Description
Book SynopsisTypology--Understanding the Bible's Promise-Shaped Patterns traces the patterns and similarities between people, events, and institutions in the Bible as they build on one another with escalating significance. It stimulates thought on the relationship between the Testaments and helps readers understand the dynamics of inner-biblical interpretation.
Table of Contents1. Introduction to Promise-Shaped Typology Chapter one will discuss the biblical terms that give rise to the use of terms such as “typology” and “figurative interpretation.” Having established the biblical basis for the use of such language, the chapter will define the approach I will take to typology, set out parameters for my methodology, and discuss other approaches to the topic and work being done in this area. These include the similar but significantly different Richard B. Hays (intertextuality), and the far more similar approach of G. K. Beale (who now avoids the term intertextuality). Part 1: Persons 2. From Adam to New Adam Adam is referred to as a type of the one to come in Romans 5, but there are also significant parallels between Adam and Noah and then Adam and Israel’s king (among others). 3. Prophets, Priests, Kings The Deuteronomy 18 promise of a prophet like Moses gives rise to a series of prophets who are similar to him, and that line culminates in Jesus. Adam is a royal priest in the Garden, then Melchizedek has similar roles, before Israel is made a royal priesthood to God. Psalm 110 anticipates Jesus coming as a royal priest, and he makes his people to be a kingdom and priests (Rev 1:6). 4. The Righteous Sufferer Joseph, Moses, and David all suffer on the way to being exalted to leadership where they deliver God’s people. This pattern, supremely articulated in the Psalms and Job, is fulfilled in Jesus the suffering servant. 5. False Prophets, False Teachers, and Antichrist The New Testament compares false teachers and prophets to the likes of Balaam and others from the OT, seed of the serpent who typify those who oppose the gospel in the last days. This pattern culminates in the antichrist (1 John 2:18). Part 2: Events 6. Creation God built a cosmic temple that was later symbolized by the tabernacle and temple, which in turn point forward to the new heavens and new earth. 7. Judgment as De-creation The flood de-creates the world, and at the exile the symbol of the cosmos, the temple, was torn down. Peter speaks of how the unmaking of the first world by water anticipates the unmaking of the present world by fire (2 Pet 3). 8. Exodus and New Exodus Anticipated in Abraham’s life, experienced at the exodus from Egypt, and celebrated in the Passover, the exodus pattern becomes the paradigmatic salvation for God’s people. The prophets expect God to save his people in the future the way he saved them in the past. 9. Conquest The conquest of Canaan led by Joshua prefigures the coming of the new and better Joshua on a white horse with his name written on his thigh (Rev 19:16). Part 3: Institutions 9. Corporate Personality This concept informs much that will have been discussed to this point: the Bible’s dynamic between the one and the many, where the one can stand for the many and the many can be represented in the one. 10. Priesthood The author of Hebrews compares and contrasts the priests from Aaron’s line with the priest according to the order of Melchizedek. 11. The Sacrificial System The author of Hebrews likewise details the difference between the sacrifices. 12. Marriage God instituted marriage in the Garden of Eden, then used it to inform the covenant relationship between himself and Israel and Christ and the church.
