A Biblical Vision, Part I: Mastering the Old Testament Witness to Christ

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A B i b l i ca l Vi s i on, Par t I : Mas ter i ng the Ol d Tes tament Wi tnes s to Chr i s t

I. Picturing Forth the Truth: The Role of Types and Analogies in Biblical Interpretation

Typology deals with the concept of form or pattern, which the Greek word typos refers, in the biblical times that referred to the original model or prototype and copy that resulted from it.

A. Definition of types and analogy

1. F. F. Bruce: (derived from the Greek, typos , meaning ‘seal-impression’); “a way of setting forth the biblical history of salvation so that some of its earlier phases are seen as anticipations of later phases, or some later phase as the recapitulation or fulfillment of an earlier one.”

2. Moorhead: “a type is a person, event, or thing so fashioned as to resemble another.”

3. J. A. Schmidt: “types are a set of pictures or object lessons by which God would teach his people about his grace and saving power.”

4. D. Davis: “a biblical type is an object, event, happening, image, or reality that prefigures in the Old Testament a reality in the New Testament, usually focused on the person and work of Jesus Christ.”

a. Type: the mark left by a blow, a stamped image; (by analogy) a statue; [fig.] a model used of imitation or warning

b. Antitype: [lit.] striking back, echoing; [fig.] a thing resembling another, i.e., its counterpart; a thing formed for some pattern