How Organized Are You?

A reader responded:

I had heard that the books of the Bible are not in chronological order but did not know what the chronological order was. Thanks for writing that. My follow up question then is, why is it that the New Testament books are not in order in the Bible and what is the chronological order of the Old Testament?

It is correct that, the Old Testament is also not in chronological order. Its hard to say definitively what the order is though. Scholars cannot agree on the author of some of the books, let alone the dates. Books in the Old Testament, therefore are arranged by their genre. The books of the law, the historical books, the "writings," and the prophets. It is commonly agreed that Job would have been the first book written, but that does not mean it takes place first.

Outside of trying to figure out what books were written in what order, it is also debated what order the things represented in the books took place. That is another subject that scholars don't agree upon.

Onto the next part, Why aren't the New Testament books in chronological order? Again, these books are organized by genre. The Gospels (Acts is included because it is the second volume of Luke) and then the Pauline Epistles, followed by more epistles, and then apocalyptic literature. Within some of the sections in the New and Old Testament the books are further organized by their length.

I don't know why these methods were chosen, but they are by no means mandated. Different religions (i.e. Jews) order their books (i.e. the Old Testament) in various ways.