The following comes from Richard M. Davidson, “The Eschatological Hermeneutic of Biblical Typology,” TheoRhēma 6, no. 2 [2011]: 11-12 (cf. his book, Typology in Scripture: A Study of Hermeneutical τυπος Structures [Andrews University Press, 1981]):
CHART
2. THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF BIBLICAL TYPOLOGY
1. The historical element underscores
the fact that typology is rooted in history. Three crucial aspects are
involved: (1) both type and antitype are historical realities (persons,
events, institutions) whose historicity is assumed and essential to the
typological argument; (2) there is an historical correspondence between
type and antitype which moves beyond general parallel situations to specific
corresponding details; (3) there is an escalation or intensification from
the type to antitype.
2. The eschatological
(“end-time”) element of typology further clarifies the nature of the
historical correspondence and intensification between type and antitype. The
Old Testament realities are not just linked to any similar realities, but to
their eschatological fulfillment. Three possible aspects of the eschatological
fulfillment may be in view: (1) “inaugurated,” connected with the first
Advent of Christ; (2) “appropriated,” focusing on the time of the Church
living in tension between the “already” and the “not yet”; and (3) “consummated,”
linked to the Apocalyptic Second Coming of Christ.
3. The Christological
(Christ-centered)-soteriological (salvationcentered) element of biblical
typology points out its essential focus and thrust. The Old Testament types are
not merely “bare” realities, but salvific realities, and find their
fulfillment in the person and work of Christ and/or gospel realities brought
about by Christ. Christ is thus the ultimate orientation point of Old Testament
types and their New Testament fulfillments.
4. The ecclesiological
(church-related) element of biblical typology points to three possible
aspects of the Church that may be involved in the typological fulfillment: the individual
worshipers, the corporate community, and/or the sacraments (baptism
and Lord’s Supper).
5. The prophetic element of
biblical typology involves three essential points. First, the Old Testament
type is an advance-presentation or prefiguration of the corresponding
New Testament antitype. Second, the type is divinely designed to
prefigure the New Testament antitype. And third, there is a “must-needs-be”
quality about the Old Testament type, giving it the force of a
prophetic/predictive foreshadowing of the New Testament fulfillment.
Putting this all together,
typology as a hermeneutical endeavor on the part of the New Testament writers
may be defined as a study of the Old Testament salvation historical realities
or “types” (persons, events, institutions) which God has specifically designed
to correspond to, and predictively prefigure, their intensified antitypical fulfillment
aspects (inaugurated, appropriated, consummated) in New Testament salvation
history. In sum, the traditional view of typology and not the post-critical is
affirmed by the data of Scripture.
