Word of the Week

Second Sunday in Lent

Type: Typos (Gk.): Means “figure; example; standard”, or “pattern”

“The discernment of persons, events, or things in the Old Testament which prefigured, and thus served as a ‘type' of, the fulfillment of God's plan in the person of Christ” (CCC 128). Typology serves as a science in which we apply the hermeneutics of faith (interpreting Scripture as a religious text) to make clear the dynamic unity of the Old Testament and New Testament. This divine plan of symmetry in the OT and NT offers an intelligible coordination to God's saving actions in the Economy of Salvation History (CCC 130).

Type is used fifteen times in the New Testament. The NT uses the term in various ways and contexts. “ It can describe the nail prints in the hands of Jesus (Jn.20.25), a pattern of catechetical teaching (Rom.6:17), and examples of holiness displayed in the lives of the believers (Phil.3:17; 1 Thess.1:7)” (Hahn and Minch , 24) . Paul illustrates the aforementioned definition of type by showing how Adam, who shaped the destiny of man's inclination to sin, was a type of Christ. Christ, as the New Adam, restores us back to proper order and relationship with God through his righteousness (Rom.5:12-20). In addition, Peter sees the biblical flood as a prefigurement of Baptism (1 Pet.3:1). Just as Noah was saved by way of water, so we are saved through the waters of Baptism. Essentially, typology serves as the biblical tool to interpret the unity of the OT and NT as one single drama in salvation history.

“In general, a type is an impression or stamp made when an instrument strikes an object and leaves a mark that resembles the instrument” (Hahn and Minch , 24). Furthermore, typology, as a theological discipline, reveals the mystery of Christ and the structure and plan of ‘holiness.' Thus, our Christian duty is to unveil the mystery of Christ in and through our works, leaving the imprint of Christ's holiness upon all that we do.

“ The faith of Christ is concealed in the Old Testament, lay hidden under shadowy symbols.”

-- St. Thomas Aquinas

Primary Texts Consulted

• Catholic Bible. Suggested trans. Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition.
• Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2 nd Edition, 1997.
• Hahn, Scott and Minch , Curtis. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans, RSV 2nd ed. San Francisco : Ignatius Press, 2003.

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