Type

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

1. Word and idea. -Though τύπος and ἀντίτυπος both occur in the original, ‘type’ and its correlative ‘antitype’ are theological rather than Scriptural terms. In theological usage a type is a person or thing in the OT dispensation that represents and prefigures a person or thing in the NT, hence called the antitype. In the text of English Version, however, neither ‘type’ nor ‘antitype’ is found, though Revised Versiongives ‘in the antitype’ as an alternative rendering in  1 Peter 3:21 m. Even in the Greek NT, where ἀντίτυπος occurs twice, the word appears to be employed not substantively but adjectively in the forms ἀντίτυπα ( Hebrews 9:24) and ἀντίτυπον ( 1 Peter 3:21), which Revised Versionrenders respectively ‘like in pattern’ and ‘after a true likeness’; while τύπος, again, which is of frequent occurrence, is used with a variety of meanings and only once ( Romans 5:14) in a sense corresponding to that of a doctrinal type. In  John 20:25 it denotes the impression left by a stroke (‘the print of the nails’); in  Acts 7:43 the figure or image of a god; in  Acts 23:25 a form of writing; in  Romans 6:17 a form of teaching; in  Acts 7:44,  Hebrews 8:5 a pattern or model for the making of the tabernacle. From this last meaning the transition is easy to the ethical sense of an example of conduct. In  1 Corinthians 10:6 it designates an example that is to be avoided; in other cases ( Philippians 3:17,  1 Thessalonians 1:7,  2 Thessalonians 3:9,  1 Timothy 4:12,  Titus 2:7;  1 Peter 5:3) an example that is to be copied. In  Romans 5:14, where Adam is said to be τύπος τοῦ μέλλοντος ( i.e. of Jesus Christ), and where English Versionrenders ‘figure,’ the word is used at last in a doctrinal sense and the idea of type and antitype comes clearly into view.

When once this idea is accepted, however, it becomes evident that the NT uses of the word are far from exhausting the cases in which the idea is present. The contrasts in  Colossians 2:17 between the σκιά and the σῶμα, in  Hebrews 8:5 between the σκιά and the ἐπουράνια, in  Hebrews 10:1 between the σκιά and the εἰκών are all of them contrasts between types and their antitypes-between a prefiguring ordinance of the old dispensation and a corresponding spiritual reality of the new. The case is similar in  Galatians 4:24ff., where St. Paul contrasts the two covenants, in  Hebrews 9:9, where the author represents the first tabernacle as a παραβολή ‘for the time now present,’ and very notably in  Hebrews 5:7, where he works out at length the relation between Melchizedek, ‘made like unto the Son of God’ ( Hebrews 7:3), and Jesus Himself, ‘a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek’ ( Hebrews 5:6 etc.). In these and many other familiar passages which will have to be considered more particularly, the NT authors bring before us the idea of type and antitype-the idea that persons, events, and institutions of the OT represent, and were designed by God to represent, persons, events, and institutions of the Christian dispensation.

2. Origin of the idea. -The typological idea, as it meets us in the NT, is not a peculiar or isolated phenomenon, but a natural outgrowth from the more general conception of the OT revelation as prophetic, and of Jesus and the gospel as fulfilling the hope and promise made to the fathers. The forward look of their own Scriptures was apparent to the Jews themselves; to the apostles it had become evident that what prophets and psalmists looked for was now in their very midst. Jesus had announced the arrival of the Kingdom of God and had declared Himself to be the expected Christ. On His first public appearance He had read a passage from Isaiah ( Isaiah 61:1 f.) which throbs with the good tidings of the Lord’s acceptable year, and had said to the listeners, ‘To-day hath this scripture been fulfilled in your ears’ ( Luke 4:21). From that time onward He had pointed out repeatedly that what was written in the OT Scriptures was now being accomplished, that what prophets and righteous men of old had desired to see and hear was now being seen and heard by those around Him ( Mark 7:6,  Matthew 13:17). That the Scriptures bore witness of Christ the disciples understood even during His earthly life, but their understanding of this fact was wonderfully enlarged by His death and resurrection, which cast a flood of light upon aspects of prophecy that had previously been obscured (cf.  Acts 8:28-35). St. Peter’s speeches in Acts (cf.  Acts 2:14-39) and his First Epistle show how strong a sense he had that the Spirit of Christ was in the Prophets ( 1 Peter 1:11). To St. Paul with his larger outlook upon history and revelation the whole of Scripture was prophetic-the Law as well as the Prophets ( Romans 3:21); and so the Law became ‘our tutor to bring us unto Christ’ ( Galatians 3:24). With their view of the OT writings as prophetic of Christ and Christianity at point after point, it was natural that the NT authors should apply to the revelation in the history of Israel the principles they had already applied to its record, and should find Christ and the Christian salvation prefigured in the persons, events, and institutions of OT history, as they had already found them foretold in the OT Scriptures. Such an extension of the principle of prophecy from utterances to types was the natural outcome of a belief in a progressive revelation passing from a lower to a higher stage. If the older dispensation as a whole contained within it the promise of the Christ who was to come, it was only to be expected that there should be correspondences in detail between the two economies. Prophecy and type, indeed, run into each other, the difference being one of form rather than of nature, so that at times they are hardly distinguishable (cf.  Isaiah 28:16;  1 Peter 2:6). And, if the authority of Jesus Himself had been required for the adoption of a definitely typological interpretation of OT history, the apostles and other NT writers might recall His use of Jonah’s experience to typify His own ( Matthew 12:40), of the wisdom of Solomon to suggest the wisdom of One greater than Solomon ( Matthew 12:42), of the flood that came in the days of Noah to prefigure the coming of the Son of Man ( Matthew 24:37 ff.), and of the serpent uplifted by Moses in the wilderness to stand as a prophetic symbol of the truth that the Son of Man must be lifted up ( John 3:14).

