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Module 2 Complete: The Reader’s Pledge

What we’ve agreed to before we open the doctrine.

3 minutes

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You’ve now done something many Bible studies skip. Before we look at a single doctrine, before we debate the Trinity or the nature of the Spirit, you’ve agreed on the rules.

We have established that a person can be wrong and feel right. We have seen that tradition, philosophy, and the fear of man can quietly take control of how we read the text. And we have learned that the wise reader does not use the Bible as a mirror to admire his own preconceptions, but as a sword to let God search him.

If you are going to continue this study, you must make a commitment to the method.

Pledge

The Reader’s Pledge As I study the rest of this course, I will:

  1. Let the text lead. I will draw meaning out of a passage (exegesis) and not read my own ideas into it (eisegesis).
  2. Check my feelings. I know that I can be wrong and feel completely certain. My feelings are not a witness.
  3. Question my inheritance. I will ask where each of my beliefs came from, knowing that what is inherited is not thereby verified.
  4. Read in context. I will ask who is speaking, to whom, and why, before I connect passages by shared words alone.
  5. Let the Bible explain itself. I will allow Scripture to interpret Scripture, and I will not let a human framework or creed override the plain text.
  6. Account for every passage. I will examine the awkward texts, including the ones I’d prefer to skip because they complicate my view.
  7. Keep my confidence in proportion to the evidence. I will not hold a conclusion more firmly than the text allows.
  8. Apply the same standard to every view. I will test my own beliefs, and this course's beliefs, just as rigorously as I test the views I disagree with.
  9. Hear the other side before judging. I will not answer a matter before I hear it.
  10. Examine myself first. Before I point the finger at anyone else's theology, I will ask the most important question: "Lord, is it I?"
Downloads

• The Reader’s Checklist (PDF) • The Nine Tests of Scripture (PDF) • Scriptural Self-Examination Worksheet (PDF) • The Reader’s Pledge (PDF)

Pause and think

Read the pledge one more time. Is there any rule on that list you are unwilling to follow? If there is, stop here and deal with that first. Truth does not fear investigation, but it requires an honest heart.

"The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." (Deuteronomy 29:29)