I think Jesus was the first to introduce examining the scriptures with "types and anti-types" when he stated that Elijah's returned was John the Baptist (Matthew 11:14). Being that Jesus IS the 'firstborn from the Dead' (Rev 1:5), this was not a resurrection of Elijah, but a type to be examined thru the bible's history. BTW, CTR taught consistently in the WT and publications up to 1916 the examination of types and anti-types. Does anybody know any other modern day teacher/preacher before his time that taught in such a manner? Sherwood
Anybody know this? CTR historical knowledge needed
by Sherwood 9 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Justin
Christians have always used the Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures) in a typological manner.
To quote an old Easter hymn, which uses the Passover in this way:
"Where the Paschal blood is poured, death's dark angel sheaths his sword; Israel's hosts triumphant go through the wave that drowns the foe. Praise we Christ, whose Blood was shed, Paschal Victim, Paschal Bread; with sincerity and love, eat we manna from above."
Without the use of typology, the Old Testament would have no lasting meaning for Christians.
Here's another hymn which uses Jerusalem or Zion as a type: "Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God; He whose word cannot be broken formed thee for his own abode."
The journey of Israel through the wilderness and the land of Canaan are also used as types: "Through the night of doubt and sorrow onward goes the pilgrim band, singing songs of expectation, marching to the Promised Land."
Hope this helps.
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AlanF
A good deal of Adventist literature used the terms 'type' and 'anti-type' in relation to so-called Bible prophecy. That's where CTR got them, and in particular, from the Adventist Nelson Barbour, who also gave CTR the 1914 chronology.
AlanF
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gumby
Does anybody know any other modern day teacher/preacher before his time that taught in such a manner? Sherwood
Anyone BEFORE his time isn't modern day
Did anyone BESIDES the gospel writers use the term, or teach in such a manner?
Those writers who made Jesus a historical, earthly godman, are the ones who connected him to anti-types of the O.T. to give validity to their claims.
Gumby
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Undaunted Danny
Jehovah's Witnesses are,"mutated Millerites" a spinoff of the William Miller movement of 1850's.
Gotta see this clip if you haven't already: Video excerpts from History Channel presentation on apocalyptic groups { Must see }
I hope this is helps."everybody is entitiled to their own opinion,but not their own facts" -
Sherwood
Thanks Justin and AlanF for your input. I always need a helpful hand from those with valuable input to the topic at hand. To some other remarks after Justin and AlanF, the conspiracy theory is entertaining, but has to much inuendo in the quips posted. Best regards to all for your thoughts. May the Love the spirit of Jehovah leads us by, give us some beneficial resolutions and peace throughout our fleeting life in understanding our confusions regarding 'truths.' Sherwood
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Leolaia
I think Jesus was the first to introduce examining the scriptures with "types and anti-types" when he stated that Elijah's returned was John the Baptist (Matthew 11:14).
No. More properly, one of the first to use the Platonic typological method in interpreting the OT was Philo of Alexandria (20 BC - AD 70).
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blondie
All you have to do is put "type antitype christian" into Google to see that the WTS did not and does not corner the market on this concept. I find it interesting how many "classes" the WTS has identified in the Bible.
Blondie
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Justin
With regards to Philo of Alexandria, an older contemporary of Jesus, I had thought about the possibility of his using "types" to explain the Old Testament. However, Philo used idealized types in the sense that an object or person in the material world reflected an ideal. I understand that he taught the tabernacle in the wilderness was a picture of the universe. So these would not be prophetic types such as used by the New Testament writers.
Luke's account about the dialogue between the risen Christ and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-31) indicates that the understanding of the so-called Messianic prophecies came to the community after the resurrection, and most of these prophecies are understood typologically. So the ideas that Jesus was typified by Moses, by David, by the Passover lamb, or by the High Priest have been with us since the beginning of Christianity. We can even say that the idea of time being typological is very old, for the Epistle of Barnabus (second century) is the first Christian work to use the seven-day week as a type of the 7,000 years, the last 1,000 being the Millennium. Nor does it seem strange that certain historical events came to be considered as only typical fulfillments. (Was the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE only a type of a greater destruction yet to come?) So to the question, Did anyone use types from Jesus to Russell, the answer would have to be, Yes.
That being the case, it must be said that Russell used typology in a very rigid and demanding way. He thought that specific dates in the first century had their counterparts in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. (29 CE paralleled 1874, 33 CE = 1878, 36 CE = 1881, 70 CE =1914) For example, because Jesus was resurrected in 33, the dead anointed ones must have been raised in 1878 (the parallel date). From what I have read, I don't find this kind of thinking in William Miller. Miller's understanding of the time prophecies in Daniel culminating in the Second Coming in 1843 were straightforward calculations and involved no typology. I do find Russell's sort of thinking beginning to surface with Nelson Barbour. So if we're talking about extreme typology (for lack of a better expression), then it seems to have arisen with an Adventist offshoot that culminated in the Bible Student Movement and is still present today in the JWs. Unless someone has a better explanation.
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Leolaia
Fair enough about Philo, whose allegorical interpretations were not prophetically oriented, though I should mention that the interpretation of the tabernacle was not restricted to Philo (and Hebrews) but shared more generally in the apocrypha and in rabbinical literature and derives ultimately from very similar concepts in Canaanite mythology on the temple or tent shrine being a representation of the god's heavenly palace or tent (e.g. "Tent of El" in Ugaritic myth, and the "Tent of Meeting" in the OT recalling the divine council at El's abode).
But the gospel writers were hardly the first to utilize typological thinking to find a prefiguring or reference of recent events/concepts in earlier texts. Isn't there something quite similar in the Qumran peshers? Granted, most of the peshers were of prophetic texts like Habakkuk and Nahum, but there was also one for Psalm 37 (4Q171) -- which tried to characterize statements in the psalm as referring to persons and events of the contemporary period, such as the Teacher of Righteousness, the Romans, and the Temple priesthood. There are also testimonia in the Qumran texts (e.g. 4Q177) that include non-prophetic OT texts that are interpreted prophetically (such as Psalm 6:1-4, 11:1-2, 13:1-2, 4, 17:1-2 which are said to "refer to the Last Days"). I don't regard this as typology per se, but it shares much with the methodology of the gospelists.