(The following is an abbreviated transcription from a video I recorded. Please excuse any typos or errors.)
Today I’m sharing 4 different ways that I’ve been using a new AI tool called ChatGPT for Bible study. It’s a really fascinating tool and I’m so excited to share with you how it can help you out in your Bible study.
ChatGPT is a free AI tool that that has infinite possibilities, but today we are talking specifically how we can use it to help us quickly search for Bible verses, generate summaries or outlines of Bible passages and even answer questions about what was going on in the world when a specific book of the Bible was written.
It’s been a great tool to help me in my Bible study and you might find it helpful as well.
Now before we get into all the details, we recorded our discussion that you can listen to on our Podcast:
You can also watch the recording of our discussion on our SeedTime Money Podcast YouTube channel:
But, if you would rather read the full transcription, you can do so here in this article!
ChatGPT for Bible Study
All right. Today I want to nerd out a little bit and talk about how do you use ChatGPT for Bible study. This is something I’ve been trying out and testing out lately and it might just be one of the best Bible study tools that exists now, and I think definitely could be in the future if it’s not already.
And so I’ve been using this for really, I just discovered this like a month or two ago. If you don’t know what ChatGPT is, it’s basically a new AI tool that has come from the OpenAI organization. I don’t know that much about it, you know. But it’s one of those things where it’s like, I don’t know much about how a car works, but I know how to use a car to get the result that I want.
And that’s what I’m learning with this tool. So anyway, I want to go through three different examples of how I’ve been using this intestine out as a Bible study tool that I’ve found to be pretty helpful and interesting. Maybe you will as well. So, with that, let’s dive in.
1. Quickly search for different Bible verses on a specific topic with ChatGPT
So the first one that I tried out (that I thought this is really, really cool and powerful) is what does the Bible say about blank?
Okay. So you ask it that and what does the Bible say about “blank,” whatever that topic is. This could be a lot of different things. But one of the things I did actually, let me share my screen and I’ll show you what this looks like here. We come over here, it says, this is what it looks like.
So I asked, what are some Bible verses about prayer? And so they answered me. Here are a few Bible verses about prayer:
This is how you should pray. Our father in heaven…
Matthew 6:9-13
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.
Philippians 4:6
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for each other. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
james 5:16
Pray without ceasing.
1 thessalonians 5:17
If you abide me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it’ll be done for you.
john 15:7
That’s a great answer, like just right there is really powerful. Because what I’ve done in the past when I’m like trying to find out where are some verses about a specific topic, I’ll go to Google and then I’ll search through a handful of different articles and find the ones that best pertain to what I’m looking for.
And so ChatGPT is doing that out of the chute without me having research Google, without having to go through anything. So that was great.
Give me more, please
But then I just responded back, because you’re essentially having a conversation. And so it remembers the previous request you made and it will answer according to that.
And so I just responded back, “give me some more, please.” Gotta make sure to tell the robot please. And so then it’s spit out more and these fall into the more “less famous” Bible verse category. Whatever, however you put that. But, but they’re really good as well.
In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my request before you when I wait expectantly.
psalm 5:3
Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress and he hears my voice.
psalm 55:17
It’s not bad.
These I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer…
isaiah 56:7
Then Jesus told disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give.
luke 18:1
Devote yourself to prayer being watchful and thankful.
colossians 4:2
Anyways, a couple more. But the point is, is that this was really, really helpful when I was looking to just pull together a bunch of Bible verses about a specific topic.
I found this to be really, really helpful. So that’s number one.
2. Finding Bible verses that can help support my point with ChatGPT
Now let’s go to the second example of how I use ChatGPT for Bible study. This would be something to the effect of: what are some Bible verses that support this blank? And the “blank” being something that I’ve written.
So I have a little section of text here that I’ve pasted in that I wrote and I’m like, all right, how can I get some biblical support for this? And then I throw that in and ask them, are there any Bible verses that line up and that support what I’m trying to say right here? And I found this to be pretty interesting.
I’ll just read you the section that I posted in here:
“So I know firsthand how discouraging it is when you’re looking at massive debt, insufficient income, and never ending expenses that you’re facing, and feel like you’ll never be able to overcome it.
I remember looking at my mountain of debt and thinking, I am never going to get this paid off. And then I compared that to our tiny salaries, and honestly, it felt hopeless. I mean, it seemed like there was about $50 left over at the end of the month. It seriously looked as if it would take 30 years to become debt free. But here’s the thing, our God is in the business of breaking people from bondage.”
