Definition of "Type" (Typology)
A "type" is an entity (i.e. person, place, thing, or event)
which foreshadows a future entity. The type is so fashioned as to be
"like," to resemble, or to match the future entity in some
essential feature. The future fulfillment of the "type" is
called the "antitype." To be a Biblical type, we propose the
following criteria:
- Picture of redemption. It must be a sketch of some
well-defined feature of redemption, and therefore must in some distinct
way resemble its antitype. For example, Aaron the high priest is a
sketch, a rough figure of Christ the Great High Priest.
- God instituted. The type must be from God. Only God foreknew the
plan of redemption, so only God can institute Biblical types.
- Type before antitype. A type always prefigures something
future. There is a progression or graduation
from type to antitype; of the lesser to the greater; from the material
to the spiritual; the earthly to the heavenly.This distinguishes it from a symbol or metaphor. A symbol may represent
a thing of the present or of the past as well as of the future, e.g.
the symbols in the Lord's Supper. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance. There are many examples of metaphors used in the Bible, e.g. "eating," drinking," "hungry," "thirsty," "pruning," "planting," "watering," etc.
There are three words in the New Testament that resemble "type."
- "Shadow." "Shadow" implies dimness and transitoriness;
but it also implies a measure of resemblance between the one and the
other. For example, "For the law having a shadow of good things
to come" Hebrews 10:1.
- "Copy" or "Pattern." "Copy" or "pattern"
denotes a sketch or draft of something future. For example, the tabernacle
and its furniture and services were copies, outlines of heavenly things
(Hebrews 9:23).
- "Parable." A parable is a comparison of two things, often done
through a story that has two meanings. Jesus did much of his teaching
in parables. Jesus' reason for the use of parables is explained in
Matthew:
Matthew 13:10-11, 14: Then the disciples came and said to him,
"Why do you speak to them in parables?" And he answered
them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the
kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given… You
will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed
see but never perceive."
There is the danger of "type" worship. For
example, the bronze serpent made by Moses (see Numbers 21:9) became
an object of worship long before it met its antitype in Christ. It eventually
had to be destroyed by King Hezekiah.
2 Kings 18:4: He [Hezekiah] removed the high places and broke the
pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze
serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel
had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). [Nehushtan sounds
like the Hebrew for both bronze and serpent]
Notes
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