Bible Interpretation: Basic Rules

Isaiah 28:9 says Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine?.  This chapter in Isaiah explicitly tells us how God gives us knowledge and ' makes (us) to understand doctrine.  Therefore, any other method of Hermeneutics (how to understand the Bible) is not of God and is (directly or indirectly) from the devil.  We must follow God's method if we are to have the truth and avoid God's judgment for following error.  This paper only provides the basics of Hermeneutics in outline format.  Each section below is expanded with more details in other papers.  The expansion of Isaiah 28 is in the paper called God's Method of Teaching Doctrine.

1. We need to have the Right Author (Isaiah 28:5-6, 9).  The 'author' is the source of your doctrine.  Having the Right Author requires an ongoing personal relationship with God, which is true salvation and sanctification.  God says Woe!! to religious people who claim that their author (source) is God when it is really religion.
1. The study called God's Method of Teaching Doctrine gives ways of identifying doctrinal error and those who teach doctrinal error.  Basically, any doctrine that goes against the character of God is a source of error and sin.
2. God's Law (Bible) is the truth (Psalms 119:142).  God is the truth (John 14:6).  In order to get the truth from the Bible, we need God to give it to us.   However, since the truth is in Jesus, we must personally receive Him (John 1:12-13) in order to have the truth from the Bible.
3. God gives different judgment to those who obey the truth and those who do not obey the truth.  The truth shall make you (us) free (John 8:32).  We are sanctified through the truth (John 17:9).  Every one that is of the truth heareth my (Jesus) voice (John 18:37).  Those who refuse to believe the truth are of your father the devil (John 8:44-45).  For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. (Romans 1:18-19).
4. We have to maintain our relationship with God, and continue to receive the truth from Him in order to be sanctified (2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1Peter 1:20-23; 3John 1:3) and to be acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour (1Timothy 2:3-6).
5. Those who reject (disobey) the truth (1John 1:5-10) are lost (2 Thessalonians 2:8-12) or have departed from the faith and are giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils (1Timothy 4:1-3; 1John 2:4).
6. Getting the truth from the Bible requires us receiving it from God and not from any other source (1Corinthians 2).  The 'Spirit of God uses the word of God to show the Will of God to the child of God'.  Anything less than what the Spirit of God reveals through the word of God is not the truth.  (Please see the paper called God is a Spirit.)
2. We need to have a Right Attitude (Proverbs 2:1-5). (Please see the paper called Find the Knowledge of God.)  God will not take away our free will (Romans 11:29).  Therefore, we must have a Right Attitude in order to prove that we are receiving the truth by our own free will and not by 'God's overwhelming grace' or some other religious nonsense.  The right attitude only comes with a certain level of spiritual maturity.  Spiritual maturity only comes from Christ working through the Holy Spirit and God's Word. 
   1. receive my words: It's God's words not some religion's interpretation of God's words.
   2. receive my words: Accept what you are taught from the Bible into your heart (not just head).  It will be evident in a changed life (Isaiah 1:10-20).
   3. We are to receive the kingdom of Heaven like little children (Matthew 19:13-15; Mark 10:13-16; Luke 18:15-17; John 3; 1Peter 2:2-3).  Little children do not challenge the authority of their parent but obey in faith (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 2:20; 3:11; Hebrews 10:38), believing that they will receive good, from the parent.  as a result of their obedience.
   4. hide my commandments with thee: live by the commandments from God's Word.
   5. So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom: seek Bible correction that applies to your personal life.
   6. apply thine heart to understanding: meditate on the Bible until you know God's precepts in your heart and understand how different parts of the Bible work together.
   7. Yea, if thou criest after knowledge: Beg God and His teachers to teach you what the Bible literally says says about how to apply Bible knowledge to your personal life.
   8. and liftest up thy voice for understanding: Beg God to show you how His precepts apply to all of the circumstances in life.  Talk to other believers and verify that what you understand from the Bible matches what they understand (2 Peter 1:20).
   9. If thou (you personally) seekest (search diligently with lots of effort) her  (knowledge and understanding) as silver (not as valued or as vain as gold but more useful than gold and applicable to everyday life), and searchest for her as for hid treasures (keep looking after others quit) Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God (You will understand how to avoid problems and will get the results promised by God)'.   Erroneous religious denies that God's children are to fear Him through outright denying this Bible doctrine or changing fear to some other word like respect.  Those who truly obey this verse understand (that) the fear of the LORD means the fear of the LORD and this is a blessing from God.  Please see the paper on The Fear of the Lord.
   10. The rest of Proverbs 2 (2:7-22) tell us how the righteous (those with right attitude) have different results than those who are not righteous.
