Goal of Proper Interpretation

   People assume that the Bible is a mysterious book and you need some extra ordinary abilities to be able to understand it.  They assume that it has a lot of hidden meaning or secret codes that can only be revealed and understood by those who are chosen.  Well its true that it takes more than just a casual reading to understand the meaning of Bible passages but not because of some mysterious or secret code but because of its nature. (see Nature of the Bible)

We must always remember that the Bible was written for common people.  Many of the New Testaments epistles were written for a young Christian church, so they are simple instructions and teaching to be understood by every Christians on that day.

The goal of proper interpretation is not to find new revelations unrevealed to anyone before, but rather to understand its plain and simple message.  Using proper guidelines of interpretation we should be able to distinguished between the right, the possible, and the erroneous interpretation.

The correct or right meaning of many Bible verses can be understood by using proper guidelines of interpretation.  Does this mean proper interpretation would eliminate disagreement of interpretation among Christians?  Of course not.  Some difficult verses, by its very, nature could have more than one possible interpretation.  

Possible meaning is the result of using the guidelines of interpretation on difficult verses and still coming out with more than one possible meaning. Does this mean that the Bible can mean anything?  Or can anybody interpret the Bible on his own opinion?  Absolute not.  Guidelines for interpretation puts a limitation on meanings that can be derive from a passage, and only one of those possible interpretation is correct, although none of us is absolute sure which one it is.

Erroneous interpretations are those interpretation that were given to the Bible verses in violation of the guidelines of proper interpretation.

Although there are difficult verses where it is impossible to have a consensus of interpretation among Christians, the basic doctrines of Christianity are all based on clear teachings from the Bible.  All possible interpretation of a passage should not contradict the basic doctrine of Christianity.  It should remind us also that we should be slow in calling other teachings that differs from our own denomination heretical.  We should analyze all interpretation on the basis of the basic guidelines of interpretation and the basic doctrine of Christianity.

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