Early Christian Typology and Scripture

Archelaus, Disputation with Manes Direct teaching

...hat his chief effort was aimed at proving that the law of Moses is not in agreement with the law of Christ. He tried to base this position on the authority of our Scriptures. But on the contrary, we not only established the law of Moses, and all the things written in it, by the same Scripture, but we also proved that the whole Old Testament agrees with the New Testament and is in perfect harmony with it. They truly form one fabric, just as a person may see one and the same robe made of weft and warp together. For the truth is simply this: just as we can trace the purple in a robe, so, if I may speak this way, we can discern the New Testament in the texture of the Old Testament. For we see the glory of the Lord mirrored in it. Therefore we must not cast aside the mirror, since it shows us the true image of the things themselves faithfully and truly. On the contrary, we ought to honor it all the more. Do you think that the boy who is led by his paedagogue to the teachers of learning, when he is still very small, ought to give that paedagogue no honor after he has grown to manhood, simply because he no longer needs his service, but can go on his way without any help from that atten

Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Direct teaching

...Gospel in any other way than as He had been promised before by the Creator in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. This is especially clear since the things predicted about Him were fulfilled, and the things that were fulfilled had been predicted. So, with good reason, I could truly and constantly say to that imaginary—I do not know what—thing of those heretics who reject the authority of the Old Testament, concerning a Christ invented and colored from old wives' fables: Who are you? From where do you come? By whom were you sent? Why have you chosen to come now? Why are you such as you are? How have you been able to come? And why have you not gone to your own people, except that by coming to what belongs to another, you have shown that you have none of your own? What do you have to do with the Creator's world? What do you have to do with the Creator's man? What do you have to do with the likeness of a body, when you take away the hope of resurrection from it? Why do you come to another man's servant, and why do you want to draw away another man's son? Why do you try to take me away from the Lord? Why do you force me to blaspheme and to be impious toward my Father? And what will

Cyprian, Connection to Luke 24:44 Direct teaching

Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures; and said unto them, That thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name even among all nations."

Didache, Connection to John 5:39 Supporting witness

For the Lord Jesus says: "Search the Scriptures; for they are those which testify of me."

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Supporting witness

And in short, sirs,” said I, “by enumerating all the other appointments of Moses, I can demonstrate that they were types, and symbols, and declarations of those things which would happen to Christ, of those who it was foreknown were to believe in Him, and of those things which would also be done by Christ Himself.

Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness

...ried to gather together all the passages on this subject. For divine Scripture, not only in the Old Testament but also in the New Testament, everywhere shows Him to be born of the Father, by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made. It shows that He always has obeyed and obeys the Father; that He always has power over all things, but as power delivered to Him, granted to Him, and permitted to Him by the Father Himself. And what could be a clearer proof that this is not the Father, but the Son, than that He is presented as obedient to God the Father? Unless, if He is believed to be the Father, Christ may be said to be subject to another God the Father.

Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness

That Christ is God, is Proved by the Authority of the Old Testament Scriptures.

Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Supporting witness

That Christ is God, is Proved by the Authority of the Old Testament Scriptures.

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching

And finally, the parabolic style of Scripture being of the greatest antiquity, as we have shown, abounded most, as was to be expected, in the prophets, in order that the Holy Spirit might show that the philosophers among the Greeks, and the wise men among the Barbarians besides, were ignorant of the future coming of the Lord, and of the mystic teaching that was to be delivered by Him.

Origen, Commentary on Matthew Direct teaching

Philippians 3:3 Seek you also every sign in the Old Scriptures as indicative of some passage in the New Scripture, and that which is named a sign in the New Covenant as indicative of something either in the age about to be, or even in the subsequent generations after that the sign has taken place.

Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Direct teaching

14. This being the state of the case, we shall sketch out, as if by way of illustration and pattern, what may occur to us with regard to the manner in which holy Scripture is to be understood on these several points, repeating in the first instance, and pointing out this fact, that the Holy Spirit, by the providence and will of God, through the power of His only-begotten Word, who was in the beginning God with God, enlightened the ministers of truth, the prophets and apostles, to understand the mysteries of those things or causes which take place among men, or with respect to men.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Supporting witness

...in the Church among all nations. It is fitting that these earthly things spread around us should be types of the celestial, both created by the same God. For He could only make an image of spiritual things [to suit our understanding] in this way. But to claim that the super-celestial and spiritual things, which are invisible and ineffable to us, are types of celestial things and of another Pleroma, and to say that God is the image of another Father, is to act as wanderers from the truth and as utterly foolish and stupid people. For, as I have repeatedly shown, such people will find it necessary to continually seek out types of types and images of images and will never be able to focus their minds on one true God. Their imaginations go beyond God, having in their hearts surpassed the Master Himself, being indeed in thought elevated and exalted above Him, but in reality turning away from the true God.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book II Supporting witness

but it ought, as to the general form and features, to maintain a likeness [to what is typified], and in this way to shadow forth by means of things present those which are yet to come.