3. Applications of the idea by apostolic Christianity

(1) The primitive circle .-Springing naturally out of the conception of the OT as prophetic of the Christian dispensation, and being justified by the language of Christ Himself, the idea of type and antitype appears in the teaching of those who belonged to the original apostolic circle. Sometimes it is hardly distinguishable from the use of historical examples for purposes of illustration ( 1 Peter 3:6,  James 2:21;  James 2:25;  James 5:11;  James 5:17), but at other times it stands out with unmistakable clearness. In St. Peter’s speeches in Acts Moses as a prophet becomes a type of Jesus Christ ( Acts 3:22), the covenant with Abraham of the blessings of the Christian salvation ( Acts 3:25 f.), the rejected stone which was made the head of the corner ( Psalms 118:22) of Jesus in His humiliation and exalted power ( Acts 4:11). In 1 Peter the Apostle takes the unblemished lamb of the Passover ( Exodus 12:5) to typify Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot ( 1 Peter 1:19), and sees in Noah’s ark a prefiguration of baptism as a means of salvation ( 1 Peter 3:21). In  1 Peter 1:2, again, the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ upon the elect is evidently an antitype of the action of Moses in sprinkling blood first on the altar and then on the people for the inauguration of the covenant ( Exodus 24:6-8).

(2) The Pauline Epistles .-This typical conception of the history and institutions of Israel was taken up by St. Paul, and received from him much wider and more frequent application. Sometimes it is the persons or characters of the OT that he treats as types. In  Romans 5:14,  1 Corinthians 15:22 Adam, the natural head of the race, is taken as a type of Christ, the spiritual head. In  Galatians 3:9 faithful Abraham is a type of all who believe the gospel. In  2 Corinthians 3:7ff. Moses with the glory on his face represents the more glorious ministration of the Spirit. In  Galatians 4:22ff., where allegory is blended with type through a deeper meaning being read into the OT narrative than it naturally bears, Sarah and Hagar, Isaac and Ishmael are used as types of Judaism in bondage to the Law and Christianity set free from its yoke. At other times types are found in the transactions or events of the OT narratives, as when the union of Christ with the Church is held to be prefigured by the union of Adam with Eve ( Ephesians 5:32; cf.  Genesis 2:24), Christian baptism by the passage of the Red Sea ( 1 Corinthians 10:1-2), the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper by the manna and water of the wilderness ( 1 Corinthians 10:3-4), and Christ Himself by the rock from which the water flowed ( 1 Corinthians 10:4). Most frequently, however, it is in the religious institutions of the OT that St. Paul discovers types of the new economy. The paschal lamb and Christ ( 1 Corinthians 5:7; cf.  Romans 3:25,  Ephesians 5:2), the Temple and the Christian Church ( 1 Corinthians 3:16,  2 Corinthians 6:16), the ministry of the altar and the ministry of the gospel ( 1 Corinthians 9:13), circumcision and baptism ( Colossians 2:11-12), the sacrificial communion of Judaism and communion at the Lord’s Table in the body and blood of Christ ( 1 Corinthians 10:16;  1 Corinthians 10:18)-these are particular instances he gives of the fact that the institutions of the old dispensation were anticipative and symbolic of the new. In the later Epistles he states the case more broadly. In  Colossians 2:17 the general principle is laid down that the legal institutions of Judaism are only ‘a shadow of the things to come,’ viz. the institutions of the Messianic Age, while the body, i.e. the substantial reality, is of Christ. The antinomy between Law and Gospel which meets us in the earlier Epistles is now resolved, for he sees that the Law as a Divine ordinance was temporary, indeed, in its obligatory character, but possessed of an abiding significance as typical of the future blessings of the Kingdom of grace. Circumcision finds its meaning in ‘a circumcision not made with hands’ ( Colossians 2:11; cf.  Ephesians 2:11,  Philippians 3:3), the expiatory sacrifices of tabernacle and temple in the self-surrender of Christ to God on our behalf ( Ephesians 5:2), the free-will offerings in those gifts of Christian liberality which are a sacrifice acceptable to God ( Philippians 4:18), the whole Levitical service (λατρεία; cf.  Exodus 12:25 Septuagint) in a service wrought by the Spirit of God ( Philippians 3:3) of which the self-sacrificing ministry (λειτουργία; cf.  Numbers 8:22) of St. Paul to his converts ( Philippians 2:17) or theirs to him ( Philippians 2:30) may be taken as an example.

