Typology

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about
seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that
had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and
went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them,
'What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?' They stood still,
looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, 'Are you the
only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there
in these days?' He asked them, 'What things?' They replied, 'The things about Jesus
of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the
people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to
death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes,
and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover,
some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning,
and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had
indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were
with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not
see him.' Then he said to them, 'Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart
to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the
Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?' Then
beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things
about himself in all the scriptures. As they came near the village to which they
were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly,
saying, 'Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.'
So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread,
blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they
recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, 'Were not
our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was
opening the scriptures to us?' That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem;
and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were
saying, 'The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!' Then they told
what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the
breaking of the bread.
(Luk 24:13-35)

128 The Church, as early as apostolic times,104 and then constantly in her Tradition,
has illuminated the unity of the divine plan in the two Testaments through typology,
which discerns in God's works of the Old Covenant prefigurations of what he
accomplished in the fullness of time in the person of his incarnate Son.

129 Christians therefore read the Old Testament in the light of Christ crucified and
risen. Such typological reading discloses the inexhaustible content of the Old
Testament; but it must not make us forget that the Old Testament retains its own
intrinsic value as Revelation reaffirmed by our Lord himself. 105 Besides, the New
Testament has to be read in the light of the Old. Early Christian catechesis made
constant use of the Old Testament.106 As an old saying put it, the New Testament lies
hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New. 107
130 Typology indicates the dynamic movement toward the fulfillment of the divine
plan when "God [will] be everything to everyone." 108 Nor do the calling of the
patriarchs and the exodus from Egypt, for example, lose their own value in God's
plan, from the mere fact that they were intermediate stages.

In order to understand Jesus’ relationship to the Old Testament, or to fully

understand the sacraments or the Virgin Mary, it is crucial that we understand
typology, which “discerns in God’s works of the Old Covenant prefigurations of
what he accomplished in the fullness of time in the person of his incarnate Son”
(CCC 128).

Biblical typology refers to when a person, event, thing, etc.—usually from Old
Testament times—foreshadows someone or something or event, etc., in the New
Testament/New Covenant era. For example, in the Old Testament, Jonah’s three
days in the belly of a whale prefigure Jesus Christ’s three days in the tomb (Matt.
12:38-42). In addition, Melchizedek’s offering of bread and wine (Gen. 14:17-20)
prefigures Jesus’ offering of his body and blood, soul and divinity under the
appearances of bread and wine in the New Covenant (Matt. 26:26-28; Heb. 5:7-10).

So we see that a similarity must exist between the type and the archetype, and yet
the latter is always greater. In addition, the destruction of the Jerusalem in 70 A.D.,
which Jesus prophesied, prefigures the end of the world.

This way of understanding Old Testament events dates back to the New Testament
itself. The book of Hebrews’ description of the Mosaic Law as “but a shadow of the
good things to come instead of the true form of these realities” (10:1) succinctly
captures the heart of typology. Likewise, St. Paul speaks of Adam as a “type” (typos)
of Christ (Rom. 5:14) and of Christ as the “last Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45). When we speak
of the Passover as foreshadowing the Eucharist, or of Mary as the “New Eve,” or of
Naaman’s washing as prefiguring baptism, we’re using typology.

This is more than a simile. When St. Peter describes how Noah and his family “were
saved through water,” and says that “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now
saves you” (1 Pet. 3:20-21), he’s not simply making an analogy. He’s saying that
Noah’s Ark foreshadowed something greater: our salvation through baptism. The
events of the Old Testament are significant as in their own right, but also as
foreshadowing and prefiguring greater realities in the New Testament. St. Paul
reads Exodus the same way, describing the Israelites as “all under the cloud, and all
passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the
sea” (1 Cor. 10:1-2). These Old Testament events are not mere history, but “were
written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come” (1 Cor.
10:11).

