Gary discusses the biblical lessons on hearing and seeing.
The Greek word typos refers to an image impressed onto something else, for instance, wax. It is the word used in Scripture for the imprint of God’s heavenly pattern on the earth, and thus it is absolutely fundamental to a Biblical worldview.
In Acts 7:44 Stephen says, “Our fathers had the Tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern [type] which he had seen.” Similarly, Hebrews 8:5, quoting Exodus 25:40, reminds us that Moses was told, “See that you make all things according to the pattern [type] which was shown you on the mountain.”
There are a succession of such imprints. Each imprint is more glorious than the one before. Solomon’s Temple was more glorious than the Mosaic Tabernacle. Ezekiel’s visionary Temple (Ezekiel 40-48) was more glorious than Solomon’s Temple. The New Jerusalem is more glorious yet. The study of how each of these models is transformed into the next, and the parallels between them, is part of typology.
Because all men are made in the image of God, all men bear His imprint. Every man is, thus, in one sense a type of every other man. More importantly, church leaders are to be types or models for kingdom citizens (Philippians 1:7; 1 Thessalonians 1:7; 1 Timothy 4:12; Titus 2:7; 1 Peter 5:3). In terms of a typological view of history, the kingdom of men in the Old Covenant was a type of the New Covenant (1 Corinthians 10:6,11), and the first Adam was a type of the Last (Romans 5:14).
Through New Eyes
James B Jordan provides a provocative introduction to Christian worldview using Biblical world models and symbols, making the claim that this was the way God has chosen to set forth how we are to think about His world and about human history.
Buy NowGary discusses the biblical lessons on hearing and seeing. The Bible constantly sets physical eyes and ears against each other as a way to teach how we should respond to God’s Word in faith. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). Just like the Bereans, we must compare what we both hear and see against the standard of the biblical text. We must have, as Jesus says, “eyes to see and ears to hear.”