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

4. D. L. 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

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

B. Is a typological study of the Scriptures valid today?

2

1. It is the way the apostles studied and correlated the OT to the new revelation in Christ.

a. Moses and the serpent in the wilderness, John 3.14-15

b. Jonah, Queen of Sheba, and Solomon, Matt. 12.40-42

c. Manna in the wilderness, John 6.49-51

d. Spiritual drink from the Rock, 1 Cor. 10.1-4

2. Much abuse of this kind of interpretation has caused many to ignore the richness of this method of connecting truth between the OT and NT.