The Epistles to the Hebrews

Appendix  141

Typology Readings, continued

No need to find much reality and meaning in the events and persons themselves (Old Testament) becomes nothing more than a collection of shadows) Interpreted every obscure detail of Old Testament “type” as a foreshadowing of Jesus (hermeneutics becomes magic, like pulling a rabbit out of a hat) Conclusion: typology is not the way of interpreting the Old Testament for itself. “But when we go back and read the whole of Psalm 2, Isaiah 42 and Genesis 22, it is equally true that they have enormous depths of truth and meaning for us to explore which are not directly related to Jesus himself. Typology is a way of helping us understand Jesus in the light of the Old Testament. It is not the exclusive way to understand the full meaning of the Old Testament itself” (Wright, 116).

~ Christopher J. H. Wright, Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament . Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1992. pp. 115-116

Rebutting Wright’s Claims: Jesus used typology (e.g., the brazen serpent, manna in the wilderness, the Temple of his body, the Good Shepherd, etc.) The Apostles and early Christian interpreters used typology as their normal way of reading the Old Testament (e.g., Moses’ striking the Rock, the wilderness journey of the nation of Israel, Jesus as the second Israel, etc.)

The Bible refers to itself in this way (e.g., the Book of Hebrews, the Tabernacle, the priesthood, etc.)

The question: Should we use the Old Testament as Jesus and the Apostles did, with some reference to typology ?

The Christological Hermeneutic: Messiah Jesus Connects the Testaments

Christ at once sums up in himself the perfection of the Old Testament precepts, the substance of Old Testament shadows and types, and the fulfillment of Old Testament forecasts . Those truths about him which bud forth in the Old Testament come into full bloom in the New Testament; the flashlight of prophetic truth turns into the floodlight of divine revelation.