(3) The Epistle to the Hebrews .-In this Epistle we find the typological interpretation of the OT carried to its fullest results. Conceiving of religion as a covenant between God and man, the author’s purpose is to prove to his Jewish readers that Christianity, the religion of the New Covenant, is better than Judaism, the religion of the Old; and the method which he employs is to draw a series of contrasts between the Old and the New regarded as type and antitype. If the doctrinal keynote of the Epistle may be found in the twice-quoted prophecy of Jeremiah, ‘Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah’ ( Jeremiah 31:31ff.; cf.  Hebrews 8:8 ff;  Hebrews 10:16ff.), the method of its apologetic argument is given when the legal service of tabernacle and temple is described as ‘a copy and shadow of the heavenly things’ ( Hebrews 8:5 Revised Version), and the Levitical Law generally as ‘having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things’ ( Hebrews 10:1). All through the Epistle there runs a series of contrasts between Judaism as preparatory and typical and Christianity as antitypical and perfect, ( a ) In the opening verses the fragmentary and varying revelation ‘of old time’ by the prophets is set over against God’s speech unto us in His Son ( Hebrews 1:1-2), and this is immediately followed by the contrast of angels as ministering spirits sent forth to do service for the heirs of salvation ( Hebrews 1:14) with Him who was made a little lower than the angels that He might bring many sons unto glory ( Hebrews 2:9-10), ( b ) Next comes ( Hebrews 3:1 to  Hebrews 4:13) a contrast between Moses, a faithful servant in God’s house, and Christ, a Son set over it ( Hebrews 3:5 f.), in the course of which a further contrast is drawn between the good tidings preached to the Israelites in the wilderness and the word of the Christian gospel ( Hebrews 4:2)-the promised rest of Canaan being used as symbolic of the rest that remains for the people of God ( Hebrews 4:9). The relation of type and antitype clearly underlies these two contrasts, but ( c ) in the next section of his work ( Hebrews 4:14 to  Hebrews 10:18), where a contrast is drawn out between the Levitical or Aaronic high priest of the OT and Christ, the Son, conceived as a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, the author typologizes more boldly and directly, following here a suggestion derived from the OT itself ( Psalms 110:4). Melchizedek, he says, the mysterious king-priest, was ‘made like unto the Son of God’ ( Hebrews 7:3); and he describes Christ not only as ‘a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek’ ( Hebrews 6:20; cf.  Hebrews 5:6;  Hebrews 5:10,  Hebrews 7:11;  Hebrews 7:17;  Hebrews 7:21), but as a priest ‘after the likeness of Melchizedek’ ( Hebrews 7:15). Side by side, however, with this typology of likeness there is introduced a typology of contrast-the contrast between the order of Aaron and the order of Melchizedek ( Hebrews 7:11). If Melchizedek typifies Christ as another priest of the same order, Aaron typifies Him as a priest of a higher order than his own, who becomes the surety of a better covenant than that given under the Levitical Law ( Hebrews 7:22; cf.  Hebrews 7:11). The anticipatory and typical relation of the Levitical priesthood, as serving that which is a copy and shadow of the heavenly things ( Hebrews 8:5), to the high priesthood of Christ, as ministering the heavenly things themselves ( Hebrews 9:23) in the heavenly sanctuary ( Hebrews 8:1-2), is carried by the author into great detail. The tabernacle that Moses pitched pointed to the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man ( Hebrews 8:2;  Hebrews 8:5), and so became ‘a parable for the time now present’ ( Hebrews 9:9), i.e. for the age of the OT. The first covenant, inasmuch as it was not faultless, gives the promise of the second and better covenant ( Hebrews 8:6-7). In the passage of the high priest once a year into the holy place with his sacrifice of blood, the Holy Ghost signifies that the way into the holy place has not yet been made manifest ( Hebrews 9:8), and that Christ Himself must come as the Mediator of the New Covenant, offering Himself through the eternal Spirit without spot unto God ( Hebrews 9:14 f.). In all these cases of contrast between the tabernacle made with hands and the greater and more perfect tabernacle, between the earthly ministry of the Levitical priesthood and the ministry of Christ Himself, the relation of type and antitype is made perfectly apparent. It is a relation between copies (ὑποδείγματα) of the things in the heavens and the heavenly things themselves ( Hebrews 9:23), between what is like in pattern (ἀντίτυπα) to the true ( Hebrews 9:24) and the enduring realities foreshadowed thereby.

(4) The Apocalypse .-The typology of the NT, so far as we have hitherto considered it, bears upon the relation between past and present; it consists in the use of persons or things in the OT to represent and prefigure the present realities of the Kingdom of God. But God’s Kingdom has a future as well as a present, and when we reach the Apocalypse-a book that claims to be a revelation of’ things which must come to pass hereafter’ ( Revelation 4:1; cf.  Revelation 1:1)-we find that the writer goes to the OT for his types of the Christian future, just as St. Paul and the author of Hebrews have done for their types of the Christian present. In the messages to the Seven Churches, it is true, he deals with existing situations, and the use which he makes in this connexion of OT types does not differ in character from what we find in other books of the NT. The seven lamps of the golden lampstand in the tabernacle become types of the Seven Churches themselves ( Revelation 1:12;  Revelation 1:20); Israel’s kings and priests, of a kingdom and priesthood to God already enjoyed by all whom Jesus has loosed from their sins by His blood ( Revelation 1:5 f.). And the history of Israel furnishes types not only of the living Christianity within the churches, but of a false doctrine and debased morality that were making the lamps of the churches burn dim-Balaam has his antitype in the contemporary Balaamites ( Revelation 2:14) and Jezebel in the false and wicked prophetess by whom God’s servants are seduced ( Revelation 2:20).

