the Gospels, Ryle reads so easily, you could be forgiven for thinking it was written this century and not two centuries ago.

5. Vaughan Roberts’ God’s Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible

I read this book in my early teens, and at the time it felt like the scales fell from my eyes. I’d grown up reading the Bible and hearing it preached every week, yet the Bible sometimes felt like just a random collection of stories, laws, poems and odds and ends with not much in common. On the surface you can understand that: after all, the books that make up the Bible were written over a fifteen-hundred-year period in three different languages by 40 or more writers. But reading Vaughan Roberts’ book showed me that, for all its intricate oddities, the Bible is one book speaking about one Man with one message about how to know God through that one Man, Jesus Christ. It may not be as notable or as elegant or as theologically rich as some of the other resources on this list (or indeed as books detailing the riches of Reformed covenant theology), but it’s a primer for which I’ll always be grateful.

6. A good catechism

Sadly, catechising is a dying art not practised by many churches or Christian families today, and I suspect we are a lot poorer and less sure of what we believe for that fact. In a simple and memorisable way, catechisms lay down the fundamentals of the Christian faith through a series of question-and-answer statements. They are excellent, concise summaries of what Reformed Christians believe about God, creation and salvation.

Whilst there are some good modern catechisms, I don’t think you can do better than the classic Westminster Shorter Catechism (WSC) and its big sister, the Westminster Larger Catechism (WLC). These were drawn up by the Westminster Assembly (which met in Westminster, London between 1643-49). An excellent resource with which to go through the WSC in more detail (and as an introduction to the Puritans) is Thomas Watson’s A Body of Divinity. 

Another catechism worth mentioning is the earlier Heidelberg Catechism of 1563 (part of the ‘Three Forms of Unity’). I’ve found this invaluable to read as a devotional, a couple of questions last thing at night.

Lastly, whatever version of these catechisms you get, be sure to get ones with scriptural proof texts; they are only helpful insofar as they point us to the scriptures.

7. A good confession of faith

Evangelical Christianity didn’t begin yesterday; we like to kid ourselves into thinking we know better than our forebears, but that’s simply not true. Doctrinally and experimentally, they knew far more of what it means to follow the Lord and His Spirit-breathed word than most of us today. For this reason, we must not forget the historic creeds and confessions of faith of the church throughout history. These have stood the test of time on matters of faith and practice as clear, succinct summaries of orthodox Christian doctrine. For me, going through them was helpful as they exposed weak-spots where I wasn’t so sure of what I believed. Of course, we are not to rely on them solely, only as much as they reflect the inspired truth of God’s word.

The Westminster Assembly produced the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCoF), another part of the Westminster Standards (along with the WSC and WLC). To this day I don’t think they and their Baptist counterpart, written in 1677 (despite the name!), the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith (Or, Second London Confession of Faith) have been surpassed. An excellent resource to go through the WCoF with is Chad van Dixhoorn’s Confessing the Faith.

The historic Ecumenical creeds are also helpful for their statements of faith in what orthodox Christians believe. Don’t be put off by the E-word (!); they are sound statements of faith on fundamental tenets, such as the Trinity and the divinity of Christ, carefully crafted in response to controversies and errors in the early church period.

8. A good systematic theology

A systematic theology is a framework for understanding biblical theology. Typically organised on a topic-by-topic basis, systematic theologies are excellent for reference on biblical doctrine. As they’re artificial frameworks, they needs must fall short, but there are many good options to choose from. I don’t think you’ll find a more readable, more helpful Reformed systematic theology to start with than Wayne Grudem’s. Where good men differ, he presents the different viewpoints from scripture and his own preference. Grudem does come in for some stick from certain circles (due to his view on the eternal subordination of the Son, for example), however, having used Grudem extensively over a number of years, I don’t think these detract from its use for the discerning Christian reader (Acts 17:11). 

To supplement Grudem with books which go deeper (or if you can’t afford to fork out £40 on a single volume!), I would also very much recommend the classic Reformed texts, Louis Berkhof’s Systematic Theology and John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (for starters, go for the very readable 1541 ‘essentials’ edition). 

9. DayOne’s Evidence for the Bible

DayOne’s Evidence for the Bible is a full-colour, coffee-table book that should sit on every Christian’s shelf (or coffee table!). I’ve read it cover-to-cover many times and never failed to be captivated by the amazing archaeological evidence for the Bible. Theirs is an honest resource, where the archaeological record isn’t clear or generally accepted, they don’t make it out to be so, making this a useful tool for engaging with Bible sceptics. The Bible doesn’t derive its authority from archaeology; alone it can’t prove the Bible, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to see that the biblical and archaeological records concur remarkably, disproving the many misconceptions about the accuracy of the Bible.

DayOne have also released a sample booklet version as well as a companion volume, entitled Background to the Bible. I would also recommend their Through the British Museum with the Bible. All these resources are on sale at the British Museum (if you ever find yourself in London) and on the DayOne website.

10. Peter Williams’ Can We Trust the Gospels?

Many suggest the Bible has been tampered with and therefore is not historically reliable. All of scripture is vital for Christianity, but especially the Gospels as they authoritatively tell us of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. If they are not reliable witnesses, then ‘we are of all people most to be pitied’ (1 Corinthians 15:19). Bible scholar Peter Williams’ book is so timely for this reason; it’s an adventure into the linguistic and cultural background of the Gospels, compellingly demonstrating that they stand up to the criticisms of Bible sceptics. Can We Trust the Gospels? is an eminently readable and informative book drawing on the latest biblical scholarship, I recommend it most highly.

11. Brian Edwards’ Nothing But the Truth

How did we get our Bible? How do we know what books should make up the canon? Should we include the Apocrypha in our Bibles? Brian Edwards’ book Nothing But the Truth answers these questions and more, explaining the history and background of how the Bible was written. The tagline on the edition ‘All you need to know about the Bible’ is a bit silly, but that aside, this is a most excellent resource for Christians. The book was first published in 1978, and in some senses the older editions are simpler; but for an accessible introduction to the subject, you could do a lot worse than pick up a copy . 

Have you used any of these Bible resources? What have you found most helpful? What Bible resources, books or websites would you recommend? Have I missed any out? Add your comments below!