Hermeneutics refers to the study of the interpretation of religious texts. These are some rules that I've learned that help me while reading the Bible. I believe the Bible as written is inerrant and is the Word of God. I wrote as written because the greek is a complex language, our translations miss some of the meaning. For example: King James translates three different greek words into world. I think some mistakes, or disagreements may be due to not knowing the original words. I also say as written because we can't change a meaning of a word to fit our personal doctrine. If the original says "this" we can't change the meaning to "that", as has been done by some.

Rules:

1. "If the plain sense makes common sense, seek no other sense." God gave us a mind, we should use it. Some passages are poetic, some are allegorical, some are apocryphal. We must use our common sense to know the difference.
2. The New Testament is a series of letters written to real people or churches. We have to consider the historical context. We have to consider what the letters meant to the people they were written to. It is wrong to apply it in a way that didn't apply to the original recipient.
3. The Bible should interpret the Bible. By this they mean a symbol probably means the same thing through out the Bible.
4. The clear statements control the obscure. We can't come up with an explanation for an obscure passage that negates the meaning of a clear statement. The clear statements form a framework, or foundation to understand the obscure.
5. All passages must mesh. We can't disregard a passage that seems to contradict the one we're looking at. Somehow there is an explanation that makes sense. That is why the Bible is one book people can study for their whole lives.
6. There are two realities, a spiritual reality and a physical reality. We need discernment, to judge between which one a passage is talking about. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Gen 2:16-17) For example, in the above passage God tells Adam "in the day you eat of it you shall surely die". That statement is a spiritual reality, not a physical reality for we know that Adam didn't die until many years later. Satan used that confusion to cast doubt on the word of God and he is still using that technique today. Many times Christ was misunderstood, because he was referring to the spiritual reality, and they would understand it as a physical reality. For example, when he refers to "destroy this temple", they take it as the Jewish Temple, where he was referring to a spiritual temple, his body.