But, apart from his rapid glance at existing circumstances in the churches with which he was familiar, the gaze of this writer is forward and upward; he is looking through a door opened in heaven, he is thinking of the things that must come to pass hereafter ( Revelation 4:1). From the actual churches in Asia he leads his readers to the great vision of the Church that is to be, saying to them in the words of the angel, ‘Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb’ ( Revelation 21:9). And in his descriptions of the coming glory that is to crown the long struggles of the Church on earth he finds in the OT foreshadowing types of the final consummation. Some of his types are taken from the story of human beginnings in the early chapters of Genesis, as if to show the unity of the Divine plan from first to last. The Garden of Eden prefigures and anticipates ‘the Paradise of God’ ( Revelation 2:7); the tree of life in the midst of the garden ( Genesis 2:9), from which fallen man had to be debarred ( Revelation 3:22), another tree of life, whose fruit is given to be eaten ( Revelation 2:7) and whose leaves are for the healing of the nations ( Revelation 22:2). Other types are offered by the history of the chosen people and the chosen land. Sodom and Egypt have their spiritual counterparts ( Revelation 11:8), the fall of Babylon becomes a parable of the fall of that great city which made all nations drink of the wine of her fornication ( Revelation 14:8). The triumph song of Moses and the children of Israel ( Exodus 15:1,  Deuteronomy 31:30;  Deuteronomy 32:4) becomes ‘the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb’ ( Revelation 15:3); the manna by which Israel was fed in the wilderness tells of a hidden manna given to him that over-cometh ( Revelation 2:17); the twelve tribes reappear in the twelve companies of the sealed servants of God ( Revelation 7:4-8); Jerusalem itself is transfigured into the new Jerusalem, the city of God ( Revelation 3:12,  Revelation 21:2;  Revelation 21:10); Mount Zion, to which the tribes went up, becomes the gathering place of the hosts of the redeemed ( Revelation 14:1-3). But, as was natural to one who conceived of the heavenly blessedness as consisting essentially in acts of adoring worship ( Revelation 7:9-15,  Revelation 22:3; note that ‘to serve [λατρεύω] God’ = to worship Him), the writer of this book finds his most frequent types in the sanctuary and sanctuary service of ancient Israel. The tabernacle in the wilderness anticipated that ‘tabernacle of God’ in which He shall dwell for ever with His people and they with Him ( Revelation 21:3 f.); the Temple in Jerusalem, ‘the temple of God’ which is in heaven ( Revelation 11:19; cf.  Revelation 3:12,  Revelation 7:15 and passim ); the very pillars of the Temple are types of the strong overcoming soul who shall go out of the temple no more ( Revelation 3:12). Aaron and his sons in their holy garments of glory and beauty ( Exodus 28:1ff.) reappear in the angels of the celestial temple ‘arrayed with precious stone, pure and bright, and girt about their breasts with golden girdles’ ( Revelation 15:6). In antitypal reality the golden altar with its four horns ( Exodus 30:3) still stands before God ( Revelation 9:13;  Revelation 6:9;  Revelation 8:3); the ark of the covenant is still seen in His temple ( Revelation 11:19; cf. ‘the tabernacle of the testimony,’  Revelation 15:5). There is a golden censer in the heavenly courts, and golden bowls full of incense; but the incense of heaven is the prayers of the saints ( Revelation 5:8,  Revelation 8:3; cf.  Leviticus 16:12f.). And, as an atoning sacrifice was the central and culminating act of all the sanctuary worship of Israel ( Exodus 30:10; cf.  Hebrews 9:7ff.), Jesus, the antitype of all ancient sacrifice, appears predominantly (27 times) under the figure of ‘the Lamb’-the sacrificial and victoriously redemptive significance of the name being made evident on its very first appearance in the book, when the Lamb is described as having been slain, and yet standing in the midst of the throne ( Revelation 5:6;  Revelation 5:9;  Revelation 5:12; cf. ‘I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades,’  Revelation 1:18), endowed with all might and all knowledge (‘having seven horns, and seven eyes,’  Revelation 5:6), and yet having bought us with His blood ( Revelation 5:9; cf.  Revelation 7:14,  Revelation 12:11).

Literature.-P. Fairbairn, The Typology of Scripture 4, 2 vols., Edinburgh, 1864; CE [Note: E Catholic Encyclopedia.] , s.v.  ; B. Weiss, Biblical Theology of NT , Eng. translation, 2 vols., Edinburgh, 1882-83; W. Beyschlag, NT Theology , Eng. translation2, do., 1908.

J. C. Lambert.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

This English word occurs in the A.V. only in the margin. The Greek word is τύπος, from which comes the word 'type.' It is translated 'print,'  John 20:25; 'figure,'  Acts 7:43;  Romans 5:14; 'form,'  Romans 6:17; 'fashion,'  Acts 7:44; 'manner,'  Acts 23:25; 'pattern,'  Titus 2:7;  Hebrews 8:5; 'ensample,'  1 Corinthians 10:11 ( marg . type);  Philippians 3:17;  1 Thessalonians 1:7;  2 Thessalonians 3:9;  1 Peter 5:3; and 'example,'  1 Corinthians 10:6;  1 Timothy 4:12 .

That which is prefigured in a type is seen in the 'antitype,' ἀντίτυπον, translated 'like figure,'  1 Peter 3:21; and 'figure,'  Hebrews 9:24 . If the tabernacle be taken as an illustration, the type or pattern was seen in the mount, that is, figuratively in heaven, and the tabernacle itself was the antitype.  Hebrews 9:24 . Then again, the tabernacle may be taken as a type, and the saints now, as forming the house of God, the antitype. Christ is "Son over his own house, whose house are we."  Hebrews 3:6 . Many things in the O.T. are typical of those in the N.T., as seen in  1 Corinthians 10:11; but, as in all else, the teaching of the Holy Spirit is needed, or there is danger of adopting connections which are merely fanciful.

A few examples of types are here appended: the student of scripture will find it profitable to search out (in dependence upon the Holy Spirit) the numerous types of the O.T. with their antitypes in the N.T. They may be found in 1, persons; 2, places; 3, things; 4, events.

1. ADAM as the first man, under whom all earthly created things were set — type of Christ, the last Adam, who is Head over all things, the second Man.  Genesis 1:28;  Romans 5:14;  Hebrews 2:7 .

EVE as 'builded' from a rib of Adam, and declared to be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh — type of the church, those who in relation to Christ are members of His body [of His flesh and of His bones].  Genesis 2:22,23;  Ephesians 4:16;  Ephesians 5:30 .