Early Syriac Theology – Chorbishop Seely Joseph Beggiani – Chap 3 -

Revelation
Ephrem understands creation as revelatory because it was created by the Word
himself. He says, “Where you look, the symbol of Christ is present. And where you
read, you find his types. For it is by him that all creatures have been made, and he
has marked all his works by his symbols, since he created the world.”4 Ephrem sees
the world as a symbolic whole. The world of terrestrial realities not only signifies, but
pre-contains, in some ways, celestial realities. Images, words, and names in
particular retain something of the essence of the beings that they signify. The
universe is an immense Christological symbol, having for its end to reveal the Son of
God and to prepare humanity for his coming. Ephrem declares: Creatures trace the
symbols of Christ. Mary has formed the members of his body, but many wombs have
given birth to the Unique Son; the womb of his mother gave birth to his humanity,
but creatures have given birth to him symbolically.5

Ephrem’s vision depended on the belief that all the Old Testament pointed to Christ.
Raza or mystery became the word for the “Christ-bearing” sense concealed in Old
Testament figures conveying the idea of type and anti-type. Christ being the
fulfillment is the “truth” or “reality.” The Bible contains revelatory symbols of Christ
because creation does. Murray observes that the reason so many trees or pieces of
wood in the Old Testament can be seen as types of the cross is that the eye of faith
sees every tree as pregnant with the mystery of the cross.19 This last meaning will
be discussed in a later chapter. Ephrem states clearly that the method by which
nature reveals Christ is by type and symbol. He explains in his Hymn on Virginity, No.
5: In the Garden of Eden and the terrestrial world our Lord’s symbols multiply
themselves. Who can gather in all the pictures of his mystery? In each one of them
Christ is depicted in full. Things visible await you, Lord; types seek you out, the
symbols prefigure you, parables take their refuge in you.20However, Ephrem
continues to caution that even in symbol God remains hidden: However much, Lord, I
would feel You, it is still not You yourself I touch, for my mind can touch nothing of
Your hiddenness: it is just a visible, illumined, image that I see in the symbol of You;
for all investigation into Your being is hidden.21While the types emphasize the
revelatory aspect of salvation, mystery focuses on the apophatic character of the
divine and the elusive nature of the holy, present in the type and its fulfillment.
Mystery is the accomplishment in Christ of a plan of God hidden at first, but
subsequently manifested to humans. It is characterized by the two opposing aspects
of “hidden, then manifest,” or “enveloped in silence, then announced and un-
veiled.”22The argument could be made that Ephrem and the Syriac writers regarded
typology as the very nature of created reality itself. It is not only that God chose
types as means of revelation. Rather, creation is by its very nature revelatory and
Christo-logical. This is why the Syriac tradition finds types not only in Scripture but in
all of nature.
Hymn on Virginity No. 28 Saint Ephrem

Who has ever played in such a marvelous and astonishing fashion,

And made a thousand cords vibrate together!
And composed with wisdom ancient things,
And also new things, with those of nature!
And since the image of the Creator is hidden in them,
On them, you have shown your outline;
And starting with them, the Lord of all appeared to us,
And also the Son of the Lord of all.
Dispersed symbols, You have gathered and You have exposed the prototypes of your
Announcing (Gospel)
And the prowess and signs borrowed from nature,
You have mixed such colors for your image;
You have contemplated Yourself (as in a mirror)
and You have painted Yourself,
O Painter who have painted Your Father in Yourself.
The One by the Other You have painted Yourself.27

Genesis New Testament

God creates the heavens and the God makes all things through the Word
earth

Adam’s disobedience makes us Jesus’ obedience makes us righteous

sinners

Eve listens to the serpent, and Mary listens to the angel, and salvation
damnation enters the world enters the world

Old Adam & Eve created in the New Adam & Eve are without original
grace of God sin

Eve is the mother of all who live Mary is the mother of all who live in
 Christ

Adam & Eve gathered at a tree, and New Adam & Eve gathered at the
humanity fell into sin cross, and humanity was redeemed

Eating the fruit of the tree brought Eating the fruit of the cross (Eucharist)
the fall brings salvation

Garden of Eden located on a Golgotha located on a hill

mountain

Similarities Between Genesis and the New Testament