FERGUSON: I think the first thing to say maybe is to help with the answer to the last part there,
"How can I do it in a responsible way?" And I would say the first thing to do is to stick to the
clear indications the New Testament gives us that typology is operating. Maybe, I should explain,
Nathan, what typology is? The Greek word tupos among other things means "a shape." You know
typewriter is the shape of the letter leaving an impress. Well, you know, some of the people who
are watching don't know what a typewriter is, and I apologize for showing my years in this,
but they understand that that's how it works, that what is here makes an impress there.
And the idea of typology is that there are indications
in the New Testament that there were patterns and people in the Old Testament
who were in a sense created to serve in a kind of pre-figured shape of what Christ would do.
So, one person who is very clearly said to be a type of Christ is Adam.
He is the head of the human race. He represents us. We fall in Adam. So, where is the connection?
Well, Jesus is the head of the new humanity. He represents us and we are raised up and redeemed
in Him. Nevertheless, there are differences. So, for example, in Romans 5:12 to 21
Paul says, yes, Adam was a type of Christ. But you need to recognize he was like a type of
Christ in reverse. Then we can move on and we can see that there are patterns in the Old Testament.
For example, Matthew tells us that when Jesus was taken in exile to Egypt and then brought back, He
is fulfilling the prophecy of Hosea, "Out of Egypt I called My Son." And Hosea is speaking about the
way God called Israel His Son out of Egypt. And so you see there is a pattern here that in a
sense what God is doing in the Exodus is a real event in history, but it's also foreshadowing,
giving us a picture in a way, I sometimes say, it's like a pop-up picture book version of what
Christ is going to do. He is going to go into the wilderness. He is going to face temptation and He
is going to lead His people into the Promised Land. And so, I think the first thing to do
is to work with the secure ways in which the New Testament connects to the Old Testament.
Then the second thing, I think, to say is in my own view there is a broader kind of
typology, perhaps not what you would call a "formal typology."
But going back to the question of union with Christ that was asked earlier on,
we are united to Christ after His death and resurrection through faith. Those who went before
under the old covenant were also united to Christ through faith, but the Christ who was to come,
and because of that union with Christ we find in our own lives the pattern of Christ's
death and resurrection, sufferings and glory worked out in our lives.
And just as that is true of us, we can then look back to the Old Testament
and we see believers' lives taking that same shape as indications that they are united to Christ and
in the world in which they live before Christ, we can say, in a sense, they bore witness to Christ.
You know, one of the great illustrations of that is Joseph. His life is a life of going
down into suffering and then up in resurrection. And at the end of the book of Genesis the reason,
it is so that he would save many people. And so, I think, you see although he's not officially
seen in the New Testament as a type of Christ, you see that typological pattern taking place.
So, my general advice is you do need to have good controls on the way you do it,
and the best way to do it is to begin with the clear teaching of the New Testament
rather than to start making up from the Old Testament.