- Am I willing to do the work to “rightly divide” this text?
- Do I have basic reading comprehension? Do I even know the text, or am I hastily making ignorant conclusions?
- Am I depending on God in prayer for the Holy Spirit to open my eyes?
- Am I optimistic about generally knowing the basic meaning?
- Am I content with the incomprehensibility of God and his works? Does this lead me to worship or to frustration?
- Am I posturing myself before the Bible as God’s very inerrant, inspired, binding, infallible word? Am I putting myself under the word or over it?
- Am I willing to bend the intellectual knee, though the text may offend my cultured, sophisticated, modern sensibilities?
- Would the truth of this text rebuke me or cause me inconvenience? Am I motivated to avoid the meaning of this text?
- Am I committed to principled, courageous obedience, no matter whatever it says?
- Do I see this text as merely old, or as having ongoing, living, active power, as the very word of God?
- What does a trusted Christian community have to say about this text? Am I making an abrupt departure from historic Christianity?
- Do I desire to be one in mind with other believers?
I Am Aaron Shafovaloff 