Tertullian, On Idolatry Supporting witness

The figures, which used to be laid as a groundwork for some secret future dispensation, not with a view to the repeal of the law, but as a type of their own final cause, stand in a class by themselves.

Tertullian, On Idolatry Supporting witness

or whatever other exposition of that figure has been revealed to worthier men no matter, provided we remember the apostle affirms that all things happened at that time to the People figuratively.

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

A figure, then, is a form of speech transferred from what is literal to what is not literal, for the sake of the composition, and on account of a diction useful in speech.

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

For such is the allegory, according to the Scripture.

Tertullian, Against Marcion Supporting witness

once also was latent under figures, allegories, and enigmatical types;

1 Corinthians 4:6 Supporting witness

And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

1 Peter 1:11 Supporting witness

Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

Cyprian, Epistles Direct teaching

...offered. He says that in Scripture, water refers to baptism, but certainly not to the Eucharist. By types drawn from the Old Testament, he explains the use of wine in the sacrament of the Lord’s body. He also declares that the symbol of water means the Christian congregation.

Barnabas, The Epistle of Barnabas Direct teaching

...ovenant is theirs and ours.” But they ultimately lost it, even after Moses had received it. For the Scripture says, “And Moses was fasting on the mountain forty days and forty nights, and received the covenant from the Lord, stone tablets written with the finger of the Lord;” but by turning to idols, they lost it. For the Lord said to Moses: “Moses, go down quickly; for the people you brought out of Egypt have transgressed.” And Moses understood, and threw the two tablets from his hands; and their covenant was broken, so that the covenant of the beloved Jesus might be sealed upon our hearts, in the hope that comes from believing in Him. Now, wishing to write many things to you, not as your teacher, but out of love, I have taken care not to fail to write to you from what I possess, for your purification. We must be careful in these last days; for the entire past time of your faith will profit you nothing, unless now in this wicked time we also resist coming sources of danger, as befits the children of God. To prevent the Black One from entering, let us flee from every vanity, let us completely hate the works of wickedness. Do not live a solitary life, as if already justified; but

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Supporting witness

...ses, the same One who is called an Angel, and who is God, appeared to and spoke with Moses. For the Scripture says this: 'The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the bush; and he saw that the bush was burning with fire, but it was not consumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside and see this great sight, for the bush is not burned. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, the Lord called to him out of the bush.' In the same way, the Scripture refers to Him who appeared to Jacob in the dream as an Angel, then states that the same Angel who appeared in the dream spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God who appeared to you when you fled from Esau your brother;' and again mentions that, in the judgment that befell Sodom in the days of Abraham, the Lord inflicted the punishment as the Lord who dwells in the heavens did;—in the same way here, the Scripture, in announcing that the Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses, and later declaring Him to be Lord and God, refers to the same One, whom it asserts by the many testimonies already quoted to be minister to God, who is above the world, above whom there is no other God."

Archelaus, Disputation with Manes Supporting witness

... of grace for grace. For he indicates that we have received the law of Moses out of the fullness of Christ. And he means that, for that one grace, this other grace has been made perfect in us through Jesus Christ. “It was also to show this that our Lord Jesus Christ Himself spoke in these words: ‘Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses, in whom you hope. For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?’ “And besides all these words, there are still many other passages that could be brought forward, both from the Apostle Paul and from the Gospels. By these we are able to prove that the old law belongs to no other than that Lord to whom the New Testament also belongs. And it would suit us very well to present them, and to use them in a satisfying way. But now the evening prevents us from doing so, for the day is drawing to its close, and it is right that we should now bring our disputation to an end. However, tomorrow you will have an opportunity to ask us questions on any points you please to take up.” After these words, they wen

Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Supporting witness

...undation of the world he was the Word of God, and God, we rightly, according to the teaching of the Old and New Testament, believe and hold that Christ Jesus is both God and man. What if this same Moses presents God as saying, "Let us make man after our image and likeness"; and then below, "And God made man; in the image of God He made him; male and female He made them"? If, as we have already shown, it is the Son of God by whom all things were made, then certainly it was also the Son of God by whom man was formed, for whose sake all things were made. Moreover, when God commands that man should be made, he is called God who makes man. But the Son of God makes man, that is, the Word of God, by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made. And this Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Therefore Christ is God. Therefore man was made by Christ as by the Son of God. But God made man in the image of God. Therefore he who made man in the image of God is God. Therefore Christ is God. So, with good reason, the testimony of the Old Testament does not waver concerning the person of Christ, since it is supported by the revelation of the New Testament. Nor is the force of