CAIN as ignoring the fall of man and approaching God by an offering which was the fruit of the ground which He had cursed and afterwards slaying his brother, became a type of the natural man's evil in offering to the holy God that which He could not righteously accept, and of his rejection of Christ.  Genesis 4:3;  Acts 17:23,25;  Hebrews 11:4;  1 John 3:12 .

Isaac offered up and received as from the dead — type of Christ as crucified and raised again.  Genesis 22:1-18;  Hebrews 11:17-19;  Romans 4:25;  Galatians 3:15,16 .

(Consider also Enoch, Melchizedek, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Boaz, David, Solomon, Zerubbabel, Cyrus, Hagar, Ahithophel, and others.)

2. EGYPTas the place where the Israelites were in slavery to the Egyptians — type of the world where mankind is in bondage to Satan, the god of this world.  Exodus 2:23;  2 Corinthians 4:4;  Galatians 1:4;  1 John 5:19 .

ZION as the place where David pitched a tent for the ark and had his throne and ruled over God's chosen people — type of delivering grace established in power and blessing in Christ: Zion will yet be the seat of Messiah's power on earth in millennial blessing.  Psalm 2:6;  Psalm 78:68-72;  Romans 5:21;  Hebrews 12:22;  Revelation 14:1 .

BABYLON as the centre of idolatry and Gentile apostasy from God and the abode of corruption in the activity of power — type of papal Rome whose name is Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.  Genesis 11:1-9;  Isaiah 14:4-23;  Daniel 4:30;  Revelation 17;  Revelation 18 .

(Consider also Sodom and Gomorrah, Jericho, Gilgal, Assyria, Tyre.)

3. THE Manna given by God from heaven to the Israelites — type of heavenly grace for wilderness circumstances set forth in Christ who was the true Bread come down from heaven.   Exodus 16:15;  John 6:31-33 .

THE Brazen Serpent as raised up by Moses, a look to which gave life — type of the condemnation of sin in the flesh in the death of Christ as the One lifted up on the cross, which thus became the door into eternal life.  Numbers 21:8,9;  John 3:14;  Romans 8:3 .

THE Well Of Water as a resource from God, digged in the wilderness, Israel singing, "Spring up, O well" — type of the Holy Spirit compared to "a well of living water springing up into everlasting life."  Numbers 21:17,18;  John 4:14 .

THE TWO GOATS (forming one sin offering.  Leviticus 16:5 ), the one sacrificed and the other driven into the wilderness — type of the double effect of the death of Christ, which meets all the demands of a holy God, so that He remembers no more the sins of His people, and removes from them all imputation of sin.  Leviticus 16:8,9,21;  Hebrews 10:12,17;  1 John 1:7 .

(Consider also the various offerings, the tabernacle and its vessels, the smitten rock, cedar trees, vine, etc.)

4. THE Deluge   Genesis 7:11-24 — type of the sudden destruction that will fall upon the guilty world.   Luke 17:26,27 .

THE Exodus And Passage Of The Red Sea  Exodus 12 ,  Exodus 14 . — type of redemption.  Colossians 1:13;  Hebrews 2:14,15 .

(Consider the various events which happened to Israel in the wilderness,  1 Corinthians 10:11 , the passage of the Jordan, the return of a remnant from Babylon, etc.)

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

This word is not frequently used in Scripture; but what it signifies is supposed to be very frequently implied. We usually consider a type as an example, pattern, or general similitude to a person, event, or thing which is to come: and in this it differs from a representation, memorial, or commemoration of an event, &c, which is past. The Spirit of God has adopted a variety of means to indicate his perfect foreknowledge of all events, and his power to control them. This is sometimes declared by express verbal prophecy; sometimes by specific actions performed by divine command; and sometimes by those peculiar events, in the lives of individuals, and the history or religious observances of the Israelites, which were caused to bear a designed reference to some parts of the Gospel history. The main point, says Chevallier, in an inquiry into these historical types, is to establish the fact of a preconcerted connection between the two series of events. No similarity, in itself, is sufficient to prove such a correspondence. Even those recorded in Scripture are recorded under very different circumstances. If the first event be declared to be typical, at the time when it occurs, and the second correspond with the prediction so delivered, there can be no doubt that the correspondence was designed. If, before the occurrence of the second event, there be delivered a distinct prophecy, that it will happen, and will correspond with some previous event; the fulfilment of the prophecy furnishes an intrinsic proof, that the person who gave it spake by divine inspiration. It may not, from this fact, follow, that the two events were connected by a design formed before either of them occurred; but it certainly does follow, that the second event, in some measure, had respect to the first; and that whatever degree of connection was, by such a prophet, assumed to exist, did really exist. If, again, no specific declaration be made, respecting the typical character of any event or person, until after the second event has occurred, which is then declared to have been prefigured; the fact of preconcerted connection will rest solely upon the authority of the person who advances the assertion. But, if we know, from other sources, that his words are the words of truth, our only inquiry will be, if he either distinctly asserts, or plainly infers, the existence of a designed correspondence. The fact, then, of a preconcerted connection between two series of events, is capable of being established in three ways: and the historical types may be accordingly arranged in three principal divisions. Some of them afford intrinsic evidence, that the Scriptures, which record them, are given by inspiration of God; the others can be proved to exist only by assuming that fact: but all, when once established, display the astonishing power and wisdom of God; and the importance of that scheme of redemption, which was ushered into the world with such magnificent preparations. In contemplating this wonderful system we discern one great intention interwoven, not only into the verbal prophecies and extraordinary events of the history of the Israelites, but into the ordinary transactions of the lives of selected individuals, even from the creation of the world. Adam was "the figure of him that was to come,"  Romans 5:14 . Melchisedec was "made like unto the Son of God,"  Hebrews 7:3 . Abraham, in the course of events in which he was engaged by the especial command of Heaven, was enabled to see Christ's day,  John 8:56; and Isaac was received from the dead "in a figure,"  Hebrews 11:19 . At a later period, the paschal lamb was ordained to be sacrificed, not only as a memorial of the immediate deliverance, which it was instituted to procure and to commemorate, but also as a continued memorial of that which was to be "fulfilled in the kingdom of God,"  Luke 22:16 . Moses was raised up to deliver the people of Israel; to be to them a lawgiver, a prophet, a priest; and to possess the regal authority, if not the title of king. But, during the early period of his life, he was himself taught, that one great prophet should be raised up like unto him; before his death he delivered the same prophecy to the people; and, after that event, the Israelites continually looked for that faithful prophet, who should return answer to their inquiries, 1Ma_4:46; 1Ma_14:41 . Their prophets all pointed to some greater lawgiver, who should introduce a new law into their hearts, and inscribe them upon their minds,  Jeremiah 31:33 . The whole people of Israel were also made, in some instances, designedly representative of Christ: and the events, which occurred in their national history, distinctly referred to him. During their wanderings in the wilderness, God left not himself without witness, which should bear reference to the great scheme of the Gospel. They ate spiritual meat. It was an emblem of the true bread of life, which came down from heaven,  John 6:39 . "They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ,"  1 Corinthians 10:4 . They were destroyed of serpents; and a brazen serpent was lifted up on a pole, that whosoever looked might live. It was a sensible figure of the Son of man, who was in like manner to be lifted up; "that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life,"  John 3:15 . Beside, their religious ordinances were only "a figure for the time then present,"

