Questions for stories in the Bible

I have the privilege to teach a Sunday School class at my church. This past Sunday (and a few upcoming Sundays also) I was teaching the class on the different types of literature in the Bible. I made clear with the class that the Bible has 3 main types of literature in it; narrative or story, poetry, and discourse or teaching. We talked about why it is important to understand the differences, how the differences in types effects interpretation, and clues to know which type of literature one is reading. We then spent a few moments beginning to think about the narrative or story style of literature specifically.

As the class began to look at familiar stories in the Bible, I gave them 5 important questions to ask each story of the Bible. These 5 questions help a reader understand the story in the Bible better, come to understand the main point off the story, and begin to see the application of that particular story. We began an exercise in the class with these 5 questions. We took the story of Genesis 22 and Abraham offering Isaac on the alter. We asked the story these 5 questions and began to think about the big idea and application of this story, on us as the reader.

Here are the 5 questions we should ask of every narrative or story in the Bible.

1)Where are we?
This is a setting question. Where do we find ourselves in the story of the Bible, the book, or even in the life of a particular character.

2)Who are we?
This is a character question. This question begins to help identify the protagonist and antagonist and minor characters in this particular story.

3)Whats wrong in the story?
This is a conflict question. Conflict is what drives any story. This question points to the driving force in the movement of the story and its characters.

4)What time is it?
This question is about the time of day, time of year, time of life, time in the Biblical story, or time in God's plan of redemption.

5)What is the solution?
The resolution to the conflict in the story is where the applications of the story begins. The resolution in the story is usually around the big idea of the story.