3. We need to do the Right Actions (Isaiah 28:1-18). 
   1. Reject everything taught by a those who do not display the Character of Christ (Isaiah 28:1-8). 
      1. Those who justify physical sin Isaiah 28:1-7).
      2. Those who justify immoral sin Isaiah 28:8).
   2. Reject everything taught by the spiritually immature and/or lost (Isaiah 28:9). We must be saved and spiritually mature enough to not do the sins of 1Corinthians before God will teach us directly.  When God teaches us directly (Isaiah 28:9).  In order for God to teach someone directly ([Galatians 4:1-7] and [ Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine?]), they must have passed God's test (them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts).  All others are taught through a schoolmaster (Galatians 3:24-29).  We are to get doctrine from those who have passed God's test  When God teaches us directly,  He never goes against the foundation that He already laid and He expects us to teach others the same way as he teaches us.  We are to reject everything taught by the spiritually immature and/or lost because they are not receiving their doctrine from God.  The doctrinal errors which show we are still too immature for God to teach us personally include:
   1. Divisions based upon preachers / religions
   2. Use wrong definitions for doctrinal words like love
   3. Thinking religious actions and signs show true spiritual maturity
   4. Confuse worldly blessings with spiritual blessings
   5. Can't tell God's wisdom from man's wisdom
   6. etc
   3. In order to prove that we have passed God's test (Isaiah 28:9), we have to use God's method and God's standard.  Please see the papers called God's Logic and Prove and Rightly Dividing.  Those papers provide the details on how we prove that what God says must be (Isaiah 28:10-11, 13) if we do not want to fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken (Isaiah 28:13).
   4. Always follow God's commandment to apply precept upon precept.
   1. Precepts are truths that always hold regardless of where in the Bible we are or what circumstances of life are occurring.
   2. The Bible contains stories and figures of speech, but is still a legal document and must be interpreted by principals of law.
   3. Two witnesses are required for doctrinal authority.  Jesus submitted to this doctrine.  It can eliminate many errors of practice and of doctrine.
   4. What is established by God is more reliable than the laws of nature (Genesis 9:17).  When God establishes something, He provides at  least two witnesses to that fact (Genesis 41:32).  These rules in Isaiah 28 are double established by God.
   5. etc
   5. Always follow God's commandment to apply line upon line.
   1. The word in the original language can be translated as 'measuring line'.  We 'measure' languages with grammar and punctuation.  That gives us our sentences as divided by punctuation (jot and tittle).  Also, in Isaiah's day there were no 'verses' in the word of God and people understood that line meant 'sentence'.
   2. They had enough training to pay attention to the punctuation.  Grammar is critical in all documents and changing grammar changes the interpretation of the document.  God says He established and preserves the grammar.  (Genesis 28:10, Genesis 28:13; Matthew 5:18).
   • Many Biblical errors are from 'interpreting' verses instead of sentences.
   • Many errors result from ignoring colons.  See Jude 1:1-2 as opposed to Jude 1:4.
   • Most heresies can be corrected by looking at grammar and context.
   3. They understood that line upon line meant 'keep it within the context'.
   6. Use God's definitions for God's words.
   1. Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4 quote Deuteronomy when they say It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.  The phrase by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God  means that we must use the definition that God meant when he spoke the word.  Many Good, Godly, fundamental preachers' are led into doctrinal error by using traditional definitions of words instead of finding the true Biblical definitions.  Peter preached doctrinal error by following religious traditions instead of verifying what he preached with the word of God.
4. We need to submit to the Right Authority.  Many religions tell you that they are Bible based and if you submit to their rules you are obeying the Bible.  It this was true then we would not have all of these different doctrinal 'interpretations' of the Bible.  Please see the papers called Prove and Dividing about the correct way to interpret the Bible.  Please see the paper on Lord Jesus Christ since it is an application of the correct way to interpret the Bible and is an example of the rules stated here.  It shows how God is our Right Authority and also shows how His authority and relationship with men varies from one of His roles to another of His roles.
1. As King, God creates a kingdom that reflects His character.  There are several kings and kingdoms in the Bible.  Each is different and each kingdom reflects the character of the king.  Those who do not have the God of the Bible as their King have Satan as their king and will spend eternity in his kingdom (Lake of Fire [ Revelation 19:20; 20:10, 14-15]).
2. As Lord, God makes the laws, judges each of us according to those laws and rewards the obedient and punishes the disobedient.
3. As Jesus, the Son of God became 'God in human flesh' and gave up His power as Lord until He fulfilled everything required to pay for our sins.  At the resurrection, He took back His power and authority as Lord and will never give them up again.  Please see the paper called Jesus used the Power of the Holy Spirit.  As Jesus, the Son of God lived as a weak physical man and is our example of how to live in this flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit.  'What Did Jesus Do?'   is a proper doctrine that Satan weakened by using lost and worldly people to claim that Jesus would do a lot of non-Biblical things.
4. As Christ, the Son of God maintains our ongoing personal relationship which gives us spiritual maturity, causes us to stop our sinning and allows God to work through our lives.
5. As the Lamb of God, the Son of God became the sacrifice that paid for our sin.  Also, the Lamb of God will bring vengeance upon all who reject His sacrifice.
6. Saviour is a role like 'parent'.  Just as a father and a mother are each a 'parent' while doing different functions of the role called 'parent' so also do each member of the Trinity perform different functions in our salvation.  The Bible tells us that God the Father, the Holy Spirit and God the Son (in each of His roles as Lord and as Jesus and as Christ) are Saviour while also telling us that each performed a different function in our salvation.
7. As Son, the Son of God shows us the character of God the Father and shows us how we are to reveal the character of God to a lost world.
8. As a Spirit, God teaches us about spiritual matters and how the Spirit has power and authority over the physical (world and flesh).  1John teaches us that the world leads us into sin.  The world claims that spiritual matters are part of the flesh (emotions, will of man [ John 1:12-13], etc) and therefore, the world has control over spiritual things.  If we don't have God's Spirit as our Authority, the world will cause us to turn things upside down.  Please see the study called God is a Spirit.