Bible Study Prep with ChatGPT #3
Interpreting the Gospels... Or just some good 'ol inductive questions to help you discern the meaning of the Gospels and apply it. You are welcome to use these as AI Chatbot prompts if you wish!
I have said before that I believe the Holy Spirit empowers believers, not machines. So I certainly suggest that you read the biblical text and use these questions in dialogue with the Holy Spirit. Then perhaps consult a commentary or other believers while talking about these questions. You might also consult an AI chatbot to see if there are any other ideas which you have overlooked, but it’s only going to be able to show you data it was trained on.
Part 1 Genre – or which way do we read this?
Does this text contain a parable, miracle story, or pronouncement story?
If parable, then read like a fiction narrative
If miracle story, then look at how the text demonstrates who Jesus was/how he was special
If pronouncement story, then how is Jesus proverbial saying similar to/different from other proverbs?
I actually think that identifying the genre of a text is probably the most important part of the interpretive process. Yet, people often think they set aside literary questions when looking at the Bible. I think we should crank our literary questions up to 11.
Part 2 Interpretation – or what is going on here?
Do other gospel accounts in the Bible contain this same story? If so, how is presented in a similar or different fashion?
Does this passage tell us anything new or unique about the “Kingdom of God”[1] that Jesus often teaches about?
Does the passage teach any new or unique ethical or moral types of conduct for those who follow Jesus?
These questions are simple and will allow you to get at the simple meaning of the text. What is the author communicating to the audience? That’s the driving force here.
Part 3 Application – or So what…
Since gospels were probably written to churches to instruct new believers about who Jesus was, and how to live according to his teachings, many of the gospel teachings apply directly to our lives…
What was an original reader of this text expected to think? Is thinking in that way important in the 21st century? How?
What was an original reader of this text supposed to do? How would doing that in the 21st century look different from what we see others doing in the world around us?
How can you do this, or take action on it, this week in your life?
[1]“The kingdom sums up God’s plan to create a new human life by making possible a new kind of community among people, families, and groups. [It combines] the possibility of a personal relationship to Jesus with man’s responsibility to manage wisely the whole of nature; the expectation that real change is possible here and now; a realistic assessment of the strength of opposition to God’s intentions; the creation of new human relationships and the eventual liberation by God of the whole of nature from corruption” (A. Kirk, The Good News of the Kingdom Coming (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1983), 47).