Okay, so that was what I fed it. That was the thing, the information that I gave it. And I asked, what are some Bible verses that support the points that are made in this text? And this is what has spit out to me:
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a power, love, and a sound mind.
2 timothy 1:7
It’s not bad.
My God shall supply all your need according to riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
philippians 4:19
That’s pretty good.
No weapon formed against you will prosper and every tongue that rises against you in judgement, you shall condemn.
isaiah 54:15
But seek first kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given unto you as well.
matthew 6:33
That’s good. And then Matthew 6:31-32, which is a precursor to that above verse.
Do not fear for I am with you, do not be dismayed for I’m your God. I will strengthen you and I’ll help you out, hold you with my righteous right hand.
isaiah 41:10
So I felt like there’s some good stuff in here and it’s one of those things where it’s like not all of them are going to be exactly what you’re looking for, but if this was a passage that I had, and like I definitely could work some of those verses in at that point.
What I love about this
So what I love about this is, to me it feels like, all right, there’s a little bit of a second brain here that I can tap into because it’s like I can write something, as I’m writing, I’m thinking of a few verses that come to mind to kind of support this point or whatever the thing might be.
3. Using ChatGPT to generate summaries or outlines of specific Bible passages
So, onto the third way that I’ve been testing this out in using it, and this one is basically generating summaries or outlines of specific Bible passages.
This tool is helping me to kind of extend that beyond like my limited thinking at the moment. Because sometimes there are verses, where it’s like, I just can’t remember at the moment. And I don’t know, I’m just finding this to be really, really helpful and fascinating.
And so, for example, like this was an example of one where I asked what’s the meaning of The Parable of the Talents? And so, you know, and my point here, isn’t to go to the robot to get my theology from the robot. But what’s interesting is I think it can do a good job sometimes of summarizing a passage of text. And, I actually think it’s really good at that. I’ve found that to be a really interesting use for it.
Anyway, so I’ll just read what it spit out. Okay, so what’s the meaning of The Parable Talents? It says this:
Parable of Talents is a parable of Jesus found in Matthew 25. It’s about a master who entrusts his servants with various amounts of talents “a form of currency,” according to their abilities, the master then leaves on a journey, and upon his return, he rewards those who were faithful with their talents and then punishes those who are not.
The parable teaches that everyone should use their talents, whatever they may be, to their highest potential or their fullest potential. It is a reminder that God has given each of us a set of unique skills and abilities, and it’s our responsibility to use them in a way that will bring honor and glory to God.
And so like I read that. I’m like, this is good. And , and before I started using this, when I first heard about this AI thing, like I would’ve never expected to get a response like this.
That actually feels like I, this is a good answer, you know? So anyway, I just thought that was really interesting.
4. You can ask ChatGPT Bible-related questions
One other thing, maybe a little bit of a bonus here is you can ask it questions. Like, so this was one example. So I asked what was going, going on in the world when Paul, the Apostle wrote Philippians? And it gave me a really good answer about what was going on in the Roman Empire and like all this stuff. I think there’s just so many different ways that you can use this to draw out enhance your Bible study.
The exciting potential of ChatGPT
So anyway, all I had to say, I’m getting really excited by it. I’m getting really excited by the potential of kind of what this can do and I don’t know, and how it can assist us in studying the Bible. So that’s the gist of it.
Try ChatGPT for yourself
If you want to try this out and you haven’t tried it out before, you just need to go to: chat.openai.com. You’ll need to create an account. It’s a free account. I think they have a paid version because they can’t even keep up with demand right now.
And so they’re like trying to increase their servers, or whatever. I don’t really know. But the point is, you can go there and they have a free version that you can use. And I heard, I haven’t checked into this myself, that they have a paid version, which I’m probably going to end up getting because I’m using it a lot.
But you just go there and you can just try this software yourself and you can play around with it.
And so if you’re using this or if you have other ideas of things that you’re using particularly with Bible study, but anything. Like, I’d love to hear them. Let me know. Send me a DM on Instagram, leave us a comment, whatever.
I would love to hear what you’re using it for because I think if we like all share ideas together I think, I don’t know. I think that’s really, really powerful because we’re all getting different ideas and different aspects of it. So anyway, that is your nerdy nugget of the day and hopefully find this helpful.
Feel free to share it with a friend who could use it. Thanks for joining me and I’ll see you in the next one! Adios.