Typology

Definition and Meaning

Typology (Korean mohyeongnon) is a method of interpretation holding that persons, events, and institutions of the Old Testament are shadows that foreshadow the work of Christ and of salvation to be fulfilled in the New Testament. The element that foreshadows is called the "type," and the reality to which the type points is called the "antitype." Korean churches also use the terms yepyo (豫表, "a sign shown in advance") and yepyoron ("the doctrine of foreshadowing"). The word derives from the Greek typos, meaning a pattern or an impression. In Romans 5:14, the New Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Gaejeong) calls Adam the "type of the one to come"; the King James Version reads "the figure of him that was to come."

Typology presupposes that Old Testament events actually occurred in history and seeks correspondences between those events and events in the New Testament. In this respect it is commonly distinguished from allegorical interpretation, which assigns hidden meanings to individual words of a text.

Biblical and Historical Background

The New Testament contains several examples of reading the Old Testament in this way.

• Jesus compared Jonah's time in the belly of the fish to his own death and resurrection (Matthew 12:40).
• Jesus likened the bronze serpent in the wilderness to the Son of man being lifted up (John 3:14; Numbers 21:8–9).
• Paul called the events that took place in the wilderness "ensamples" (1 Corinthians 10:11–12).
• 1 Peter 3:21 connects the waters of Noah's flood with baptism.
• Hebrews explains the tabernacle and the sacrificial system as "the example and shadow of heavenly things" (Hebrews 8:5) and compares Melchizedek to the priesthood of Christ.

In the patristic era, the Alexandrian school is generally regarded as having leaned toward allegorical interpretation and the Antiochene school toward historical and literal interpretation. Typology was widely accepted in both schools. Augustine is known for the saying, "The New Testament lies hidden in the Old, and the Old is made manifest in the New." The Reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin gave priority to the literal and historical sense of the text while still acknowledging types that point to Christ.

Practice in Korean Churches

• In Korean preaching, Isaac offered on Mount Moriah and the ram, the Passover lamb, and the furnishings of the tabernacle are frequently interpreted as types of Christ. Some churches hold seminars on the tabernacle or display models of it.
• Some Presbyterians in the Reformed and covenant theology tradition emphasize "redemptive-historical preaching," which connects the whole Old Testament to Christ within the unfolding history of salvation, and they use typology as its central tool.
• Preachers influenced by dispensationalism have also sought types extensively. They differ from covenant theology, however, in that they interpret within a framework that distinguishes Israel from the church.
• Regarding the scope of typology, a cautious view holding that only types explicitly identified in the New Testament should be recognized exists alongside the view that types may be identified more broadly. Critics also warn that multiplying symbols without warrant drifts into allegorical interpretation. In cult counseling, arbitrary interpretations that piece together biblical symbols are singled out as something to guard against.