 Hebrews 9:9 . Their tabernacle was made after the pattern of heavenly things,  Hebrews 8:5;  Exodus 25:9;  Exodus 25:40; and was intended to prefigure the "greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,"

 Hebrews 9:11 . The high priest was a living representative of the great "High Priest of our profession,"  Hebrews 3:1 : and the Levitical sacrifices plainly had respect to the one great sacrifice for sins. Joshua the son of Nun represented Jesus in name: and by his earthly conquests in some measure prefigured the heavenly triumphs of his Lord. In a subsequent period, David was no indistinct type of "the Messiah the Prince,"  Daniel 9:25 , for a long time humbled, and at length triumphant over his enemies. And the peaceable dominion of Solomon prefigured that eternal rest and peace, which remaineth to the people of God. In a still later age, the miraculous preservation of the Prophet Jonah displayed a sign, which was fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ. And when the temple was rebuilt, Joshua, the son of Josedech, the high priest, and his fellows, were set forth as "men of sign," representatives of the Branch, which should, in the fulness of time, be raised up to the stem of Jesse,  Zechariah 3:8;  Isaiah 11:1 . The illustration, then, to be derived from the historical types of the Old Testament, is found diffused over the whole period, which extends from the creation of the world, to the time when vision and prophecy were sealed. And all the light, which emanates from so many various points, is concentrated in the person of Christ.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) A simple compound, used as a mode or pattern to which other compounds are conveniently regarded as being related, and from which they may be actually or theoretically derived.

(2): ( n.) The original object, or class of objects, scene, face, or conception, which becomes the subject of a copy; esp., the design on the face of a medal or a coin.

(3): ( n.) Such letters or characters, in general, or the whole quantity of them used in printing, spoken of collectively; any number or mass of such letters or characters, however disposed.

(4): ( v. t.) To represent by a type, model, or symbol beforehand; to prefigure.

(5): ( n.) A general form or structure common to a number of individuals; hence, the ideal representation of a species, genus, or other group, combining the essential characteristics; an animal or plant possessing or exemplifying the essential characteristics of a species, genus, or other group. Also, a group or division of animals having a certain typical or characteristic structure of body maintained within the group.

(6): ( n.) A figure or representation of something to come; a token; a sign; a symbol; - correlative to antitype.

(7): ( n.) Form or character impressed; style; semblance.

(8): ( n.) The mark or impression of something; stamp; impressed sign; emblem.

(9): ( v. t.) To furnish an expression or copy of; to represent; to typify.

(10): ( n.) That which possesses or exemplifies characteristic qualities; the representative.

(11): ( n.) A raised letter, figure, accent, or other character, cast in metal or cut in wood, used in printing.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

In Greek tupos, a word denoting some resemblance, and translated "figure" in  Romans 4:15 , "ensample" in  Philippians 3:17 , "manner" in  Acts 23:25 , and "form" in  Romans 6:17 . So also Moses was to make the tabernacle according to the type or model he had seen in the mount,  Acts 7:44 . In the more general use of the word, a scriptural type is a prophetic symbol, "a shadow of good things to come,"  Hebrews 10:1 , "but the body is Christ,"  Colossians 2:17 . The typical character of the old dispensation is its most distinguishing feature. For Example, the paschal lamb and all the victims sacrificed under the law were types of the Lamb of God, and illustrated his great atonement; showing that guilt deserved death, and could only be atoned for by the blood of an acceptable sacrifice. But they were also intended to foretell the coming of their great Antitype.

The Old Testament types include persons, officers, objects, events, rites, and places. Thus Adam and Melchizedek, the prophetic and the priestly office, manna and the brazen serpent, the smitten rock and the passage over Jordan, the Passover and the Day of Atonement, Canaan and the cities of refuge are scriptural types of Christ.

However striking the points of resemblance which an Old Testament event or object may present to something in the New Testament, it is not properly a type unless it was so appointed by God, and thus has something of a prophetic character. Due care should therefore be taken to distinguish between an illustration and a type.

