Harley,

There are really four when you include common sense or literal which I will.

1) When the scripture makes common or literal sense. All passages should be treated this way unless there is something in the text that shows otherwise. Also called the golden rule.

2) The law of double reference. This law observes that a passage or block of scripture is speaking of two different persons or two different events separated by long periods of time, but in the passage they are blended ino one picture and the gap is not represented in the passage. A good example is the old testament prophecies of the first and second coming of Christ.

3) The Law of Recurrence. This law describes the fact that some passages of scripture there exisits the recording of an event followed by a second recording of the same event giving more detail of the first.

4) A text apart from its context is a pretext. A text only means what it means in its context and cannot be pulled out of its context.

These rules were formulated by Dr. David l. Cooper the late director of the biblical research society.