If you were studying history, this is the order in which you would study it:
This would tell you what happened, why, and what led to the next era. But imagine wanting to learn history and the book you pick up orders it instead like this:
You have no dates to know which period of history comes first, or when it happened. This is the order in which the New Testament has been placed in the Bible for the past 1800 years. This is just how book binders used to do it. You'll find the order applied to the works of Pliny, Socrates, Plato, etc. They are arranged from longest piece of work first, to shortest piece of work last. It ignores why they were written, what was happening at the time, etc. Because the Bible is not in correct chronological order, it is read chaotically. People have no clue what is going on. Heap on top of this the imposition of chapters and verses that distract the reader from the natural divisions the authors had included in their own works.
Imagine I were a counselor of some kind, like a marriage counselor. Imagine that throughout my career I had written many letters to both groups of people and single individuals. But after I had died, only 9 letters written to groups could be found, and 4 letters written to individuals. Some time later, someone has the idea to add chapters and verses to my letters. If you were to take one sentence from one letter and try to tie it together with another sentence from another letter, unless the context surrounding the one agrees with the context surrounding the other, you have just created a false teaching from my letters. The two sentences are in no way, shape, or form related or complementary.
This is what Christians of every denomination have done with the Bible ever since the addition of chapters and verses. They continuously proof-text the Bible in order to support all sorts of ridiculous and unbiblical teachings. They treat each individual verse as if it is the Word of God wholly by itself, which is simply untrue. Compound this upon the problem of not having the books in their correct order and not knowing anything of the events that led to the writing of each book or letter.
If you want to understand the New Testament correctly (or even the Old Testament), you need to read it in the correct historical-chronological order. The book of Acts is historical. Most of the epistles fall into certain locations throughout that book. When it's all put together, you're able to understand the New Testament in a way that most do not today, and have never for the past 1800 years. These books aren't disjointed. They flow in a natural order, revealing what was happening, what the Body was facing, the struggles at that particular time, and tie in with other history taking place at the same time.
People have been after Bible publishers to publish the Bible in the correct historical-chronological order for at least the last 50 years. They understand that when arranged properly, it benefits the student immensely. This is why I released ABIDE: A Chronological Reader's Bible project. Not only does it not contain the distracting chapters and verses, but it arranges the books and letters in their correct order. I'm am working on another project right now that deals with the life of the Body after Jesus. The first 100 years. This work will bring so much clarity to the New Testament chronology and understanding.
You'll also find that because of the order we have it in today, and because so many people have been influenced by various philosophers (Plato, Socrates, Aristotle), they approached Scripture as if it were philosophy. This is what led to Roman Catholicism. The wrong historical-chronological order, the addition of chapters and verses, and the idea of approaching it as philosophy has led to many errors in approach, including the Reformation. They did not seek to understand the natural flowing living story; they sought to find doctrines (whether they exist or not). There's a reason Scripture says "you have no need to be taught by anyone." When it's in its correct order and you know the history related to it, what happened between each letter, everything makes sense and it's EASY to understand . . . even by a child.
Individuals like T. Austin Sparks argue that the order our Bibles are in today was "divinely preserved and ordered by God." Sorry, but this argument is completely ignorant, as is the argument that the chapters and verses were "divinely inspired." No doubt he was a KJV-Onlyist or a Ruckmanite. These people like to argue a great many man-made concepts as having something to do with the "divine"; e.g., the atrocious spelling of the 1611 KJV was "divinely inspired" and we should retain that spelling today. Give me a break! Usually, whatever it is that has to do with the 1611 KJV, they argue it is obviously "God's divine inspiration" that it be like that. The order our Bibles are in today have nothing to do with God's preservation and inspiration. These people are so hung up on ridiculous traditions and the past, that they cannot bring themselves to fix what's broken.