Charles Buck Theological Dictionary

An impression, image, or representation of some model, which is termed the antitype. In this sense we often use the word to denote the prefiguration of the great events of man's redemption by persons or things in the Old Testament. Types are distinguished into,

1. Such as were directly appointed for that end; as the sacrifices.

2. Such as had only a providential ordination to that end; as the story of Jacob and Esau.

And

3. Things that fell out of old, so as to illustrate present things from a similitude between them; as the allegory of Hagar and Sarah. Some distinguish them into real and personal; by the former intending the tabernacles, temples, and religious institutions; and under the latter, including what are called providential and personal types. While we may justly consider the death of Christ, and his resurrection from the dead, as events that are typified in the Old Testament, we should be careful not to consider every thing mentioned in the Hebrew Scripture as a type, for this will expose the whole doctrine of types to ridicule: for instance, what can be a greater burlesque on the Scriptures to suppose, as some have done, that the extraction of Eve from the side of Adam, while he was in a deep sleep, was intended as a type of the Roman soldiers' piercing our Saviour's side while he slept the sleep of death? Such ideas as these, vented sometimes by novices, and sometimes by more aged divines, give a greater proof of the wildness of their fancies than the correctness of their judgments.

See Mather and Mc Ewen on the Types; Ridgley's Div. quest. 35.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 1 Corinthians 10:11 Tupos   John 20:25 Acts 7:43 Romans 5:14 Acts 7:44 Acts 23:25 Romans 6:17 1 Corinthians 10:6,11 Philippians 3:17 1 Thessalonians 1:7 2 3:9 1 Timothy 4:12

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

tı̄p  :

1. Definition of Type

2. Distinctive Features

3. Classification of Types

4. How Much of the Old Testament Is Typical?

Literature

The Bible furnishes abundant evidence of the presence of types and of typical instruction in the Sacred Word. The New Testament attests this fact. It takes up a large number of persons and things and events of former dispensations, and it treats them as adumbrations and prophecies of the future. A generation ago a widespread interest in the study of typology prevailed; latterly the interest has largely subsided, chiefly because of the vagaries and extravagances which attended its treatment on the part of not a few writers. Pressing the typical teaching of Scripture so far as to imperil the historical validity of God's word is both dangerous and certain to be followed by reaction and neglect of the subject.

1. Definition of Type:

The word "type" is derived from a Greek term τύπος , túpos , which occurs 16 times in the New Testament. It is variously translated in the King James Version, e.g. twice "print" (  John 20:25 ); twice "figure" ( Acts 7:43;  Romans 5:14 ); twice "pattern" ( Titus 2:7;  Hebrews 8:5 ); once "fashion" ( Acts 7:44 ); once "manner" ( Acts 23:25 ); once "form" ( Romans 6:17 ); and 7 t example" ( 1 Corinthians 10:6 ,  1 Corinthians 10:11;  Philippians 3:17;  1 Thessalonians 1:7;  2 Thessalonians 3:9;  1 Timothy 4:12;  1 Peter 5:3 ). It is clear from these texts that the New Testament writers use the word "type" with some degree of latitude; yet one general idea is common to all, namely, "likeness." A person, event or thing is so fashioned or appointed as to resemble another; the one is made to answer to the other in some essential feature; in some particulars the one matches the other. The two are called type and antitype; and the link which binds them together is the correspondence, the similarity, of the one with the other.

Three other words in the New Testament express the same general idea. One is "shadow" ( σκιά , skiá ,   Hebrews 10:1 ), "For the law having a shadow of the good things to come" - as if the substance or reality that was still future cast its shadow backward into the old economy. "Shadow" implies dimness and transitoriness; but it also implies a measure of resemblance between the one and the other.

The 2nd term is "parable" ( παραβολή , parabolḗ ,   Hebrews 9:9 ); the tabernacle with its services was an acted parable for the time then present, adumbrating thus the blessed reality which was to come.

The 3term is "copy." or "pattern" ( ὑπόδειγμα , hupódeigma ), a word that denotes a sketch or draft of something future. invisible (  Hebrews 9:23 ); the tabernacle and its furniture and services were copies, outlines of heavenly things.

Types are pictures, object-lessons, by which God taught His people concerning His grace and saving power. The Mosaic system was a sort of kindergarten in which God's people were trained in divine things, by which also they were led to look for better things to come. An old writer thus expresses it: "God in the types of the last dispensation was teaching His children their letters. In this dispensation He is teaching them to put the letters together, and they find that the letters, arrange them as they will, spell Christ, and nothing but Christ."

In creation the Lord uses one thing for many purposes. One simple instrument meets many ends. For how many ends does water serve! And the atmosphere: it supplies the lungs, conveys sound, diffuses odors, drives ships, supports fire, gives rain, fulfills besides one knows not how many other purposes. And God's Word is like His work, is His work, and, like creation, is inexhaustible. Whatever God touches, be it a mighty sun or an insect's wing, a vast prophecy or a little type, He perfects for the place and the purpose He has in mind.

2. Distinctive Features:

What are the distinctive features of a type? A type, to be such in reality, must possess three well-defined qualities. (1) It must be a true picture of the person or the thing it represents or prefigures. A type is a draft or sketch of some well-defined feature of redemption, and therefore it must in some distinct way resemble its antitype, e.g. Aaron as high priest is a rough figure of Christ the Great High Priest, and the Day of Atonement in Israel ( Leviticus 16 ) must be a true picture of the atoning work of Christ. (2) The type must be of divine appointment. In its institution it is designed to bear a likeness to the antitype. Both type and antitype are preordained as constituent parts of the scheme of redemption. As centuries sometimes lie between the type and its accomplishment in the antitype, of course infinite wisdom alone can ordain the one to be the picture of the other. Only God can make types. (3) A type always prefigures something future. A S criptural type and predictive prophecy are in substance the same, differing only in form. This fact distinguishes between a symbol and a type. 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 type always looks to the future; an element of prediction must necessarily be in it.

