Topic 6 of 33 - Your Place in the Learning Journey
What Is Typology?
Typology is a method of biblical interpretation that reads certain persons, events, or institutions in the Old Testament as "types" - prefigurations or foreshadowings of something greater that comes to fulfillment in the New Testament. Adam is a type of Christ (Romans 5). The Passover lamb is a type of Jesus (1 Corinthians 5:7). The tabernacle and its priesthood are types of Christ's high priestly work (Hebrews). Moses leading Israel through the sea is a type of baptism (1 Corinthians 10). This interpretive move is made by the New Testament authors themselves and has been central to Christian biblical interpretation ever since.
Typology is not the same as allegory, though the two are often confused. Allegory treats a narrative as a code in which the literal story is merely a vehicle for a hidden spiritual meaning - Origen's reading of the crossing of the Red Sea as an allegory of the soul's liberation from sin is a classic example. Typology, by contrast, treats the historical reality of the Old Testament event as genuine while arguing that it also points forward. The Passover was a real historical deliverance and also, Christians argue, a pointer to something greater. The historical meaning is not dissolved in the typological reading.
The scholarly debate about typology concerns how controlled or how free the method should be. Some scholars argue that typology should be restricted to connections that the New Testament itself explicitly makes - we should call something a type only when a New Testament author calls it one. Others argue for a broader typological reading that extends beyond explicit New Testament citations. The danger of the broader approach is that it can become a kind of proof-texting in reverse, reading meanings into Old Testament texts that their authors never intended and that only appear meaningful when you already know the conclusion you are trying to reach.
For the general reader, the most useful approach is to notice when the New Testament makes a typological connection and then ask: what does the Old Testament passage actually say in its original context, and how does the New Testament author's use of it relate to that original meaning? Sometimes the connection is close and illuminating. Sometimes the New Testament author is doing something more creative - using an Old Testament text as a lens or an echo rather than a direct prediction. Both kinds of use are legitimate, but they are different, and recognizing the difference makes you a more careful reader of both Testaments.