The Old Testament Witness to Christ and His Kingdom, Mentor's Guide, MG09

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T H E O L D T E S T A M E N T W I T N E S S T O C H R I S T A N D H I S K I N G D O M

3. The Old Testament portion must be real and present in history, as must the corresponding New Testament entity, the antitype. 4. Ask if the correspondence between type and antitype is valuable in illuminating teachings of the Bible elsewhere. In other words, is it useful, or simply entertaining? 5. Do not build essential doctrinal understanding on types. Since they are really a secondary element in revelation and are by their very nature veiled, it is easy to miss parts of correspondence or see what is not there. Use them to shed light on what is taught clearly elsewhere. 6. Be careful not to see types everywhere. Some have spent so much time on types that they have missed the main messages of the Bible. 7. Follow New Testament guidelines in seeing types. The New Testament shows that the Tabernacle and the wilderness wanderings are the two major areas of typical relations. 8. Do not try to force every point of the two entities into a correspondence. This often leads to nonsense. Types are prediction woven into history. Try to separate what is intended as prophetic from what is simply natural in life. Analogical language, including types, metaphor, etc., is notorious for being ragged at the edges of the comparison. Despite the suggestion of Karleen and others regarding the cautious and restricted use of types, this lesson will concentrate on their relationship to the OT witness to Christ , and not the use of types in general. What will hopefully become clear for you and the students through the material is that the NT uses the OT typologically in reference to the person and work of Christ, and this is the central issue related to analogy, type, and correspondence mentioned in the Bible. We are arguing that Jesus of Nazareth is the theme of the Bible, and that the thematic relationship between the OT and the NT is shown through (among other things) the use of character types by Jesus and the apostles to link the two. Keep the students mindful of this hermeneutical emphasis as you go through this lesson. ~ Ibid.