Text: Revelation 12:6-17 Proposition: Although the Dragon is in constant pursuit of the people of God, they conquer the Devil by the blood of the Lamb and show that they are the people of God by keeping his commandments. I.…
Like Chrysostom, John Calvin (d. 1564) is a proponent of typology and a critic of the allegorical interpretation of Origen. Calvin looks to the New Testament to help him to interpret the Old Testament (Puckett 178). In the long quote that…
John Chrysostom (d. 407) came from Antioch and was such a great preacher that he earned the name “Chrysostom” (golden mouth). Chrysostom was influenced by the so-called Antiochene school, because he sat under the teaching of Diodore of Tarsus, a…
In this post, we will look at some more examples of the confusion of typology and allegorical interpretation. As we saw in the previous post, some Church Fathers encourage the confusion by using the terms “allegory” or “allegorical” for interpretations…
There are interesting modern consequences of the widespread use of allegorical interpretation in the history of hermeneutics. In Protestant circles, poor interpretations of the Bible are now often labelled as “allegorical” or “allegory,” even if they are not properly examples…
Typology and allegorical interpretation. One of the important trends in early Christian interpretation (or hermeneutics) of the Bible is the practice of allegorical interpretation, especially of the Old Testament. Scholars today commonly debate whether one can distinguish between typology and…
I recently posted Advent Bible readings for this year. I have prepared a handout in English and Spanish here. I think that it might be helpful for me to provide a short guide to go with those readings. Here is…
The authors of the New Testament provide inspired examples of typology, which go back to the teaching of the apostles and their teacher, Jesus himself. Therefore, the most important guide for discerning genuine types and for tracing out typological relationships…
κατὰ πρόγνωσιν θεοῦ πατρός, ἐν ἁγιασμῷ πνεύματος, εἰς ὑπακοὴν καὶ ῥαντισμὸν αἵματος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ·χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη πληθυνθείη. Translation: according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by sanctification by the Spirit into obedience and sprinkling with the blood of…
In previous posts, I introduced the idea that typology is important and provided two examples, but I have not yet defined typology. It seems appropriate to provide a working definition of typology and clarification of its place in biblical theology.…