Rules of Interpretation

There are two main methods of Interpretation: Exegesis and Eisegesis

Eisegesis

This is when the interpreter injects his own ideas into the text. 
This is the method of interpretation used by the cults and progressives so as to hold their erroneous beliefs
Eisegesis rejects the rules of interpretation 

Exegesis

The interpreter is lead to his conclusion about a given text by following the rules of interpretation as listed below
Please read the rules below to have a better understand of the correct way of interpreting Scripture

1. Define Terms
   -  What type of Literary Style are you reading? 
   -  Poetry, Prophecy, Historical, Parable, Allegory, Simile, Metaphor
   
   
2. Context is King
   -  Who wrote the book?
   -  When was the book written?
   -  What group was the book addressing?
   -  What is the purpose of the book?
   -  What comes before and after the passage?
   
   
3. Look to Jesus
   -  Jesus is the Word made flesh. When He talks about any passage in the Old Testament, whatever He says is the supreme interpretation. For example, some critics want to say that the story of Jonah was just allegory and that Genesis 1-11 is just a myth, but when Jesus talks about these passages, He refers to them as literal events. If Jesus viewed those events as Literal, than so should everyone who calls Jesus their Lord and Savior.
   
   
4. Start with Prayer
   -  When you venture into the art of interpretation, remember that you are human capable of making errors. You must be humble and never forget that you are handling the Word of God. So before you do anything, come to the Lord in prayer. Ask Him for wisdom and understanding and to help you in interpreting what He has said. Do not lean on your own understanding (click here to be reminded why not to).
   
   
5. Grammar
   -  Compare multiple Bible versions with varying translation strategies 
   -  When you compare the multiple reliable translations, you will see a commonality as to what is being communicated
   
   
6. Plain Meaning
   -  When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take very word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths indicate clearly otherwise. 
   -  In other words, we should always accept a text at simple face value, unless something else in the Bible forces us to do otherwise.
   
   
7. Semantics
   - Look for a specific word that sticks out. When you find it look at how the other translations translate that word. Alos, you can use the Strongs concordance to find different meanings for that word. Be careful though, just because a word has different meanings, doesn't mean that you can just pick and choose what you want the word to say. I have seen many a people come up with crazy interpretations of a given passage because they made the passage say what they wanted it to say rather than say what it actually said. That is a form of Eisegesis you want to stay away from. 
   -  Find the keywords that stick out in the passage and see how those words in the original language were used in other parts of Scripture. This leads into the next, and maybe the most important, rule of Interpretation
   
   
8. Scripture is the Best Interpreter
   -  This is probably one of the most important rules of Interpretation. You have to let Scripture interpret Scripture. If Scripture is Gods Word, then let God tell you what He means in a given passage. God cannot contradict Himself. So if you interpret a piece off Scripture in such a way that makes it contradict itself somewhere else, then you just screwed up. The cults are guilt of doing this all the time. 
   -  You never go outside of Scripture to interpret Scripture. Many of the modern Christian theologians and apologists have fallen prey to the folly of refering to the surrounding cultures to interpret certain passages. For example, William Lane Craig has interpreted the beginning of Genesis to be a type of Mytho-History because the surrounding cultures have similar stories regarding Creation. If you stay within Scripture, you have absolutely no reason to mythologize Genesis. Also, you would have to completely ignore rule #3 to Mythologize it also.