3. Classification of Types:

Another thing in the study of types should be borne in mind, namely, that a thing in itself evil cannot be the type of what is good and pure. It is somewhat difficult to give a satisfactory classification of Biblical types, but broadly they may be distributed under three heads: (1) Personal types, by which are meant those personages of Scripture whose lives and experiences illustrate some principle or truth of redemption. Such are Adam, who is expressly described as the "figure of him that was to come" ( Romans 5:14 ), Melchizedek, Abraham, Aaron, Joseph, Jonah, etc. (2) Historical types, in which are included the great historical events that under Providence became striking foreshadowings of good things to come, e.g. the Deliverance from the Bondage of Egypt; the Wilderness Journey; the Conquest of Canaan; the Call of Abraham; Deliverances by the Judges, etc. (3) Ritual types, such as the Altar, the Offerings, the Priesthood, the Tabernacle and its furniture. There are typical persons, places, times, things, actions, in the Old Testament, and a reverent study of them leads into a thorough acquaintance with the fullness and the blessedness of the word of God.

4. How Much of the Old Testament Is Typical?:

How much of the Old Testament is to be regarded as typical is a question not easily answered. Two extremes, however, should be avoided. First, The extravagance of some of the early Fathers, as Origen, Ambrose, Jerome (revived in our time by Andrew Jukes and his imitators). They sought for types, and of course found them, in every incident and event, however trivial, recorded in Scripture. Even the most simple and commonplace circumstance was thought to conceal within itself the most recondite truth. Mystery and mysticism were seen everywhere, in the cords and pins of the tabernacle, in the yield of herds, in the death of one, in the marriage of another, even in the number of fish caught by the disciples on the night the risen Saviour appeared to them - how much some have tried to make of that number, 153! The very serious objection to this method is, that it wrests Scripture out of the sphere of the natural and the historical and locates it in that of the arbitrary and the fanciful; it tends to destroy the validity and trustworthiness of the record.

Second, the undue contraction of the typical element. "Professor Moses Stuart expresses this view as follows: "Just so much of the Old Testament is to be accounted typical as the New Testament affirms to be so, and no more." This opinion assumes that the New Testament writers have exhausted the types of the Old Testament, while the fact is that those found in the later Scripture are but samples taken from the storehouse where many more are found. If they are not, then nothing is more arbitrary than the New Testament use of types, for there is nothing to distinguish them from a multitude of others of the same class. Further, the view assumes that divine authority alone can determine the reality and import of types - a view that applies with equal force against prophecy. This rule may be safely followed: wherever the three characteristics of types are found which have been already mentioned, there is the type.

Weighty are the words of one equally eminent for his piety as for his learning: "That the Old Testament is rich in types, or rather forms in its totality one type, of the New Testament, follows necessarily from the entirely unique position which belongs to Christ as the center of the history of the world and of revelation. As we constantly see the principle embodied in the vegetable and animal kingdoms, that the higher species are already typified in a lower stage of development, so do we find, in the domain of saving revelation, the highest not only prepared for, but also shadowed forth, by that which precedes in the lower spheres" (Van Oosterzee).

Literature

P. Fairbairn, Typology of Scripture , 2 volumes; Angus, The Bible HandBook  ; Andrew Jukes, Law of Offerings in Leviticus  ; Mather, Gospel of Old Testament, Explanation of Types  ; McEwen, Grace and Truth: Types and Figures of the Old Testament  ; Soltau, Tabernacle, Priesthood and Offerings .

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Type the best definition of this word, in its theological sense, is that which supplies: a type is a shadow of good things to come, or as the apostle elsewhere expresses it 'a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.' Adopting this definition as the correct one, we proceed briefly to point out the different types by which God was pleased in various ages to adumbrate the person and work of the Redeemer.

Before the law, Adam, Enoch, Noah, Melchizedec, Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph were eminently typical of Christ. Again, under the law, Moses, Joshua, Samson, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, Zerubbabel, and Joshua the high priest, were, in many points, singularly types of Christ.

The first-born, the Nazarites, prophets, priests, and kings, were typical orders of persons.

Under the head of things typical may be noticed: Jacob's ladder, the burning bush, the pillar of cloud and fire, the manna, the rock, and the brazen serpent.

Actions typical were: the deliverance out of Egypt, passage of the Red Sea, sojourn in the wilderness, passage over the Jordan, entrance into Canaan, and restoration from Babylon.

Rites typical were: circumcision, various sacrifices, and sundry purifications.

Places typical were: the land of Canaan, the cities of refuge, the tabernacle, and the temple.

The above types were designed to shadow forth Christ and the blessings of his salvation; but there were others also which pointed at our miseries without him. There were ceremonial uncleannesses; the leprosy, for instance, was a type of our natural pollution; and Hagar and Ishmael a type of the covenant of works.

As there must be a similarity or analogy between the type and the antitype, so there is also a disparity or dissimilitude between them.

It is not in the nature of type and antitype that they should agree in all things; else, instead of similitude, there would be identity. Hence the apostle, while making Adam a type of Christ, yet shows how infinitely the latter excelled the former . So the priests of old were types of Christ, though he infinitely excelled them both as to his own person and as to the character of his priesthood (see Hebrews 7-10).