Hippolytus, Exegetical Fragments Supporting witness

Isaac conveys a figure of God the Father. Rebecca conveys a figure of the Holy Spirit. Esau conveys a figure of the first people and the devil. Jacob conveys a figure of the Church, or of Christ. That Isaac was old points to the end of the world. That his eyes were dim shows that faith had perished from the world, and that the light of religion was neglected before him. That the elder son is called expresses the Jews' possession of the law. That the father loves his meat and venison shows the saving of men from error, whom every righteous man seeks to gain, or hunt for, by doctrine. The word of God here is the promise anew of the blessing and the hope of a kingdom to come, in which the saints shall reign with Christ and keep the true Sabbath. Rebecca is full of the Holy Spirit, as understanding the word which she heard before she gave birth: "For the elder shall serve the younger." Genesis 25:23. As a figure of the Holy Spirit, moreover, she cares for Jacob in preference. She says to her younger son, "Go to the flock and fetch me two kids." Genesis 27:9. This prefigures the Savior's coming in the flesh to work a mighty deliverance for those who were held liable to the punishment of

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Supporting witness

... pattern of the future resurrection. In the same way, the three days before the heavenly lights are types of the Trinity: God, and His Word, and His wisdom. And the fourth is the type of man, who needs light, so that there may be God, the Word, wisdom, and man. Therefore the lights were also made on the fourth day. The arrangement of the stars also contains a type of the arrangement and order of the righteous and godly, and of those who keep the law and commandments of God. For the shining and bright stars are an image of the prophets, and so they remain fixed, not turning aside or moving from place to place. And those that hold second place in brightness are types of the people of the righteous. And those, again, that change their position and flee from place to place, which are also called planets, are a type of the people who have wandered away from God and abandoned His law and commandments.

Cyprian, Epistles Direct teaching

...keeping the eighth day in the Jewish circumcision of the flesh, a sacrament was given beforehand in shadow and in practice. But when Christ came, it was fulfilled in truth. For since the eighth day, that is, the first day after the Sabbath, was to be the day on which the Lord would rise again, and would give us life, and give us circumcision of the spirit, the eighth day, that is, the first day after the Sabbath, the Lord’s Day, came first as a figure. This figure ceased when the truth came afterward, and spiritual circumcision was given to us.

Justin Martyr, The First Apology Supporting witness

...shaped it into a cross, set it in the holy tabernacle, and said to the people, "If you look to this figure and believe, you will be saved by it." When this happened, it is recorded that the serpents died, and it is handed down that the people thus escaped death. Plato, reading this and not understanding it accurately, nor recognizing it as a figure of the cross, thought it to be a positioning crosswise. He then claimed that the power next to the first God was placed crosswise in the universe. About his mention of a third, he did so because he read, as we mentioned earlier, what Moses said: "that the Spirit of God moved over the waters." Plato gives the second place to the Logos that is with God, whom he said was placed crosswise in the universe, and the third place to the Spirit, who was said to be borne upon the waters, saying, "And the third around the third." Listen to how the Spirit of prophecy indicated through Moses that there would be a conflagration. He spoke this way: "Everlasting fire shall descend, and shall devour to the pit beneath." So, it is not that we hold the same opinions as others, but that all speak in imitation of ours. Among us, these things can be heard a

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness

...er His wings and receive on their foreheads that great and lofty sign. And even now the Jews show a figure of this event when they mark their doorposts with the blood of a lamb. For when God was about to strike the Egyptians, He had commanded the Hebrews, so that they might be protected from that blow, to kill a white lamb without spot and place on their doorposts a mark made from its blood. And so, when the firstborn of the Egyptians died in one night, the Hebrews alone were saved by the sign of the blood. This was not because the blood of a sheep had such power in itself that it could save men, but because it was an image of things to come. For Christ was the white lamb without spot; that is, He was innocent, just, and holy. He was killed by those same Jews, and He is the salvation of all who have written on their foreheads the sign of blood, that is, the sign of the cross on which He shed His blood. For the forehead is the top of the doorway in man, and the wood sprinkled with blood is a symbol of the cross. Finally, the killing of the lamb by the very people who do it is called the Passover feast, from the word paschein, because it is a figure of the passion, which God, know

Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness

In Exodus the Jewish people, prefigured as a shadow and image of us, when, with God for their guardian and avenger, they had escaped the most severe slavery of Pharaoh and of Egypt— that is, of the devil and the world — faithless and ungrateful in respect of God, murmur against Moses, looking back to the discomforts of the desert and of their labour;

Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness

Exodus 12:13 What previously preceded by a figure in the slain lamb is fulfilled in Christ, the truth which followed afterwards.

Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh Direct teaching

...ce clear away the basic claim they rest on. They say that the prophets make all their statements in figures of speech. But if that were true, the figures themselves could never be recognized, since the real things from which figurative language is drawn would never have been stated. In fact, if everything is figurative, then where is the thing of which it is a figure? How can you hold up a mirror to your face if the face does not exist anywhere? But the truth is that not everything is figurative. There are also literal statements. Not everything is shadow; there are bodies too. So we even have prophecies about the Lord Himself that are clearer than daylight. It was not in a figure that the Virgin conceived in her womb. Nor was it in a trope that she gave birth to Emmanuel, that is, Jesus, God with us. And even if we grant that His taking the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria, Isaiah 8:4, was figurative, it was still literal that He would enter into judgment with the elders and rulers of the people, Isaiah 3:13. For in the person of Pilate, the Gentiles raged. And in the person of Israel, the people imagined vain things. The kings of the earth, in Herod, and the rulers,

Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Supporting witness

Nay, also, when the (description of the) fitting out of the tabernacle is read, believing that what is written is a type, they seek to adapt what they can to each particular related about the tabernacle — not being wrong so far as regards their belief that the tabernacle is a type of something, but erring sometimes in adapting the descrip­tion of that of which the tabernacle is a type, to some special thing in a manner worthy of Scripture.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book II Supporting witness

If they claim again that these things below are a shadow of those above, as some confidently argue, making them images, then they must admit that those things above have bodies. For bodies above do cast shadows, but spiritual substances do not, since they cannot darken others in any way. Even if we grant them this point (though it is really impossible), that there is a shadow belonging to spiritual and luminous essences, into which they say their Mother descended; yet, since those things above are eternal and their shadow lasts forever, it follows that these things below are also not temporary but endure along with those that cast their shadow over them. On the other hand, if these things below are temporary, it necessarily means that those above, which these are the shadow of, also pass away; while, if they endure, their shadow endures as well.

Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Background

And although holy Scripture often describes the divine appearance in human form—as when it says, “The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous”; or when it says, “The Lord God smelled a pleasing aroma,” Genesis 8:21; or when the tablets written with the finger of God are given to Moses, Exodus 31:18; or when the people of the children of Israel are set free from the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; or when it says, “The mouth of the Lord has spoken these things,” Isaiah 1:21; or when the earth is presented as God's footstool; or when it says, “Incline your ear, and hear,” 2 Chronicles 19:16—we who say that the law is spiritual do not include any bodily form or appearance of the divine majesty within these features of our human nature. Rather, we spread out that character of boundless greatness, so to speak, over all its expanse without any limit. For it is written, “If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I descend into hell, You are there also; and if I take my wings and go across the sea, there Your hand shall lay hold of me, and Your right hand shall hold me.” For we understand the purpose of divine Scripture according to the proper measure of its arra

Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Background

...e what defense this passage provides against those heretics who are accustomed to hunt out from the Old Testament expressions which seem, in their view, to describe God the Creator as severe and cruel. This includes places where He is described as being moved by vengeance or punishment, or by any of those emotions, however they may be named, from which they deny the existence of goodness in the Creator. For they do not judge the Gospels with the same attitude and feelings, and they do not observe whether any such statements are found in them as they condemn and criticize in the Old Testament. For clearly, in the passage mentioned, the Savior is shown, as they themselves admit, not to speak clearly for this very reason: so that men may not be converted, and, when converted, receive the remission of sins. Now, if these words are understood only according to the letter, they certainly contain nothing less than what is found in those passages in the Old Testament which they find fault with. And if they think that expressions occurring in such a connection in the New Testament need explanation, it will necessarily follow that those in the Old Testament also, which are the subject of

Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Background

...en, we must notice this passage in its bearing on the heretics, who search out those parts from the Old Testament where there is shown, as they themselves boldly claim, the cruelty of the Creator of the world in His purpose of avenging and punishing the wicked, or by whatever other name they wish to describe such a quality. They speak this way only so that they may say that goodness does not exist in the Creator. And they do not deal with the New Testament in a similar way, nor in a spirit of fairness, but pass by places similar to those which they think deserve blame in the Old Testament. For plainly, and according to the Gospel, the Savior is also shown, as they say, by His former words, not to speak distinctly for this reason: so that men might not be converted, and, being converted, might become deserving of the remission of sins. This statement by itself is in no way less than those passages from the Old Testament which they object to. And if they seek to defend the Gospel, we must ask them whether they are not acting in a blameworthy way by dealing differently with the same questions. While they do not stumble at the New Testament, but seek to defend it, they nevertheless